It’s sweet to see Ms. Maglalang getting her comeuppance for her Macbeth-like plotting, conniving and prevaricating. All over the blogosphere, you’ll see references to her outrageous efforts to demolish the character of Cindy Sheehan in the same style the GOP noise machine tried to destroy Joe Wilson and John Kerry.
First, Media Matters takes us on a step-by-step chronological journey of how the slime machine works, starting with Drudge (of course), who then passes the baton to Maglalang, who then works in concert with falafel man Bill O’Reilly. Never mind that they so butchered Sheehan’s quotes that it amounts to bold-faced lying, and never mind that they wildly (and knowingly) take things out of context — that’s the formula, that’s how it works. And, voila! A totally false but contagious meme is born.
Then, to underscore Maglalang’s issues with being a compulsive liar and human-body-hating freak, Atrios links to this oldie but goodie, describing how Maglalang is prudishly and neurotically obsessed with Christina Aguilera’s body (draw your own conclusions about that) and how she literally makes stuff up with no compunction. It’s as though she’s just pulling her “facts” out of her …whatever.
Tbogg then throws her own “In Defense of Internment” argument back at her, making the case for Maglalang to be thrown behind the barbed wire she’d love to see encircling America’s Moslems. Lock her up, I say.
Ms. Sheehan responded to Maglalang’s venom with dignity — angry dignity, that was far more civil and humane than any of Michelle‘s cackling.
I didn’t know Casey knew Michelle Malkin…I’m Casey’s mother and I knew him better than anybody else in the world…I can’t bring Casey back, but I wonder how often Michelle Malkin sobbed on his grave. Did she go to his funeral? Did she sit up with him when he was sick when he was a baby?
Not surprising that wherever you go today, Maglalang’s name is everwhere for her hit job on Cindy Sheehan, who, quite ironically, is now emerging as quite the folk hero of our time.
Liberal Avenger illustrates Maglalang’s specious rationalizations of racial profiling (which perhaps can be rationalized, but not with Michelle’s stupid reasoning).
Martini Republic, who’s been all over this story, points out the absurdity of Malkin complaining today about hate mail she’s receiving (“people in glass houses…”).
Malkin Watch says our lady of perpetual venom just keeps digging herself in deeper with her easy-to-fisk lies about Sheehan.
The Net is teeming with examples of Malkin fatigue. It’s everywhere. Let me just close with a final example and a healthy clip from the irrepressible Rude Pundit, who refers to Maglalang as “a creeping nutzoid.”
All around Left Blogsylvania you can read articles about Cindy Sheehan, the mother of Casey Sheehan, a soldier who died in Iraq, fighting in Sadr City back in April 2004, shot in the head. Cindy Sheehan has become one of the leading voices of families of soldiers opposing the war. She now sits a few miles outside of President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, along with other anti-war protesters, waiting to speak to her son’s Commander-in-Chief, to tell him to bring the soldiers home. She wants to speak directly to Bush, not to his lackeys and handlers. Cindy Sheehan’s nation didn’t elect Stephen Hadley, the National Security Adviser, who did talk to Sheehan for 45 minutes this week. No, Bush is the President of citizens of a republic and, as such, in an ideal republic, is merely the equal of each and every one of those citizens. She has met with Bush before and came away from the occasion sickened by it.
All over Right Blogsylvania, the creeping nutzoids are looking for any way to attack and discredit Cindy Sheehan, for, like for so many non-violent protesters before her, the reaction to her silent disobedience shows the true face of those who oppose and wish to silence her.
Let us ponder for a moment the sensibility of a man, our President, who refuses to give Cindy Sheehan the time of day. Trent Duffy, speaking to the sweaty press in Crawford, declared that Bush met with her in July 2004, “and he was glad to meet with her at that time,” as if Cindy Sheehan had her one shot and the President doesn’t need to give the time of day to her anymore. Maybe if she donated $100,000 to the Republican National Committee, he’d find some more time.
Public relations-wise, this is an easy one, isn’t it? If you’re the President, you meet with Sheehan. You invite her in. You give her some lemonade. You listen. You say you’re sorry. And then you let her go back out. PR problem over, no? Fuck, while she’s talkin’, you can have monkeys dancin’ in your head. But doesn’t this seem like a no-brainer?
Unless, of course, you don’t give a shit. Unless, of course, you think of yourself as unquestionably right and, frankly, you couldn’t give a happy monkey fuck what the opposition says. And, of course, Bush doesn’t.
So often symbols of protest are created by the power of the opposition. Right now, Bush is making Cindy Sheehan into a more powerful figure than he could ever imagine. Than he could ever wish for himself. In the end, if Sheehan indeed becomes a new Rosa Parks, then, like the war itself, the President will only have himself to blame.
No, he’ll also have Bill O’Reilly and Michelle Maglalang to blame. She was a curiosity a few days ago. Then they turned the big guns on her, and whaddayaknow, a star is born. Thanks for your good work. Now let’s watch Fox News and Rush Limbaugh continue running on overdrive with stories of Sheehan torturing small animals and passing out ricin-soaked brownies at the playground.
1
By Ben
Richard, there’s a lot of good stuff on this over at Arianna Huffington’s blog. You should blogroll it.
Today over there Tom Hayden wrote,
“Casey Sheehan lives in his mother’s being, and that’s why Cindy Sheehan can’t stop, won’t stop. She shows us why and how to fight. She is wrecking the President’s vacation and rupturing his control of the media. She is establishing the presence of an anti-war spirit among military families. What is interesting so far is that Bush, unlike Nixon, has not succeeded in generating a Gold Star Mothers for War. Is the sentiment that anti-Bush among all those families who are pondering how they lost their loved ones for a fabrication? Is that also why Rep. Walter Jones, a Republican whose district includes Camp Lejeune, has co-authored a House resolution for withdrawal? As in Vietnam, once again it appears for now that the soldiers withdraw first, with their hearts and minds, even as their bodies go through the motions. The spirits of the dead take point for the living.”
http://tinyurl.com/7olyt
August 11, 2005 @ 5:20 pm | Comment
2
By Michelle's Husband
Maglalang-a-ding-ding strikes again! Thanks for pulling the links together.
August 11, 2005 @ 6:05 pm | Comment
3
By The Liberal Avenger
Thanks for the comprehensive topic round-up and for the link.
For those not familiar with the Malkin “Ghost Blogging” story, I recommend it.
August 11, 2005 @ 6:41 pm | Comment
4
By Chris
“A woman who has flip-flopped her position on her son’s death more than John Kerry’s flip-flops combined. First she’s happy about her son’s death and then she’s sad. Then she says she was actually sad about her son’s death before she was happy about it. Get a backbone. Ever heard of RESOLVE?”
Not Jeff Gannon
August 11, 2005 @ 7:46 pm | Comment
5
By NJ Flamingo
Thank you! On every level of this post I agree. She is the most vile excuse of a human being. I can’t comprehend people who buy into her and her message.
August 11, 2005 @ 7:50 pm | Comment
6
By Tom - Daai Tou Laam
Liberal Avenger, I kind of like this post of yours from a year ago.
I didn’t realise Ma-ding-a-ling’s close ties to vdare.com. I’m pretty sure the Southern Poverty Law Center has some not so kind words for vdare for its overt racism. {not that most sensible people had any doubts about the overt racism of Ma-ding-a-ling to begin with.}
And hi Richard. Congrats on the link from Atrios!
August 11, 2005 @ 7:50 pm | Comment
7
By A. Nonymous
“It’s as though she’s just pulling her “facts” out of her Philippino…whatever.”
Malkin sucks, but cut the racial shit.
August 11, 2005 @ 7:52 pm | Comment
8
By richard
I promise, it’s not racist. I love Asian people, Chinese, Philippino whatever. I am moving to Asia in a few weeks. She always makes a big deal of calling out people’s race. She’s a Philippino, she should be proud of it. It’s no insult.
August 11, 2005 @ 7:57 pm | Comment
9
By Conrad
Bullshit Richard. A. Nonymous is right and I’ve called you on this before. Your insistence on using Malkin’s maiden, i.e., Filipina, name when she does not, combined with today’s completely unnecessary comment regarding “her Philipino ass” is offensive. I’ve got no time for Malkin, but these constant gratuitous references to her ethnicity — as if there’s something wrong with it — offends the hell out of me. Knock it off, you’re better than that and it makes you look really bad.
