I’d never heard of Andrew Stiles or the internet rag (is that a thing?) that he writes for, something called the Washington Free Beacon, until today. Sounds impressively patriotic and shit doesn’t it?The only reason I paid this creep any mind is that he mocked a friend of mine, Lamar White. Lamar happens to have cerebral palsy. Stiles mocked his disability and that is why he’s malaka of the week.

The offending, and offensive post, was occasioned by Lamar’s appearance with Wendy Davis in the wake of attacks on an ad she ran about her opponent, Greg Abbot. Abbot is in a wheelchair himself but is utterly indifferent to fate of others similarity situated. In short, he’s another hypocritical wingnut. You cannot shake a tree without dozens of them falling out. That’s right, folks, we’re in another IOKIFYAR situation. They can play hardball without reproach and Democrats cannot. Bullies can never take a punch without squealing like  a stuck pig. We all know that.

In any event, here’s Malaka Stiles’ shtick:

On Monday, Davis’s campaign organized a press conference in an effort to prove that some of her best friends are confined to wheelchairs. “Greg Abbott got his justice. Why doesn’t he believe that a rape survivor or a person with a disability or a victim paralyzed forever…should get justice too?” Davis said. “What makes Greg Abbott think it’s okay to deny them, his fellow Texans, the justice that he rightly went to court to receive?”

But things got a little awkward at one point when one of the disabled speakers was dragged across the stage in a chair by (presumably) a member of the Davis campaign.

Here’s the story, morning glory. Lamar *asked* the Davis people to move the chair because it was easier for him than standing up and risk falling down. They weren’t pushing him around or demeaning him, they were helping. I guess that’s an alien concept to Stiles and his icky ilk. Here’s how Lamar explained it to the Houston Chronicle’s Lauren McGaughy:

The Wendy Davis supporter whom campaign staffers moved while he remained seated in his chair at a Monday press conference said he asked them to do so to avoid falling down. He criticized staffers and supporters of Davis’ Republican opponent Greg Abbott for calling him and the other disabled supporters gathered there “props.”

“I’m clumsy, and I fall sometimes. I didn’t want to fall on camera, so I personally asked them to slide me over in the chair,” said Lamar White, Jr., who has cerebral palsy. “I asked them to move me. Because I was worried that if I stood up, I’d fall down on camera.”

White, a law student in his final year at Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School, had just finished detailing why he supports Democratic nominee for governor Sen. Wendy Davis when a campaign staffer slid the chair out of the way of the microphone so they next attendee could speak.

Davis set up the press conference, which featured more than a dozen disabled supporters, after her latest campaign ad that centered on Abbott’s own disability proved to be incredibly divisive, netting mostly negative reviews even among liberal media outlets.

The ad discusses Abbott and his support for tort reform, which came years after he received what’s believed to be at least a $10 million settlement when a downed tree branch partially paralyzed him. The ads starts, “A tree fell on Greg Abbott…”

Abbott supporters and conservative news organizations jumped on the incident, saying the staffer “dragged” White across the stage. The Washington Free Beacon, a right-leaning news outlet, called the move ”awkward,” linking to a video entitled, “Poor advance work at Wendy Davis presser.” Townhall.com called the move “absolutely shameless.”

The only thing that was shameless about this episode is the way the right wing spin machine jumped on it and distorted everything. Totally shameless and utterly shameful.

I rarely take wingnut shenanigans personally, but  Lamar is a friend who I respect and admire for his fortitude and class in dealing with his disability. It’s easy to *forget* that he’s disabled because he copes with it so well. Lamar is considerably younger than I am but he’s one of my heroes. Here’s what I said on Facebook when I shared the Stiles piece:

There’s nothing worse than when inaccurate, malicious internet snark is aimed at your friends. Don’t mess with my pal Lamar, dickhead.

Wendy Davis called Lamar a badass tonight and she is absolutely right.He’s a total badass and Stiles is a shithead, asswipe, and insensitive lout. And that is why Andrew Stiles is malaka of the week.