Latest Attempt to Smear Palin Fails Miserably (Update: Huffington Post Effectively Retracts)

Eric Robinson tries to smear Governor Palin in the Yale Daily News:

What has me troubled is a black bracelet firmly clasped around her left wrist....The name on her black memorial bracelet — one, like the gold star, a demonstration of a friend or associate who was killed in action — is that of her oldest son, Track. Track served honorably in Iraq, and both he and his parents should be thanked for his selfless service to his country. He is also alive.

Commemorating Track’s service by wearing a a black memorial bracelet which is reserved for those dead or even a red bracelet for those missing in action, demonstrates a horrifying contempt for those who gave their last full measure of devotion or an almost unbelievable ignorance of the importance of symbols in American history.

Unfortunately, given Palin’s reputation and frequent public statements, I assume it is the latter.

Since Robinson is a veteran and doesn't appear to have thrown medals into an ocean or accused marines of committing murder, let's give him a break on this one. He was just outrageously misinformed. Chris Greta from Herobracelets.org provided Governor Palin with the bracelet. Greta writes:

In some recent photo’s of Sarah Palin, we noticed she’s wearing her Deployed HeroBracelet bearing her son’s name, Track [Palin]. Track is serving in the Middle East right now.

Back in [2008], we had heard that both Sarah Palin’s son and now Vice President Joseph Biden’s son were heading off on deployments, so we made them both a set of Deployed HeroBracelets with their son’s names on the bracelets. Our way for thanking them both for having son’s in the military. We actually got a very nice call from Senator Biden’s office, thanking us for the HeroBracelets. And now we’re quite proud to see Sarah Palin wearing her HeroBracelet.

Even the professional liars at the radical liberal blog Crooks and Liars concede that they erred in their "reporting" of this "story" and have effectively retracted. Let's hope that Robinson does the honorable thing as well and retracts his misinformed smear of Governor Palin.

UPDATE: The "Deployed HeroBracelet" is bronze anodized aluminum and, as you can see in this example from the organization's website, not black at all:



Compare that example with the picture of Palin below.



Update #2: The Huffington Post has effectively retracted its summary of Robinson's article. We are still awaiting a retraction from Eric Robinson himself.

Update III (Doug): Robinson has retracted his story:

In my column in the News Wednesday, I criticized former Alaska governor Sarah Palin for wearing a black memorial bracelet with her son’s name on it, as Track returned unharmed from Iraq last fall. However, Sarah Palin's bracelet was not black; instead, it was a dark brown "DeployedHero" bracelet worn by those who have loved ones currently serving in the military. The bracelet is different from the black one associated with men and women who are killed in action overseas. Recognizing this, I apologize to the governor and to any reader who might have been misled by my piece. I hope that this serves as an important lesson for anyone interested in the importance of these symbols.