August 11, 2005 @ 8:12 pm | Comment
10
By richard
Conrad, that’s her nickname in my side of the blogosphere. It is the name she uses inside her book on the joys of interning Japanese. I didn;t make it up — it is right out of her own book!
The Republicans constantly give nicknames to liberals — your hero Charles Johnson always referred to John Kerry as “flipper.” Ha ha. So allow us the same latitude, especially when she uses the name Maglalang in her own book!It’s the name she uses in her book!
August 11, 2005 @ 8:17 pm | Comment
11
By richard
Not Gannon: She didn’t flipflop — that is the Drudge-concocted meme and I resent it deeply. Over a 14-month period she changed her mind about the Iraq war, like 30 percent of the American public did. That is not flip flopping, it’s waking up to reality. But the bushies can’t resist the smear; they’ve found their hook, even if it’s based on out-of-context quotes and blatant lies. Now that they’ve got the hook, let’s circle in for the kill and crucify the bitch!
Bottom line – this woman lost her son, and now she wants to know why, and why the president keeps saying yet more soldiers need to die in honor of those who have fallen, in an endless loop. And all the bushies can do is play word games (“she was for the war before she was against it”) like they did in the 20004 campaign. Sickening and inexcusable.
The pharmaceutical people can get in front of the “president” instantly by waving some big bills in his face. But for a an average American who has suffered terribly and whose child has made the ultimate sacrifice for Bush’s dirty war, the only response is, “Sorry, I’m busy clearing brush.” Fuck it.
August 11, 2005 @ 8:25 pm | Comment
12
By Conrad
Sorry Richard, that doesn’t wash. Nicknames are one thing, gratuitious references to someone’s race are another thing entirely.
If I referred to Barak Obama’s “black ass” or Diane Feinstien’s “Jew ass” people would be rightly offended and justified in accusing me of bigotry.
What if a Jewish woman named, say, Goldstein, married a man named Smith and used Smith as her married name. Yet I insisted upon referring to her has “Goldstein”. You would rightly suspect me of anti-semitism. Indeed, what acceptable reason would there be for me to insist upon making such a reference?
Seriously, Richard, you should knock this off. It really doesn’t look good and there’s no excuse for it.
August 11, 2005 @ 8:41 pm | Comment
13
By richard
Okay Conrad,I’m a reasonable guy and never want to offend anyone. I will edit the post.
August 11, 2005 @ 8:54 pm | Comment
14
By Charlie
Conrad:
Malkin is a stock figure — an Uncle Tom. That’s why people keep referring to her ethnicity. Malkin is, to borrow a phrase, a slick little race hustler. She has used her brown skin, together with her amorality, as an entree into the highest reaches of conservative pundocracy. She makes a lot of money as the minority who tells white people its OK to hate minorities. That’s why the angry references to her ethnicity.
Now, does all this make her a Philipina souless fuckhead, or just a souless fuckhead? I’d say the latter, but am unwilling to argue with those who disagree. No intra-party squabling for me. I save my fire for Malkin and the falafel man.
August 11, 2005 @ 9:06 pm | Comment
15
By LCM
McCain used the term “gook”. What happened to him?
August 11, 2005 @ 9:08 pm | Comment
16
By Conrad
The problem I have with Sheehan’s behaviour is the same problem I had with Herbert Shugart’s — remember
him?
http://tinyurl.com/76uta
The office of the President is entitled to respect, whatever one may think of its occupant. Shughart used the loss of his son to put Clinton in an extremely
unfair public position where he could not possibly defend himself without appearing to disrespect Shugart’s loss. Sheehan is trying to do the same
thing to Bush except, in Sheehan’s case, she’s already had an opportunity to speak her mind to the President,
as Shughart did, and apparently — for whatever reason — declined to do so.
Both Shughart and Sheehan have the right to publicly express their opinion but, in each case, I the exploitation of their loss to seek to put the President (and the office of the Presidency) in an
embarrassing and unfair position was/is unseemly.
If Sheehan wants to condemn the war in Iraq, more power to her. But camping out in Crawford seeking to
put the President in an unfair confrontation with a grieving mother is not appropriate any more than it was appropriate for Shughart to do it to President Clinton.
August 11, 2005 @ 9:17 pm | Comment
17
By Conrad
The problem I have with Sheehan’s behavior is the same problem I had with Herbert Shugart’s — remember him?
http://tinyurl.com/76uta
The office of the President is entitled to respect, whatever one may think of its occupant. Shughart used the loss of his son to put Clinton in an extremely unfair public position where he could not possibly defend himself without appearing to disrespect Shugart’s loss. Sheehan is trying to do the same thing to Bush except, in Sheehan’s case, she’s already had an opportunity to speak her mind to the President, as Shughart did, and apparently — for whatever reason — declined to do so.
Both Shughart and Sheehan have the right to express their opinion in public but, in each case, I think that their exploitation of their loss to seek to put the President (and the office of the Presidency) in an embarrassing and unfair position was/is unseemly.
If Sheehan wants to condemn the war in Iraq, more power to her. But camping out in Crawford seeking to put the President in an unfair confrontation with a grieving mother is not appropriate any more than it was appropriate for Shughart to do it to President Clinton.
August 11, 2005 @ 9:18 pm | Comment
18
By Mike Yung
Why should Ms. Maglalang be ashamed of the name she was born with?
Why should she be ashamed of a name that indicates her ethnicity? Is she ashamed of her ethnicity? Are you ashamed of her ethnicity?
It is quite obvious when you see her that she isn’t causian so why should she object when someone uses her name that indicates something that is already apparent?
She makes a living based on the fact that she is an Asian woman that advocates positions that hurt members of her ethnicity. If she were caucasian, she’d just be another racist Fox commentator.
August 11, 2005 @ 9:24 pm | Comment
19
By richard
Interesting point, Conrad. But Clinton took the disrespect and dealt with it. He didn’t shun the guy. Clinton would never have allowed this mess with Sheehan to happen. He’d have met with her and he would have ended up the big political winner — it’s just a fact that he had the charm and persuasive powers to do this, for better or worse. And that’s why he was such a great communicator and such a great leader. Being president is all about communication and reassurance. Clinton had this gift, Bush is a mere bumbler. He had a goldmine of an opportunity, and he blew it, as usual.
The argument that Sheehan already had her chance to speak to the president strikes me as a canard. 14 months ago we knew far less than we know today. We now know it was a bad and poorly organized war from day one. Thus, the American people’s approval of the way Bush is handling Iraq has crashed to a mere 38 percent. It’s totally conceivable — no, totally logical — that someone who accepted the war 14 months ago would be vehemently opposed to it today. There’s a reason Sheehan is emerging as a hero; she represents the torment and struggles all Americans have gone through, and she puts a human face on all the misery our little president has thrust onto so many decent American families. Shame on him.
August 11, 2005 @ 9:29 pm | Comment
20
By richard
Here’s a revealing timeline of the Cindy Sheehan story.
August 11, 2005 @ 9:31 pm | Comment
21
By The Left Coaster
The next Cindy Sheehan smear
Via Dave Johnson at Seeing the Forest, I see that the sub-human scum on the Far Right (aka Matt Drudge and Rush Limbaugh) are up to their usual nonsense once again This time it’s about a supposed letter from…
August 11, 2005 @ 9:32 pm | Comment
22
By Kathleen
Conrad – to be fair you should check out some of what Ms. M. has written about Hillary and other Democratic/liberal women and their maiden names. It isn’t pretty.
August 11, 2005 @ 9:46 pm | Comment
23
By Conrad
Kathleen:
I’m no fan or defender of Malkin. Indeed, Malkin has defended Steve Sailer and VDare, who I very explicitly condemned as racist back when I was blogging.
I just think we’re all better off leaving the gratuitious racial references out of any discussion of her. Malkin may or may not be a bigot — I don’t read her so I can’t say — but even if she is, that’s not an excuse to descend to the same depths. I hold Richard to a higher standard because I know him to be better than that.
August 11, 2005 @ 10:02 pm | Comment
24
By Kaylani Li
I am very surprised to find myself in complete agreement with Conrad – grauitious reference to Malkin’s ethnicity could very easily be construed as pejorative and demeaning.
