How To Impeach Your Own Witness

What does the pitiful Sully have to say about the "important, thorough and debunking" ABC News report on the death of Matthew Shepard after its airing?

Nothing.

Let's look at the important, thorough and debunking "new evidence" in the piece, as set forth in the online version of the ABC report. (I didn't see the program, so if ABC left some important details out of its online version, well, that just shows what a half-assed news organization it is.)

1. The killer who delivered the fatal beating, McKinney, denies the killing was motivated by anti-gay bias. When he said that before, he was just lying, as a trial tactic.

2. A number of people say McKinney and Matthew Shepard were social acquaintances before the crime. McKinney says he never met Shepard before.

3. A limo driver says that McKinney was bisexual, and engaged in a three-way with him and a woman. McKinney says he's never had sex with a man.

There you have it. McKinney is a liar on points 2 and 3, according to all the people interviewed on those points. Therefore, he has enormous credibility on point 1, except for the part where he was, you know, he was lying about it.

To be fair, 20/20 also asserts that Shepard used crystal meth as well. And, of course, you can't be the victim of a bias-motivated crime if you use drugs.

And here's more from David Ehrenstein and Doug Ireland.

p.s. Between this story and the Dick Dasen saga, is there anyone in Montana or Wyoming who's not on crank?