MM: Dishonest. Shill. Race-Baiter. War-Profiteer. Fascist.

Well, she's all those things and more. But, as Chris Clarke eloquently notes:

Calling her derogatory names based on her gender not only misses the point, it allows her to make posts like this one in which she is absolutely right to slam the way in which she is described. And I hate having to say she's right.

Same goes for comments about her race.

Except I disagree with her assessment that Kevin Drum is responsible for what his commenters write. And, in typical Malkin fashion, she leaves out (BTW: that's a sin of omission, Ms. Thing) the fact that others have come to her defense regarding the derogatory, gender-based comments in question.

God, I'm glad I'm going on vacation in two weeks.

Comments

[Chris Clarke]

Yeah, I'd agree Kevin gets to set whatever comments policy he likes, and I'd like to tell Malkin to STFU myself.

[Dave Lucas]

Sorry - I must defend Ms. Malkin. She has a right to free speech, a right to voicing her opinion without being subjected to disrepect.

[Roxanne]

Does she not use perjoratives to describe her ideological enemies? Does she deserve more respect than I or others do?

No one here is trying to stop her free speech. In fact, I would risk my life to defend her free speech. I'm not sure she would say the same thing.

It's unnecessary and just not all that interesting to call someone a dirty name on the Internets. (Although baselessly accusing them of serious crimes and making dark suggestions about violent acts you might commit against them is apparently fair game for some people, but one point at a time).

But still, I have to wonder about the motivation of someone as...er, esteemed as Malkin bringing to her readers' attention this type of insulting, but ultimately harmless, discussion of her in comments at another Web site. According to playground ethics, it's sort of like none of her business.

Now, a skillfully crafted and devastatingly accurate satire of the endeavor you pours your life into, that's enough to make you lose all your April Fool's Day spirit.

[Carla]

Sorry - I must defend Ms. Malkin. She has a right to free speech, a right to voicing her opinion without being subjected to disrepect.

I disagree with this.

Respect is EARNED, not given. Ms Malkin needs to earn respect.

The comments in question directed at her are idiotic. In my opinion based more in ignorance than dissrespect. And as Rox already noted, the commentor was duly handled by the crowd.

I have no sympathy for Malkin. She lies. She lied in her description of what went on. She doesn't deserve to have the language used against her that the commentor did. No one does. But she is not deserving of respect based on her handling of it, either.

[doghouse riley]

Yes, it's a shame people sink to such mindless depths of invective. Left, right, center, apolitical, apathetical: human. I can't see how this reflects on the Left, or what any of us is supposed to do about it besides tend to our own weeding.

Malkin gets caught out trumpeting nonsense about the Schiavo memo and the AP, and in response she whines about nasty email, then trawls Kevin Drum's comments (!) looking for more. That's at least as pubescent as those schoolyard swears. Let her google up "Hillary Clinton" and that bad bad anatomical term and take all those people to task. That oughta keep her busy for the next twenty years.

[The Heretik]

Less heat, more light.

[eric]

For some, common sense tends to be replaced by emotion after reading one of her posts. I suppose her fans have the same experience outside of her site. A Ms. Manners for bloggers might be helpful. Or at least a primer on asterisk placement. I learned the hard way that ***k **u, ******ts means absolutely nothing to them. This is all new to me.

[Jenn]

"Sorry - I must defend Ms. Malkin. She has a right to free speech, a right to voicing her opinion without being subjected to disrepect."

I have to disagree -- while Ms. Malkin certainly has a right to voice her opinion, free speech rights don't mean the audience must agree or respect you for what you have to say. You can respect a person's right to say whatever they want, but you are not required to listen, care, or blow sunshine up the speaker's ass for voicing that opinion.

That being said, I agree that those who emailed Ms. Malkin with derogatory statement, particularly against her race and gender, should be ashamed. This accomplishes nothing except make the commentor look like an ass, giving Ms. Malkin enough ammunition to plant herself firmly on the higher moral ground.

[TravisG]

Eh, Jenn, I'm not sure how firm her footing is there, even if people are calling her rude and racist names. As I argued in my (unsigned, drat) post above, she is bitching about things she read about herself while, essentially, eavesedropping.

And tattling to curry favor with others, as always, is bad form.