Given Conrad’s usually indifference to regulation political correctness, however, I am surprised that he is so indignant. That’s right – were it not for impoverished South-east Asian countries just like Malkin’s homeland, sordid caucasian sex tourists like Conrad would get no sex whatsoever.
August 11, 2005 @ 10:18 pm | Comment
25
By richard
Kaylani, I am sensitive to racism, and when I considered Conrad’s comment I deleted the reference to Maglalang’s ethnicity. But there is a reason I referenced it in the first place (look over this blog and you’ll see it’s something I don’t do). The reason is simple: Maglalang herself so very often references race. It’s always struck as gallingly hypocritical to see her, a minority affirmative action hire, bashing immigrants here as though they were animals, and singling out blacks as well as though they were a subspecies. I went back and took out the reference to her being a Philippino. Now, will she go back and take out her references to people’s race and skin colo?. No, I really don’t think so.
August 11, 2005 @ 10:24 pm | Comment
26
By tubmon
typical! How long has Cinton been out of office kidz? what the hell does he have to do with this great fascist liethat has been served up by these fine ‘leaders’ you hold in such high esteem /
spare us the prattling horsepoop about ‘respect and embarrassment of the office of the president’,because the truth is that bush the small brings disrepect and embarrassment to the office he holds ,virtually every time he opens his mouth …case in point …his comments about the death of Peter Jennings …is it a political tactic to speak with the syntax/synaptic rythym of a sixth grader ? Is that how he reaches his
“base ”
as for Malkin she’s a racist ….must have been her upbringing that ‘s got her to where she feels priviledged to speak her piece ..but it reflects her own shortcomings and pain
that ‘ll do on my comments to that
August 11, 2005 @ 10:26 pm | Comment
27
By richard
Heh – you should all be sure to read Liberal Avenger’s post on Malkin’s ghostwriting. We all knew she was dishonest and slippery, but this takes it to a new level.
Michelle, Michelle, Michelle — we tried so hard to love you, but you let us down. Shouldn’t you feel ashamed of yourself?
August 11, 2005 @ 10:57 pm | Comment
28
By Ivan
Well, about Cindy Sheehan’s request to receive a personal answer from Mr Bush, consider how far we have sunk since Abraham Lincoln PERSONALLY wrote his letter to Mrs Bixby. You can read it at:
http://www.bartleby.com/43/38.html
Lincoln didn’t use ghostwriters.
Didn’t need them. And he knew the dignity of understatement.
August 11, 2005 @ 11:18 pm | Comment
29
By Conrad
Actually Kaylani, you’d be surprised how much trim we unreconstructed Nazi facist reactionaries get. After all, who’s ever met a woman who fantasized about being raped by a liberal?
August 11, 2005 @ 11:27 pm | Comment
30
By feep
Conrad,
Even if you are trying to be funny, you just lost any claim to legitimacy with that post. Do your knuckles bleed frequently?
August 11, 2005 @ 11:46 pm | Comment
31
By richard
Nice point, Ivan. People like you and I are such softies, like we emerged out of a time warp into this colder, uglier more violent age. It hurts to know you’re not hip. But there’s also some satisfaction, knowiing you actually stand for something.
August 11, 2005 @ 11:52 pm | Comment
32
By matthewstinson.net
A note on civility
If you want to criticize Michelle Malkin, that’s fine. But criticizing her while constantly referring to her maiden Filipino name rather than married name is racist and sexist, and contributes to an atmosphere where some on the left regularly c…
August 12, 2005 @ 12:12 am | Comment
33
By Kaylani Li
Richard, making reference to Michelle by her maiden name is demeaning, since you are only doing so to draw attention to her ethnic bakground. Her vitriolic bigotry fails to justify the use of similar tactics when criticising her. In fact, given that you are criticising her for indulging in such racism, your remarks constitute nothing less than disgraceful hypocricy.
I wouldn’t be so sensitive about Conrad either guys – his last post was just rank with desperation. I guess he’s fortunate that he can always seek solace in the embrace of some well-worn bargirl. Because it’s not likely that he’ll find it anywhere else.
August 12, 2005 @ 12:13 am | Comment
34
By Ivan
Thanks for your kind words, Richard. But also (now backtracking from some exasperated comments I made earlier on giving up on America) my father always taught me: “You should always judge every community (and every nation) by its BEST people, because the worst people are the same in every country.” So, as long as there are a few Cindy Sheehans out there, America will be alright…
August 12, 2005 @ 12:15 am | Comment
35
By Conrad
Actually Feep, I lost any “claim to legitimacy” when my mother gave birth to me prior to marrying my father, but that’s another story entirely. . . .
August 12, 2005 @ 12:25 am | Comment
36
By richard
See it as you will Kaylani- it is right out of her book, and it’s to remind her that for all her bashing of immigransts, she bears much in comon with them.This is is not a put-down, to bring up her roots. Most Americans are proud of their ethnic heritage, as I am of my Russian-Jewish background. It’s intriguing (i.e., bizarre) that you psee this as such a slap. But meanwhile, Malkin has been referred to as Maglalang for months, and part of her dailt message is to be tough and macho and to bully and kick and fight gainst “unhinged” liberals. So I have utter confidence our Iron Lady can handle the pressure of bneing called by her maiden name. I assure you, if she contacts me and tells me she is ashamed of her name or suffering in any way by references to it, I’ll be happy to take it down. I won’t tolerate causing pain to anyone. But my guess is she doesn’t need the lot of you coddling her. Michelle’s tough and mean and comes out with both fits swinging. She can sleep at night knowing she’s ruined people’s lives hours earlier, so she can probably go to bed knowing I (and countless others) refer to her on our little blogs by her maiden name. In fact, I’ll bet she enjoys a profoundly good night’s sleep.
August 12, 2005 @ 12:25 am | Comment
37
By feep
We should avoid using a vitriolic bigot’s own ethnicity against her, even though her ethnicity makes her bigotry even more malignant, but bargirls are fair game? Conrad can seek solace in a sock. Leave the bargirls out of it.
August 12, 2005 @ 12:29 am | Comment
38
By richard
Where’s the bigotry?
August 12, 2005 @ 12:33 am | Comment
39
By Kaylani Li
Why are you referring to her by her maiden name? Of course it’s not an explicit slur, but she herself chooses to go by her husband’s surname. In the context that your comments were made, the implication, as Conrad pointed out, is that there is something innately negative about her original surname, and by extension, ethnic background.
The fact that Malkin has been referred to as Maglalang is absolutely no excuse – why are other people referring to her as Maglalang? And if you profess to loath racism and the causing pain to others, why have you joined in?
Conrad, your mother married your father? I just assumed that the two never saw each other again after he paid her for services rendered.
August 12, 2005 @ 12:39 am | Comment
40
By Kaylani Li
I’m sorry, but “it’s right out of her book” is a weak excuse for hypocrisy.
August 12, 2005 @ 12:39 am | Comment
41
By zach
I wasn’t aware there was a Philippino race.
My dad had Philippino cooks on his submarine
and they were very nice people, but I wasn’t aware they constituted a race.
Kinda like being Canadian, EH?
You tellin me they are a race too?
Or Southern……………
August 12, 2005 @ 12:42 am | Comment
42
By feep
richard,
Michelle’s blind devotion to her own (supposed) beliefs and opinions as well as her intolerance and contempt for those who do not agree with her means she is the definition of a bigot.
August 12, 2005 @ 12:54 am | Comment
43
By Conrad
Kaylani:
That last remark went just a bit too far, don’t you think?
Zach:
Filipino is certainly a distinct ethnic group descended from the Austronesians and related to, but distinct from, Malay and Indonesians. More importantly, Filipinos are subject to significant discrimination and prejudice in Asia, as Richard well knows, which makes the gratuitious ethnic identification particularly problematic.
August 12, 2005 @ 1:04 am | Comment
44
By Kaylani Li
Conrad:
Yes, yes, you are right. I shouldn’t have made such facetious remarks the unconventional nature of your parents’ relationship. My apologies.
Shit, talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Didn’t you issue a rape joke earlier today.
And sorry to be pedantic, but not only are Filipinos descended from Austronesians, they ARE Austronesians. They still fall within the same linguistic and ethnic category as their ancestors – they haven’t magically changed into Melanesians or Sino-Tibetans.
What the heck kind of two-bit lawyer indulges in such sloppy and imprecise use of language?
