If you are not familiar with this story, the Huffington Post has a good piece on it that will bring you up to date. One short blurb from this story sums up the large support for O’Donnell on this:
The rest of the post then aggregates various critical reactions around the web, from sources as disparate as NOW and Michelle Malkin.
Even Meghan McCain, who is no fan of Christiine O’Donnell, says that this type of bringing out of personal life of a single woman is in bad taste and is meant to keep women from politics:
Meghan McCain may not think Delaware’s Tea Party candidate is fit for office but she’s outraged by Gawker’s slanderous post on her—and says it will harm other women in politics.
Thursday the gossip blog Gawker paid and published an anonymous Philadelphia man’s “one-night stand encounter” with the now infamous senatorial candidate Christine O’Donnell. If you haven’t read this posting on Gawker, there is no need. It is the pathetic rantings of an opportunistic, infantile frat boy, who allegedly spent a PG-13 night with Christine O’Donnell and decided to sell his soul to Gawker “for a low four figures.”
It is all unbelievably disgusting and I am not sure who is worse, the anonymous man who wrote it or Gawker for buying and publishing it. Although sex scandals and morally corrupt opportunists waiting to capitalize on another person’s fame are so common it is a cliché, I think what is so disheartening about this specific case is that there are many reasons to dislike Christine O’Donnell. I have written before about what makes her an unqualified candidate for Senate, but now, thank you Gawker, you have made her a victim of our disgusting political environment facing any woman brave enough to put up with this kind of slander and run for office.
What we are creating is a world in which no woman will ever be courageous enough to want to run for office.
However, this story may have some legal ramifications. A story found on Libertarian Republican’s (LR) site about Federal Government employees possibly campaigning against Republican candidates. In LR’s post we find Eric Dondero saying,
The Smokin’ Gun blog has uncovered the identity of the author of the vicious attack piece on Gawker, “I had a one-night stand with Christine O’Donnell.” The piece talks of a wild Halloween party that O’Donnell attended at his Philadelphia apartment a few years back. It describes how O’Donnell allegedly got drunk and spent the night in his bed, though he says the two never had sex.
Now Smokin’ Gun, through exhaustive investigative work, has zeroed in on the Anonymous author. He’s Dustin Dominiak. And it turns out he works for the Federal Government.
[….]
While Kurisko refused to out “Anonymous,” some online activity this evening may point to the author’s identity. Shortly after his last phone conversation with a TSG reporter, a single name disappeared from Kurisko’s list of Facebook friends.
The man with whom electronic ties were abruptly cut is Dustin Dominiak, a 28-year-old buddy who attended Albion College with Kurisko. Records show that Dominiak has previously shared a Philadelphia address with Kurisko. One online posting reports that Dominiak, a Michigan native, has worked as an auditor at the Federal Reserve in Philadelphia…
It has also been revealed by Yahoo News that the anonymous author was paid in the “low four figures” by Gawker for the story.
Over at Smoking Gun we find more information about this in an update, which means more will come of this surely in order to preserve jobs and integrity (will try to follow):
UPDATE: In a phone interview tonight, a besieged Kurisko told TSG that Dominiak is the man pictured with O’Donnell in the Gawker photos. He said that while Dominiak had borrowed his Boy Scouts uniform, he was unaware of the existence of photos of his roommate with O’Donnell.
Kurisko said that he had no idea that Dominiak was preparing the Gawker piece and only became aware of its publication after speaking with a TSG reporter late this afternoon. He added that he is now concerned about “preserving my job” in light of media scrutiny, which has included reporters attempting to contact members of his family. These contacts, Kurisko added, were triggered by a Village Voice report that erroneously identified him as “Anonymous.”
Dominiak is “well aware of the situation,” said Kurisko, who added, “I was not aware this was going down.”