Sarah Palin: There's a "Sickness and Darkness" in Liberal Media

Sarah Palin has taken to her Facebook page to complain about the media's "heart of darkness" as evidenced by e-mail exchanged on an ostensibly private listserv called JournoList concerning a conspiracy theory about her son Trig.

"There is a sickness and darkness in today's liberal media," Palin writes.

Palin's complaint is tied to the release by the Daily Caller of emails exchanged between JournoList members, the vast majority of whom are openly liberal writers and commentators, discussing the theory (about which there is no evidence) that Trig's mother is actually Bristol Palin, the former Alaska governor's daughter.

"It's tough to fittingly describe these numerous members of the mainstream media who actively engaged in the debate about this conspiracy back when I was first introduced as John McCain's running mate, and it's impossible to legitimize any 'prominent' media publication that continues to traffic in this bizarre narrative today," Palin writes on Facebook.

"This JournoList exchange exposes the warped nature of today's media, thus explaining why many of us are forced, in fairness to the public, to utilize other mediums to communicate until the mainstream media wakes up and begins respecting the public's intelligence and desire for truth in reporting," she adds.

The JournoList discussion includes a reference to Trig as "Palin's Downs child," earning a rebuke from another member who writes that "we should be respectful in how we refer to people with disabilities."

Many members of the list urged others not to cover the conspiracy theory.

Wrote Ezra Klein, the now-shuttered listserv's founder: "Seriously, folks? Best case scenario, what's your outcome here: Her daughter, hounded by the tabloids, breaks down that it was her child, and her mother heroically took on the burden and welcomed the disabled boy as one of her own? Palin's relationship with her children -- however they may have come to her -- strikes me as pretty far out of bounds. By all accounts she's a wonderful mother, and devoted to her fifth son. Leave this be."

Palin earlier called a Daily Caller story about JournoList an "eye-opener," adding that "It's encouraging for commonsense conservatives who are frustrated with media cover-ups and biases to see truth revealed."