August 12, 2005 @ 1:15 am | Comment
45
By Kaylani Li
“gratuitious ethnic identification (is) particularly problematic”
Yeah, if your preferred female company is bargirls from Wanchai. Shit, no wonder you’re so sensitive about them.
August 12, 2005 @ 1:18 am | Comment
46
By Conrad
Richard:
I don’t understand your obtuseness on this point. Kaylani has it right (except for the nasty bit calling my mother a ‘ho, of course). It’s one thing to point out Malkin’s ethnic background if and when it’s specificallly relevant to something she has argued. It’s another thing entirely to gratuitiously inject her maiden name, implying that there is something inherently negative in her Philippine ethnicity.
What has Malkins ethnicity got to do with the Sheehan debate?
I go back to my original example. If I insisted upon calling a married woman (with whom I disagreed) who’d adopted her husband’s name of, say, Smith, by her maiden name Goldstien, how could anyone not conclude that I was implying something derogatory about her Jewish heritage and that doing so was inherently anti-semitic.
Would the fact that the Mrs. Smith was pro-Palestinian or Anti-Sharon make it okay?
Finally, is there any other married woman whose chosen to adopt her husband’s name who you nevertheless insist upon calling by her former moniker? If not, why Malkin except that she’s a Filipina.
August 12, 2005 @ 1:22 am | Comment
47
By Dave
Use of the birth name by a female “publicfigure”? Senator Diane Feinstein(Blum) for example…does that make me an Anti-Semite? lol
August 12, 2005 @ 1:33 am | Comment
48
By feep
Does “Plame” ring any bells?
August 12, 2005 @ 1:33 am | Comment
49
By Conrad
Kaylani, you are living proof of the adage that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. The Filipino ethnic groups are not Austronesians.
The indigenous population of Southeast Asia, and thus the Philippines, came primarily from two separate migrations.
The first of these migrations was of Australo-Melanesians. The second Austronesians. Because of these two migrations, of distinct ethnicities, and the resulting intermixing of these populations, pure Austronesian bloodlines do not exist in the Philippines, Malaysia, etc. They probably continue to exist among the aboriginal people of Taiwan and in Polynesia.
Filipinos cannot be accurately described as Austronesian.
To be precise. . . .
August 12, 2005 @ 1:47 am | Comment
50
By Auguste
I don’t ever use Maglalang on my blog, but the logic behind the use of her name (by those with honorable intentions) is as follows:
Malkin attacked Teresa Heinz Kerry for using Heinz as her business name.
Malkin uses Maglalang as her business name. “As for my legal name, I just never bothered to submit the bureaucratic paperwork required to change it. Simple as that.”
There is quite a case for hypocrisy to be made there. This does not excuse stuff like “Maglalangadingdong” or, in my opinion, provide a good reason for continuing to use it – especially considering the (possibly fair) charges of racism and even more hypocrisy it opens one up to.
Still, I believe some people who continue to use it are not doing it from racist intentions.
August 12, 2005 @ 1:50 am | Comment
51
By Kaylani Li
Conrad, with the exception of some very obscure and isolated tribes, there is no such thing as a pure race on the face of the planet. And lack of “purity” does make Filipinos, or Malays or Indonesians, any less Austronesian.
The Spanish have a great deal of pre-Indo European ancestry, and Italians no doubt have a great deal of Etruscan ancestry, yet we continue to regard to them as a Latin people. DNA studies have demonstrated that the English have a great deal of Celtic and indigenous British ancestry, , pre-dating the arrival of Germanic tribes, yet we still refer to them as Anglo-saxons.
Regardless of the mixed ancestry of the present day Filipinos, they still speak Austronesian languages, contain a significant (predominant perhaps) amount of “pure” Austronesian ancestry, and as such, are regarded as Austronesian. Try tell any linguistic or ethnologist that the Filipinos and Malays are not Austronesian and he or she will just laugh at such nonsense. You might want to try this tactic, actually, since you’re not going to elicit any laughter with that limited wit of yours.
You’re clutching at straws with crude clumsy digits Conrad. How did you ever manage to become a lawyer?
August 12, 2005 @ 3:24 am | Comment
52
By Kaylani Li
Your quote also specifically mentions that it is in the northern part of the country that indigenous genes predominate. Which implies that the rest of the country is different.
“languages related to Austronesian”
Where the hell did you find this quote? All the major Filipino languages are clearly categorised as “Austronesian”. Saying that Visayan or Tagalog is “related to Austronesian” is like saying English is “related to Indo-European”.
I dont’ expect that you’re very adept at it, but you should really stick to the lawyering.
August 12, 2005 @ 3:29 am | Comment
53
By Sam_S
We’re not going to have another one of these fits of correctness, now are we? I rather like it when the hyperventilating hyperbole is thick in the air.
Michael Moore is a Swedish-Irish scrotum sniffer!
And what about Conrad’s hairy black ass?!
But seriously, this seems like quite a fixation with one fairly small polemicist. I haven’t read one Michelle M. piece in a year, but come over to PKD, and she’s famous as hell! Kind of like accidentally walking into a Star Trek convention.
Are you sure you really want to add to her publicity?
August 12, 2005 @ 3:45 am | Comment
54
By Ivan
Hm, interesting point about how mixed the English really are. Actually there’s a good bit of “Black” blood among the English, going back to when the Roman Legions were stationed there. Most of the Roman soldiers in Britain were from other parts of the Empire, including North Africa.
August 12, 2005 @ 3:53 am | Comment
55
By Simon
Kaylani Li, why do you have to end each potentially interesting comment with a personal attack on Conrad, especially when he has shown you nothing but respect and admirable restraint (especially after you called his Ma a ‘ho).
As to this whole debate, I can’t believe I am witnessing a confessed liberal defending his use of race and the admitted conservative taking him to task for it. Nothing is as it seems in this mixed up world.
More importantly, Conrad’s right. Would MM’s positions (not that I necessarily agree with any of them) matter any more or less if she was a white man, or black woman? Even if she does talk about race often, her race (whatever it may be) is unimportant. I’m not Chinese but I often comment on Chinese affairs…as does Richard.
To sum up with some cliches: don’t shoot the messenger, shoot the message OR play the ball, not the (wo)man. Let’s debate ideas, not the people who deliver them.
August 12, 2005 @ 4:15 am | Comment
56
By WesPac
I haven’t seen a Flip yet that was worth a shit.
August 12, 2005 @ 6:23 am | Comment
57
By 13sides
part 1 answering sheehan
we should bring home the troops. it makes no sense to keep them there. especially since it has become the main training grounds for terrorists.
August 12, 2005 @ 6:27 am | Comment
58
By esoterically.net
This morning’s reading
Michelle Malkin’s bad hair week….
August 12, 2005 @ 6:38 am | Comment
59
By Jase
Um, I don’t think pointing out Michelle’s ethnicity is being racist in the context that she has built a career on racism. Michelle’s book is a racist diatribe against Japanese Americans and Arabs; she also has written extensively on the awful threat of Latino immigrants coming to the US to rain crime on the land.
The point of bringing up her ethnicity is to show that as a first generation American, how can she trade in such hypocritical thoughts. If we were to follow her logic, because there are muslim Filipino terrorists, we should also racially profile all Filipinos since visually we can’t tell the difference between an atheist, Christian or Muslim. As such, Michelle should be subjected to internment alongside of Arabs. After all, how do we really know that she isn’t a secret Muslim? Maybe she’s part of super secret terrorist cell that has infiltrated the media to sew mistrust into the fabric of American life? If this were task as an agent of the Axis of Evil, wouldn’t she be a lot like those aliens invaders in the old “Twilight Zone” episode ‘Monsters on Maple Drive”?
August 12, 2005 @ 6:43 am | Comment
60
By Terry C
The GOP’s attack Pekingese.
August 12, 2005 @ 7:09 am | Comment
61
By db
The Republicans control every institution right now.
I don’t feel like being “above” them.
Whether it’s the real ditch of Cindy Sheehan or a verbal ditch, I say, take the fight to the enemy.
August 12, 2005 @ 7:26 am | Comment
62
By twentyamptwist
“But camping out in Crawford seeking to put the President in an unfair confrontation with a grieving mother is not appropriate any more than it was appropriate for Shughart to do it to President Clinton.”
