Friday, December 05, 2008

The sad descent of Jack Bogdanski

I remember when I saw the very first post on Jack Bogdanski's blog about Sarah Palin not being the real mother of Trig. It was right after McCain chose her, and I was in studio preparing for my radio show with my co-host Marc Abrams.

The Bojack.org post linked to Daily Kos, which had this series of pictures that supposedly "proved" Sarah Palin wasn't the mother, but that Bristol Palin actually had Trig. I looked at the pictures, and shook my head. "Just another wingnut conspiracy theory at DailyKos," I thought.

But I read Jack's post and it looked as if he actually believed it. I showed it to Marc, and together we looked again at the pictures and read the "proof." Marc dismissed it all out of hand.

But not Jack Bogdanski. No, Jack went on a virtual Jihad. He went all-in on the Palin story, and to this very day he continues to offer up "proof" that Palin faked her pregnancy.

Now, this concerned me quite a bit, because as you may know, Jack Bogdanski had very recently agreed to be Marc Abrams' stand-in for the 30% of the time or so that he is out of town and unable to do our Sunday morning radio show. I had serious reservations about someone co-hosting my show who was so publicly marginalizing himself.

The next time Jack was on, we mixed it up pretty good. It was still hard for me to take seriously - it seemed so inexplicable that a guy of Jack's stature would so publicly lead the charge on a ridiculous theory that had such thin documentary evidence. I mean, this guy is a law professor at Lewis & Clark, for God's sake. And he has cast himself squarely with the lunatic fringe, and not at all quietly.

We discussed it several times, and I even posted aabout it here on this blog. I let Jack know I thought this obsession was seriously unhinged, such as the post in which he discussed at some length the shape and size of Bristol Palin's breasts. Creepy!

But he's gotten even more obsessed with the theory as time has gone on. I can't explain it. The most recent development was a post this week on his blog teasing a "Breaking Development"in the Palin conspiracy. A BLOCKBUSTER!

What was it? More pictures of Sarah that showed her not looking very pregnant. But she was wearing black on black, and she was posing in a way that could easily hide whatever bulge in her belly existed at the time. The photos were hardly conclusive. Some women carry children and hardly show it.

But no, for Jack, these pics are open and shut defacto proof that Sarah Palin is not the mother. And this guy is teaching mush headed liberal students up at Lewis & Clark how to be lawyers!

Well, it is sad. Jack's blog has a lot of good things about it. He exposes a lot of fiscal stupidity at the City of Portland. He is one of the best sources for that kind of thing.

I am saddened that he is destroying his own credibility with this obsession. Even his friends and fellow liberals are telling him that he's off base. But he seems so bought into the theory now, so dug into his position, that he's not coming off the ledge.

In his recent post on the issue, I posted a comment under the name "worried about jack," in which I again pointed out that he is dangerously unhinged on this thing. I of course knew that he would know who posted it - I had already on several occasions both in person sitting across from him on my radio show and on this blog commented on his flight to lunacy.

And now he is calling me a coward for not posting under my name. Whatever.

The upshot is: for reasons not wholly unrelated to this issue, Jack Bogdanski will no longer be my part-time co-host on Kremer & Abrams.

For his sake, I hope he can calm down on this ridiculous conspiracy theory in time to save his own credibility.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, I for one am glad that jack is no longer on your show. He isn't very good on the radio. He can't stand being challenged.

He prefers his blog where any dissent can be banned. He wasn't able to ban your opinions on your show, Rob, so he couldn't hang.

Anonymous said...

I don't know what's happened with BoJack. I could understand his obsession as part the campaign to elect Obama.

But, a month after Palin has headed home to Alaska, he still dwells on it. It's creepy. Election's over, Jack.

I'd love to hear Chuck Sheketoff fill in for Marc Abrams. More taxes! Higher minimum wage! Unions! Unions! Unions! Only problem is, he'd probably lock you out of the studio during the bathroom break.

Victoria Taft, 11am - 3pm KPAM 860 said...

I'm sad about Jack.

Anonymous said...

I recall a comment of mine being removed by Jack not because of anything objectionable but just because it was contrary to his own opinion. Many academics cannot stand for dissenting ideas as they are spoiled in the classroom. I expect this is his problem. I actually use some of his nonsense to show my son (a high school senior) what to watch out for in college.

Steve Plunk

MAX Redline said...

For his sake, I hope he can calm down on this ridiculous conspiracy theory in time to save his own credibility.

Too late. He's managed to toast himself.

RINO WATCH said...

Rob,
Thank God you've booted JB off your show. I would not listen when he was on.

Anonymous said...

Credibility? LOL when I first came to BoJack, he'd just poisoned himself with an organic choclate bar...You know, organic = good to the gullible. I guess lead must be organic as that was in his $17 snack. Then he gives $20 to some street grifter from Welches who runs a tale of wrongly towed truck containing all his tools. Took Jack a few days to tumble to the fact that he'd been had, just like that Clinton vote he cast back then. But "Jackie" Edwards was his man...for awhile. So no, Jack had zip cred as anything but an attention whore. His blog had value as it did manage to attract regular commenters who were pretty bright folks and had real value in their judgements.

Good call Rob to go a different direction. Oh yeah, the Palin thing was uber creepy. That drove me away permanently.

Anonymous said...

I never listened to the show, though I have been aware of its existence for some time and I've been aware that JB subs on occasion.

(I am a visiting progressive on this site, so be kind:)

I completely agree with the decision to remove Jack from the radio post. I will never comment on bojack's blog, but I agree that he's "flown the coop" so to speak. In recent weeks which date back to McCain's VP announcement, Jack has shown himself to be far outside of the mainstream. I hate the idea of any liberal attempting to counter conservative talk radio, even in a tit for tat environment. It doesn't work. It's especially hard to think that anyone, let along Jack Bogblahblah, could represent the diverse voices from the left. As if his weblog isn't evident, he fails.

I applaud the decision to veer away from lunacy and towards logic. Please let that be the requirement with any decision this radio show makes.

Gadfly said...

Not so fast on dismissing the Trig Palin parentage issue. Obama produced a birth certificate. Why hasn’t Palin?

Anonymous said...

"For his sake, I hope he can calm down on this ridiculous conspiracy theory in time to save his own credibility."

What credibility?! Rob, you are as much to blame for allowing this idiot on your show this past year or whatever. Didn't he actually BAN you from his blog comments and you STILL allowed him the pulpit of your radio show? WHY!!?

Jack Bog is a conspiracy theorist, Bush-hating wing nut...PERIOD. I think you should actually have him on your show again, but this time confront him with his insane views on WTC7, Palin, etc. ASK HIM ON THE AIR TO EXPLAIN HIMSELF and let this moron bury himself.

As someone frequently banned from his blog for stating the obvious (today my comment that he believes in 9-11 conspiracies - which is fact - was deleted), I would welcome you giving him a FREE FORUM to answer questions. You don't get than on his blog.

Anonymous said...

Jack Bogdanski....
Isn't he the Ward Churchill of Lewis and Clark?

R. L. said...

Nice Rob... your own version of PC. What's wrong, losing too many of your debates on the radio?

Anonymous said...

I know what should be done with Jack Bogdanski: He should be made into an unemployed son-of-a-bugger.

He's already got half of it. We just need to find a way to get him tossed from L&C. I'm sure he's probably tossed his hand up a skirt or two in recent months.

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