I guess attempting to impeach a president over a blowjob is your idea of appropriate?
Respect for this president. You must be joking. Why? What has he done to earn it?
I’ll tell you what unfair is: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/8/10/154436/460
“He was just two weeks away from finishing up his six-year stint in the Guard when he was told that his tour of duty was being extended and that he would serve in Iraq for at least a year, maybe longer. The news could not have come at a worse time for Pellegrini. He was training for his first pro fight, newly engaged to be married, and settling into his job as a Philadelphia police officer, just like his dad.
Instead, he was ordered by his government to fight a war that he did not believe in. He told us that the conflict in Iraq was “a so-called war” and that he saw U.S. troops as caught in an impossible situation.
In the end, Pellegrini’s stay in Iraq lasted little more than eight months. Yesterday morning, his parents were notified that he had been killed in action.”
All for a fucking lie.
August 12, 2005 @ 7:46 am | Comment
63
By Gordon
Okay, Jase,
Prove that she is wrong. You can’t do it because the statistics support her contentions!
August 12, 2005 @ 7:54 am | Comment
64
By Gordon
Yeah, I remember how bigots back in the States would say…”I’m not racist, I know a few black people.”
Not trying to say that you’re racist, but I think you can see where I’m going…
August 12, 2005 @ 7:57 am | Comment
65
By Leslie
I haven’t had time to read every comment, but I do know that the one and only time I saw M Malkin, she was on Hardball with Chris Matthews (before the right wing completely took over MSNBC). She was completely offensive. So much so, that Chris Matthews cut her short and told her that she was making things up as she went along, and that she could – in essence- move along … NOW. He did not let her finish; she left and she was not invited back. Again, that was before MSNBC went completely (except for Keith Olbermann) right wing.
August 12, 2005 @ 8:25 am | Comment
66
By Gordon
AN OPEN LETTER TO CINDY SHEEHAN
August 12, 2005 @ 9:27 am | Comment
67
By richard
Gordon, it was an old racist clichee, “Some of my bet friends are negroes.” That usually meant they’d nod to the cashier as she sold them cigarettes. In my case, what I wrote about my relation with Asian people is true. They are (the?) major part of my life; it’s not a token gesture. I am moving to Asia most likely in a couple of months, so that allegation just won’t stick. You, more than most readers, know this is true.
Sounds like you have a major chip on your shoulder re. Maglalang’s documented racism. Not that there
‘s anything wrong with that, but just be aware of it.
August 12, 2005 @ 9:43 am | Comment
68
By Vicente Fox
How typical. In-fighting amonst people who should be directing their energy fighting the neo-fascists who’ve hijacked our country.
Wake up, people!
August 12, 2005 @ 9:57 am | Comment
69
By richard
Vicente, it’s not really infighting. This is not a “liberal” blog. Gordon and Conrad, for example, are conservative hawks and big fans for Madame Malkin. So this happens everytime I write about her. And it’s a great diversion; instead of discussing her deranged actions, they focus on my using the name from her book, Maglalang. As though I am insulting Filipinos! Bullshit. It’s done on just about every liberal blog because we know Maglalang is ashamed of not being a Mayflower gal. It has nothing to do with it’s being an Asian or Latino or French name. Now, if you want to talk about real group hate, take a look at the job those whacko warbloggers did in recent years on the French. Oh, and Muslims, too! In case you never noticed. 🙂 (That’s directed at the neo-cons in our midst, not you, Vicente.)
August 12, 2005 @ 10:09 am | Comment
70
By Ivan
Tracking back to earlier in this thread, to an exchange between me and Richard, when Richard said that he and I “emerged out of a time warp into this colder, uglier, more violent age”…
…I just want to share this especially with Richard, and anyone else who might appreciate it is invited to enjoy it as well…
…I have always loved the poem Richard Harris (died recently) wrote around 35 years ago, and then he broadcast it all over Northern Ireland while the troubles were heating up there in the early 1970s. (It is on the same LP as his song “MacArthur Park” – and now I feel very old even at 40-something because I know most people here do not remember the song MacArthur Park…. 🙂
….Anyway. During the height of the Irish troubles in the early 1970s, Richard Harris (King Arthur! “How to handle a Woman? Love her, love her, love her!”) wrote a poem, “Too Many Saviours On My Cross”, and his recitation of it was broadcast all over Britain and Ireland in those times…
…the poem is spoken by Jesus Christ on the Cross, and he is reprimanding everyone who does violence in his name. And (this is just from memory, from the top of my head) some of the lines go:
“There are too many saviours on my cross,
Letting their blood to flood
Out my ballot box with needs of their own.
Who put you there? Who told you
that was your place?….
….I AM NOT ORANGE (the colour of the Irish Protestants), I AM NOT GREEN (the colour of the Irish Catholics), I am a half ripe fruit waiting to come into ripeness,
And shame on you to have withered my orchard!
Go home to your knees and worship me in any cloth,
For I was never tailor made.
Take my beads in your crippled hands,
Can you count the decades?
Take my love in your crippled hearts,
Can you count the loss?
I in my poverty, alone without trust,
Cry shame on you again and again,
For converting me into a bullet,
and shooting me into men’s hearts”
…I believe, my teacher and my God, Jesus, would reproach today’s America in such words, even far more than He ever reproached Ireland.
And I believe, Jesus is closer to Cindy Sheehan at this moment, than He is to George Bush. Whom would Jesus come to comfort first? Cindy Sheehan, or George Bush who lied to send thousands of Americans to die, and who then replied to their mothers with a smirk and some vulgar humor, even while neither he nor his children have ever seen combat?
I am not a strict pacifist. I believe war is justified, sometimes – like in 1941 when Japan attacked us and Hitler declared war on us. I even believe – with some reluctance – that the American Civil War was a Just war. And so was WW I, and so was Korea, and even Viet Nam was an honorable war, even if misguided.
I CAN imagine Jesus forgiving all American leaders who took us into Viet Nam, and forgiving Nixon who kept us there…
…but I cannot imagine Jesus forgiving George Bush for starting the war in Iraq – not unless George Bush gets on his knees and begs for forgiveness when he meets God.
There is no such thing as a “war for Christ” – although some wars must be fought, as the lesser of two evils, like WW II. But the Iraq war was the GREATER of two evils, it was the MORE evil choice between bad choices – and so, as a Christian I believe GW Bush and all who supported his war, will have a hard reckoning when they meet Christ.
August 12, 2005 @ 10:14 am | Comment
71
By richard
Thank you, Ivan. If I get the strength I may move that out of the comments and into a separate post.
August 12, 2005 @ 10:20 am | Comment
72
By Gordon
Okay Richard, I’ll send an invite over to a few of my Filipino friends and we’ll see how they feel about it? eh?
Conrad nailed you square in the bud when he caught your reference to her “Filipino Ass”..blah blah blah..
I know you’re not racist and I would never make such a ridiculous accusation, but your hatred for the woman blinds your reason as much as it does for Bush.
BTW, check out my recent post about “no progress in Iraq”.
Many of you liberals are blinded by the same hatred you speak out against…you just can’t admit it.
August 12, 2005 @ 10:46 am | Comment
73
By richard
Go for it, Gordon! They will be upset by my using a woman’s name? The name she actually uses in her book? Like Valerie Wilson should be upset by the refereces to her as Plame? This is bizarre. In this case, if your friends are actually ashamed or offended, I would have to conclude the racism is in the eye of the beholder. They would only be ashamed if they despised their ethnic roots. I have Chinese friends who I sometimes call by their English names, sometimes their Chinese names. None, ever, ever has taken offense or been hurt. It’s nice to see you suddenly all senstivie, though.
About COnrad nailing me; I changed the wording because I realized it could be perceived as racist. I’m a reasonable guy, and if I think someone might be offended, I take it down. OI hear people says,. “Get your Irish ass over here,” all the time (and versions thereof). Just to reference a person’s ethnicity is not the same as hating it. But I did saee how some mighjt be offended, so I immediately took it down. Ironically, no one is more guilty of calling out people’s race than Malkin. This is her trademark. That you would single me out for a remark that I changed within minutes of posting — well, let’s just say it’s a bit weird. Okay, we’ve made our points about my dripping-with-racism post. All my readers know what a rabid racist I am, so we’ve erxhausted this. Next subject.
Many of you liberals are blinded by the same hatred you speak out against…you just can’t admit it.
I’ve got a lot of hatred for Malkin, I definitely admit it. But I can document every reason with examples and links. It is anything but blind. She nurtured it. And I like the way you say we’re “blinded by the hatred you speak out against”. At least you’ve acknowledge we are speaking out against hatred, that it exists. Thank you.
August 12, 2005 @ 10:56 am | Comment
74
By richard
Oh – and this is important — I never, ever, ever used the phrase “Filipino ass.” Never. I didn’t even use the word “ass.” So nasty, when Republicans misquote you.
August 12, 2005 @ 11:12 am | Comment
75
By bennellibrothers.com
The Sheehan Spin
From the NYT, Ms. Sheehan, of Vacaville, Calif., began her vigil here last weekend, and says she will not leave until Mr. Bush meets with her to explain the reason for her son’s death and to hear her argument…
August 12, 2005 @ 11:26 am | Comment
76
By NJ Flamingo
I saw the original comment and felt there was no need to edit it. But it says something about you that you did. It would be nice if MM could be that sensitive.
Some of the comments sound like a classic Rove smokescreen, where they hammer at one chink in a long argument to distract from the issue, which is Cindy Sheehan’s crucifixion. Don’t let them get you down with this. It’s strictly a desperate measure, when you know you can’t argue on substance, so you try to find a flaw in the details. There is nothing even remotely racist about using Maglalang’s name. It’s as racist as referring to Valerie Wilson as Valerie Plame. Who cares? That they put so much emphasis on this tells you how aware they are that your post is spot on and the empress has no clothes.
August 12, 2005 @ 11:31 am | Comment
77
By Gone At Last
I’m surprised that your fine roundup of Malkin sites did not include Dave Niewert’s many fine pieces on her at Orcinus (www.dniewart@blogspot.com).
Niewert worked with Malkin for some time on local papers when she was first starting out, and has choice things to say about what that was like. His new book on the Japanese internment, “Strawberry Days,” also contains a final chapter that takes “IDOI” apart quite handily.
For him, it’s personal — and he’s been making no secret of it from the get-go.
August 12, 2005 @ 11:41 am | Comment
78
By Matthew Vadum
I can’t understand why anybody is defending Mrs. Sheehan. She may be entitled to our sympathy, but that’s it. She’s an obvious nutbar.
August 12, 2005 @ 11:55 am | Comment
79
By jenesys
Who cares what you call her or define her? The woman is a witch and no term could be demeaning enough for her. And if she uses her etniticity to define herself, she ought be prepared to have is used against her as well.
August 12, 2005 @ 12:00 pm | Comment
80
By jenesys
Matthew, you are a moron. If you lose a child in war, don’t worry, I’ll give you a nice pat on the back. But don’t you dare question why your child died and don’t ever even fancy the idea that it was in vain and could have been avoided. Just shut up, grieve and wave your f***ing flag.
August 12, 2005 @ 12:03 pm | Comment
81
By richard
Gone at Last, I have been keeping track of Neiwert’s exposees of Malkin’s racism for more than a year. Just two days ago I posted this, based entirely on Neiwert’s miraculous reporting.
August 12, 2005 @ 12:07 pm | Comment
82
By Old Veteran
“It is the Soldier, not the Reporter who has given us the freedom of the press.
It is the Soldier, not the Poet who has given us the freedom of speech.
It is the Soldier, not the Campus Organizer who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the Soldier who salutes the Flag,
who serves beneath the Flag,
and whose coffin is draped by the Flag,
who allows the Protester to burn the Flag.”
August 12, 2005 @ 12:08 pm | Comment
83
By jenesys
Sometimes, it is the protestor or reporter who helps bring the soldier home.
“Dissention is the highest form of Patriotism”-
Thomas Jefferson
August 12, 2005 @ 12:21 pm | Comment
84
By Old Vet
Where are the campus demonstrators now like when I was fighting to stay alive in the Mekong Delta and highlands of South Vietnam? With 2 sons in Iraq (both career soldiers, one with 18 years and the other with 14 years under their combat belts) I wish I could see the same type of demonstrations to bring them and their comrades home. They do not deserve this war of lies and deceit like the soldiers of my generation endured.
True, the campus and civil unrest concerning the Vietnam war did much to help bring the conflict to an end. If the bloggers who sit behind the safety of their keyboards would begin demonstrating in the streets like those of 30-40 years ago, maybe then this congloberation of misfits called our Executive Branch and Legislative Branch would finally give to public demand and bring an end to the deaths of our American Servicemen.
August 12, 2005 @ 12:36 pm | Comment
85
By weefz
I used to date Michelle. Oh the things she does behind closed doors.
While she may seem conservative, she would make a hooker on rosedale look pure at heart. I had to stop seeing her when she started bringing barn animals into the bedroom.
She never got over this rejection and I think she’s taking it out on Cindy. She aborted our baby too.
August 12, 2005 @ 12:42 pm | Comment
86
By atomic
It seems that the job description for being in the corporate media includes being a lying psychopath willing to bash the left and carry the ball for the republicans and this criminal administration. Malkin is clearly not standing on stable footing. I just don’t get how these people go home at night and have normal lives. It reminds me of Network the movie. They have no respect for truth or honesty. What kind of value system allows a person like O’Reilly for example who is exposed for sexually abusing an employee and continues to behave like an irrational prick on his show? These people are not only arrogant they are not well. A well human being operates from a place of integrity. Malkin is an ugly disfigured soul.
August 12, 2005 @ 1:06 pm | Comment
87
By Americanexile
You people should be arguing about calling the bitch a philipino – call her whatever the fuck you want – do you think that any conservative would be offended to call you a communist, christ hating, faggot nigger when it suits them (i am black and gay so don’t start with me)? No they won’t and they don’t. Dont argue over bullshit- this is serious – and it’s deadly. Don’t be afraid of words – they dont bite.
August 12, 2005 @ 1:33 pm | Comment
88
By richard
Vet, we are planning a huge demonstration for September 24. Sadly, I won’t be America at that time, but I will give money. In the absence of demonstrations, I’ve given more money this year to anti-war candidates and causes than ever before.
August 12, 2005 @ 1:54 pm | Comment
89
By richard
Jenesys, so true! It’s nice to romanticize the soldiers in Iraq by imaging they are “protecting” us – but we need to ask, protecting us from who and protecting us from what? There was no threat, so we in effect sent them to die for a non-cause., and none of their sacrifices makes any of us safer.
I keep asking my warblog friends here if they would sacrfice their child to die in a war that in effect creates an Iranian-style theocracy that is anti-Jewish, anti-Israel, anti-US and sworn to be our enemy? I have yet to receive a single answer in any of the threads I’ve posed this. Instead, clever readers want to short-circuit serious inquiry by proving I am a racist becuase I used Michelle’s maiden name. Not surprising, is it?
Americanexile, couldn’t agree more.
August 12, 2005 @ 2:00 pm | Comment
90
By Anonymous
Okay, Richard! Way to go!
I would do the same except that I’m an old man, in very bad health (thanks to my military service) and am trying to get by on a fixed income, you know the price of groceries, electricity, all going up. The cost of my internet service ($21.00 a month) is shared by my two sons.
I love each and every one of you young people who are starting to see the light that just writing letters and blogging won’t get the job done.
If more and more join your demonstrations then, maybe, just maybe our servicemen and women will be brought home.
This “war” is just a bad, recurring nightmare of the “war” my generation fought. Started, run,
and kept going by politicians and military contractors.
I wish you all the best. Keep plugging!
August 12, 2005 @ 2:11 pm | Comment
91
By jenesys
But the soldiers are providing protection. Protection of the financial interests of the top echelons of govenment and corporate officials. Our soldiers struggle so Halliburton that won’t.
August 12, 2005 @ 2:12 pm | Comment
92
By wtmoore
faux news has effectively become the corporate arm of the bush/rove propoganda machine. the more visceral and outrageous the rhetoric fired at any and all people, places, things, or events that rove, by proxie, deems as “fair game”….the more the rightwing echo chamber eats it up and spews it out like a shortbarreled shotgun. malkin is a sleazy little media whore….period. but she’d have to stay late and work weekends to broach the level of o’reilly, hannity, rove, rush, coulter, et al… it creeps me out that msnbc is attempting to mimic faux w/ it’s own cadre of cretins…scarborough, carlson, crowley, and seemingly endless parade of rove’s ground troops appearing as guests.
“she changed her mind…let’s smear her as a flip-flopper, while we defend bush for not firing rove”.
the mendacity from the wingnuts attacking sheehan would be staggering if not for the high benchmark already set by these neo-con goon squads. sadly, she’s not the first, and she won’t be the last. if this doesn’t drop bush’s ratings completely in the toilet, America has, at long last, lost it’s soul…
“democrats make me ashamed to be an american…republicans make me ashamed to be a human being…” anon?
ditto that for me…
August 12, 2005 @ 2:22 pm | Comment
93
By richard
Don’t get me started on faux news. Of all the criminals there, Hannity is the most sleazy. I’ve seen him do things on air that border on criminal. It was especially quaint to see him oin a one-man rampage trying to convince viewers Terry Schiavo was murdered by her husband. Don’t cross these mofos: they will eat you alive, smacking their lips with each bite.
August 12, 2005 @ 2:25 pm | Comment
94
By George
To those of you ‘braying’ about how Bush is ‘entitled’ to respect merely because he’s president, please allow me to remind you what Teddy Roosevelt once said on the matter:
“The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else.”
“Roosevelt in the Kansas City Star”, 149
May 7, 1918
August 12, 2005 @ 4:03 pm | Comment
95
By OneVeryGratefulMother
Beyond all the other issues I stand as a grateful American that we still have our Rosa Parks, our Cindy Shenans, our people who believe in the rights our government gives to us. Her son paid the ultimate price in an honorable way, he served to his country even against his mother’s fears of losing him, her light, her son, her child.
As a mother with a son I can only image her pain but I know if I were to lose my only son a huge piece of me would be lost as well. Though I have yet to face the ordeal, they say that a parent’s greatest fear is that of losing a child before their our death. Casey is her child, her son, give her this time to mourn her son’s lost. To demand her rightful place in the government, as a citizen who questions it.
Her son’s blood ran in the sands of Iraq, how her blood boils over in the dirt of Texas and rightfully so ……………………..
August 12, 2005 @ 4:58 pm | Comment
96
By Donna
So someone doesn’t like the “racial shit” about Mrs. Yankee Doodle Dandy? Tell HER to cut the same shit out whenever she goes on a rampage against Muslims (if newspapers could get away with putting Malkin’s real thoughts in print – complete with the racial labels – they most certainly would.
Don’t placate anyone. Malkin is just getting back what she gives.
August 12, 2005 @ 6:07 pm | Comment
97
By Hal White
I can’t begin to imagine the saddness that Cindy must endure day after day. My son is only 5 but I swear that I’ll never allow him to die in a war for oil. I abhor the thought of killing, but in Cindy’s place, I’d have long ago purchased (legally) one of the 50-caliber sniper rifles (thanks, NRA!) and placed a few dozen grains of lead into the craniums of at least a couple of the neo-con bastards that were responsible for the death of any member of my family. Patriots stand up for what’s right, not what benefits them financially or politically. Too bad there’s not a Repugnican, with the possible exception of Chuck Hagel, that understands this.
August 12, 2005 @ 10:31 pm | Comment
98
By Keir
With respect Ivan, Lincoln wrote that personal letter to a woman who (he was led to believe) had lost FIVE sons which is an especially unique fact not since repeated. I’m sure any mother who lost as many would be able to book a meeting with Bush. Although I don’t like your comparison, I love the fact you brought up a letter I consider the finest ever written, and one I knew by memory when I was a kid. I’m not even an American…
August 12, 2005 @ 11:58 pm | Comment
99
By atomic
MICHELLE MALKIN stands for nothing. She is a big mouthed fat ass babbling jaw bone with carp eyes, goat hair, and a severe case of brain damage. She is not only stupid but is completely out of control and in need of 24/7 supervision. MALKIN has a straight jacket and a padded cell in an asylum somewhere with her name on it. Somebody sign the papers and send the boys in the white coats to drag her frog breath, horse tooth, Tasmanian pucker face off to the looney farm where all such republican banshies deserve to be forever and ever. Amen.
August 13, 2005 @ 3:09 am | Comment
100
By mike
MICHELLE MALKIN is an example of the very heart of the new republican conservative. Wildly accusatory and protective of their irrational positions. Whore like in their appetite for approval from the right wing power base. Fierce in their absolute denial of the truth and belief that they are above everyone who does not see it their way. Like bully children in charge without supervision they make up the rules as they want them to be and attack anyone who questions them.
They are sour and rude and fat with their own self importance. They see themselves as righteous and on the side of God which is outrageous by any stretch. They instinctively know how to play the bully game and are instantly gratified knowing they are doing the work of the party. No wonder there are so many comparisons to the Nazi part or why there is such a strong connection to the far right cult like organizations like the neurotic Christian Evangelists
The new republican conservative has a lot of lip. But that’s all they are is lip. At the end of the day they can not walk the walk and this is why they must scream and moan and put down anyone or anything that claims to know something different. They can not face that they are failures so they succeed at being dishonest and forthright and obnoxious beyond the pale.
August 13, 2005 @ 3:10 am | Comment
101
By surferpartriot
Conrad and Gordon
I’ve read your posts and considered them carefully. Fuck you both, you’re dense.
August 13, 2005 @ 6:42 am | Comment
102
By bill darbyshire
OK, folks: Let’s stop this bravo-sierra about the shrub (not a full bush) being the President. Why?
1) Al Gore won the 2000 Election
2) John Kerry won the 2004 Election
3) The Project for The New American Century (PNAC) is the real President; check it out at http://www.newamericancentury.org/
4) PNAC decided to remove Saddam Hussein from power in the mid 1990’s, then looked for someone whose brain was also altered by aliens, essentially a chimp (apologies to the Chimpanzees from Chimpanzia), to put up as a front… they found the shrub.
So yes, Michelle Malkin is also one of those whose brain was taken out or altered by the Aliens from another Planet…. or Universe, but not by the Aliens from other Countries who made this Country Great!
Same with Flush Limbaugh, falafel man (whatever that is), and every one of the other pseudo-Republicans (sons and daughters of Aliens from other Countries, no doubt???) who don’t have the best interests of the Country at heart, starting with the President, PNAC.
OK, you ask why I talk about Aliens? Well, we have concrete evidence: when was the last verifiable and recorded UFO sighting? I bet it was around the October 1945.
August 13, 2005 @ 7:29 am | Comment
103
By visitor
Unfortunately, the ‘decent’ liberals can always be cowed into submission by an assault on their ‘decency.
It’s what Michael Moore called the ‘beaten wife’ syndrome. The person actually wielding the power stops any attempt at opposition. ‘Honey, your’re getting all upset. It’s not like you’.
NO NOT back down on the ethnicity point. The right uses it all the time.
Look at Helen Thomas for god sakes. Every right-wing outlet covered the attempt to link her to arab suicide-bombers.
Look at all the Nazi references that the right uses without any apology. But Durbin had to cower when he dared to mention the inhuman practices of our government.
There are even direct assaults on Jews that go untouched when they come from the right wing. Michael Savage uses ethnic smears to attack liberal Jews on nationwide radio. No one could do that against right-wing Jews and get away with it for 1 minute.
Rove and his gang just laugh every time the libs think they are going to take on the bullies and then run away when the bully turns and shouts ‘boo’.
August 13, 2005 @ 7:55 am | Comment
104
By middle of america
The “president of the United States” is NOT entitled to respect for simply occupying the office. It is a job. And in this case, stolen not earned.
When are we as a people going to give up worshipping these jingoes and ridiculous icons: the flag; “we’re number one”; etc.
No one will die or even be harmed if I wipe my butt on the flag: it’s a piece of cloth, for god’s sake.
No one will die, go hungry, suffer if I stand in a stadium screaming into a mike: we are NOT number one; we are NOT the best.
For those who claim to believe in God: the 1st commandment insists we put NO gods before God: like flags, money, profit margin, America, nationalism, 3000 sq ft atrium homes and SUVs and rolexes, hetersexuality, and the APPEARANCE of piety.
The 2nd commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves.
To support bombing people from the sky, depleted uranium bunker busters, capital punishment, starvation and homelessness producing economics and then say something like “the president of the United States deserves respect” !!!!
Obscene.
And Maulkin is obscene.
August 13, 2005 @ 9:41 am | Comment
105
By RAF
reading the comments posted here like so many other places over the net reveals why your
country is going down the toilet.
you may have the best motivations in mind but i am sorry,what is coming out is pathetic!.
spending so much time energy & ressources
to argue among each others for what?!.
what is the achievment?. do you realize what is going on in the usa today?!,
elections fraud.human rights violations,war crimes abuses of the constitution and judicial
what is wrong with you people,liberals, democrats etc…is that you are so preoccupied
with your ethical line,your non-violence,
petty disagreements,you have no idea what
you are doing. you believe outrage is the point!, no! it is what comes from outrage.your idiocy overshadow your ignorance & misguided understanding of politics & history.
spanish civil war,the french resistance to german occupation cuban revolution etc..get the point?.
fighting! whatever it takes ,low & dirty.
do you understand who are the people you
are up against? they have no rules,no respect whatsoever for human life,dignity,rules of law!,
you are such submissive pussies!
throwing baby diapers at people who are professional coprophages!.
you are in chains keep it up.
August 13, 2005 @ 10:11 am | Comment
106
By Tinker
Based on the arguments I’ve read here, Lincoln should have made a pilgrimage to the homes of all 400,000 Union troops and 200,000 Confederate troops who died in the Civil War. For FDR, 300,000 visits. Truman, 35,000 visits. Kennedy/Johnson/Nixon, 55,000 visits. And repeat visits to anyone with a chip on their shoulder over their loss.
Casey Sheehan was a volunteer soldier during a time of war, and reinlisted during that war fully knowing the risks involved. When his Band of Brothers came under fire, he went to their support, knowing always that he could be killed. I wonder what Casey would have done if he had known his mother would use his death as a case against the cause that he was willing to risk his life for. Sent a letter to his friends to be published upon his death to denounce her?
Cindy has a right to her grief, a right to protest and a right to feel her son’s death was needless. But she doesn’t have a right to the respect of others when she shows no respect for her son’s decisions, a son who is a true American hero.
August 13, 2005 @ 11:51 am | Comment
107
By richard
Tinker that is so simplistic. No one is asking Bush to visit every mother. If he visits this one he can say he cares about her question, which many other mothers are asking today. He can say he can’t talk individually to each, but he hopes this response puts them all at ease. If he can’t answer her question, he is in deep trouble.
When he reenlisted many felt this was a legitimate war, including his mother. Since then, we have learned it was a coordinated act of deceptyion based on spin, lies and greed.Perhaps if Casey could speak and if he knew all we know today, he would not be so proud to have died so some contractors could get rich and we could secure some oil for our SUVs. I can’t say. But to me, Cindy is the hero, her son was an innocent and tragic victim. (I don’t think Casey performed any act that constitutes heroism, though that doesn’t make his death any less tragic.)
August 13, 2005 @ 12:29 pm | Comment
108
By Other Lisa
And I really think, as Digby points out, that Bush cannot answer her question. What was the noble cause that her son died for?
Here’s a quote from our Commander in Chief:
“I grieve for every death,” Bush said. “It breaks my heart to think about a family weeping over the loss of a loved one. I understand the anguish that some feel about the death that takes place.”
Repeat after me: “I understand the anguish that some feel about the death that takes place.”
Are these words from a man who actually feels anything for the American soldiers he’s sent to die?
“The death that takes place.” He’s turned death into something abstract, something impersonal. Something that he doesn’t have to feel.
August 13, 2005 @ 12:38 pm | Comment
109
By Other Lisa
Oh, and by the way, this argument that Bush is entitled to respect because he’s the President? IMO, he has dishonored the office. So why should I respect him?
August 13, 2005 @ 12:46 pm | Comment
110
By richard
Creepy. Maybe our Codpiece in Chief is some kind of poorly programmed robot. Cuz he ain’t human.
August 13, 2005 @ 12:55 pm | Comment
111
By Johnny K
This is really all just too stupid to comment on. I really want an Angry Left filter on Peking Duck
August 13, 2005 @ 1:13 pm | Comment
112
By Other Lisa
The fellow who wrote “the Bush Dyslexicon,” Mark Crispin Miller, notes that “Bushisms” occur when Bush is trying to talk about human concerns, emotions, etc. But all of that hesitation disappears whenever he talks about bombing and war.
August 13, 2005 @ 1:13 pm | Comment
113
By richard
Johnny, what can I say, I am an angry leftist. I make no pretense of being otherwise. But I can back up all my angry complaints with facts and figures; it’s not empty foaming at the mouth. And you have a filter — the scroll bar. Simply pass over any posts on domestic US issues, and you’re all set.
August 13, 2005 @ 1:18 pm | Comment
114
By Conrad
Richard:
To describe me as a “big fan for Madame Malkin” is completely inaccurate. Since I don’t believe you would deliberately distort my position (would you?) I assume you have not read my comments about her closely.
I don’t even read Malkin. I think she’s a tedious writer with impaired logic. Her opinions don’t interest me at all. Her association with Steve Sailer and the VDare site — which I condemned for bigotry back in the days when I was blogging — put her beyond the pale as far as I’m concerned.
I have not defended Malkin. I have expressed concern that the vitriol against her seems to contain within it certain recial elements that are neither relevant nor seemly and I would say (and have said) the same thing when the target of such abuse was of the left rather than the right.
As for Kaylani, apparently the realization that she actually AGREES with me was so horrifying for her that she’s suffering from some form of blog induced post traumatic stress disorder, which causes her to hurl ad hominum attacks at me no mattter how lame and irrelevant they might be.
I would advise her not to worry about our unexpected agreement so much. Kaylani is so rarely right about anything that the odds of her agreeing with me again are extremely remote.
August 14, 2005 @ 9:46 pm | Comment
115
By richard
Conrad, I thought you were a Malkin fan — if not, my apologies. I remember you linked to LGF, and she and Charles are very close.
August 14, 2005 @ 10:24 pm | Comment
116
By Conrad
Richard:
LGF was on my blogroll, but the only time I remember ever actually linking to an LGF post was to ridicule him for his entirely credulous acceptance of the bogus Mohammed al-fuqusa, nuclear bombs story from Asia Times.
I think that not reading Malkin, attacking her buddy Sailer and ridiculing her other friend Johnson is enough to officially clear me of the charge “Malkin supporter”.
August 14, 2005 @ 10:51 pm | Comment
117
By richard
Fair enough Conrad, and now I know.
August 14, 2005 @ 10:57 pm | Comment
118
By ann
I am totally offended by the utter disrespect that malkin has for the asian race.
and all people of color. not minorities. Because whites are minorities. If malkin had a simple grasp of history she would have no need to be ashamed of her ethincity. Instead she has bought into the myth that white is better. And sold herselfcompletely to the white race for the benefit of a coulple of extra dollars. Before Europeans got guns and murdered and brutilized the world Peolple of color ruled. Shame on you and your kind Michelle. You continue to give the white race a false sense of superiority through the utter hatred of yourself and lack of knowlege of yourself. One day when your old and on your dying bed I wonder will you then contemplate and realize that it just wasn’t worth it.
laying there you will come to realize that you can’t take your mercedes with you or your big house on the hill next to trevor. What will be left behind is the mindset and pain and hurt that you caused all of us asians and people of color by being so uninformed and greedy to acheived nothing worthwhile.
September 24, 2005 @ 10:00 am | Comment
119
By Caesar Warrington
Malkin is twisted, Coulter is twisted, and you people are twisted.
Right wing nutjobs compete with their counterparts on the Left to get to the front of the line for that tall drink of Kool-Aid politics.
In the beginning I was sympathetic for Cindy Sheehan. She was a mother who has lost a son in war. I was disgusted by the way people such as Malkin, Coulter, Hannity, Medved, et al set aside their so-called “compassion” and “support” for the troops and their families in order to stir up more controversial “news” for partisan knee-jerk America to burst blood vessels over.
On the other hand, Sheehan has gone off the deep end. She has allowed herself to become a patsy for the far-Left . Sheehan is talking before thinking and she has made so many of us who initially sympathized with her loss angry with the constant anti-American rantings.
September 28, 2005 @ 8:30 am | Comment
120
By richard
Agree about Sheehan.
September 28, 2005 @ 8:38 am | Comment