[Jenn]

True, but obviously the Kevin Drum thing isn't the first time someone has said nasty things about her. In this post on her site, she posts some pretty sick emails that people have sent her.

While those who commented on another blog about her just look like morons (and I disagree that Political Animal is responsible for those who freely comment on the site), those who send her emails along the same lines should be really ashamed. Either way, I don't think it helps either side and just furthers sexist attitudes that a woman's intellect or worth is in some way related to her genitalia -- if the best you can do to counter Malkin's inanity is to call her a cunt, then you're in serious trouble anyways.

[Amanda]

I just hate seeing the good name of cunts dragged through the mud. Calling someone a "cunt" says nothing about the woman in question and everything about the opinion the name-caller has about women. Of course, reading the post of Malkin's, I think she was just pissed that someone used profanity. Screw that--I'll call her an asshole all damn day.

[eRobin]

I've said this about attacks on Coulter as well. I've said it about the habit of referring to slanted stories in the corporate press as "blowjobs." Slightly off-topic, I've said it about throwing food at people. All tactics like those do is give ammo to the enemy.

"Less heat, more light" indeed.

[eric]

But what if you’re going up against an enemy that will use anything as ammo?

A while back, it seemed that as a whole, liberals were much more likely to stick closer to facts and rationality for the purpose of maintaining polite discourse, but instead got swarmed in posted comments by namecalling wingnuts. What seems to be happening now is a backlash or counteroffensive from the left, if you will - for good reasons.

Personally, I find the hurling of insults that mirror the ones I took from them before the election to be quite gratifying, especially in light of all the hypocrasy, stupidity, corruption and rationalization that never seems to quit coming from this neocon administration and their “sheeple“.

I should probably cork the really lowbrow insults though, as it doesn‘t make me look too good, but if we all suddenly became “polite”, I’m sure they would find a way to attack that aspect as well. As they used to say to me: Typical.

[The Liberal Avenger]

I miss comments being enabled on her site.

Those were the days.

[eRobin]

This question is a shadow of the violence/non-violence debate. I'm on the side of unrelenting non-violence. The question always comes up - what do we do in the face of violence. The answer is that we suffer. And that sucks. The question that troubles me more is what do we do in the face of agent provacateurs? I have no answer for that. And they certainly exist on the internets. But doing their job for them isn't something I wake up in the morning eager to do.

[Jenn]

"Personally, I find the hurling of insults that mirror the ones I took from them before the election to be quite gratifying, especially in light of all the hypocrasy, stupidity, corruption and rationalization that never seems to quit coming from this neocon administration and their “sheeple“."

I don't mean to be evil about this, but ... shouldn't we be above 'but they did it first!!!' defenses? That's kind of... grammar school.

[eric]

Jenn,
1. Re-read the first and last paragraphs from April 8, 2005 05:54 PM

2. I may need to clarify. Every right-winger out there who does not rationalize hypocrisy, stupidity, or corruption, and who is capable of reasonably polite discourse where the goal is to learn and come away better for it, is exempt from my “wingnut” tag. Unfortunately, I will continue to take great pleasure in regressing back to grammar school for the sheer pleasure of it when I decide I’m dealing with wingnut, AND, after they’ve fired the first shot. I believe that liberals politely walking away from wingnut idiocy as a whole (not to be confused with stuff like ignoring trolls or really stupid Malkin posts) is a major reason why the situation is the way it is. My attitude probably will not change a wingnut’s opinions, but it will help negate the neocon-propagandized stereotype which many wingnuts believe - that all liberals are soft or weak.

3. Do you have any better ideas that involve experience and pragmatism on top of a usually excellent but sometimes ineffective “golden rule” approach? I’m always open to better ideas.

[jerry]

"Sorry - I must defend Ms. Malkin. She has a right to free speech, a right to voicing her opinion without being subjected to disrepect.

Posted by: Dave Lucas | April 7, 2005 09:50 PM"

Um, no she doesn't. Perhaps you should retake your civics course. BTW, I am perfectly within my free speech rights to say you're a dumbshit. And Rox Populi is perfectly within hers to censor me, or not, should she wish.

Ms. Malkin has a big microphone, and is a paid columnist. Commenters at Drum's site are not paid and have little time to spare. Perhaps they feel the great equalizer is in being able to call Malkin a cunt, and hoping that Google will see that and present that opinion to others.

Ms. Malkin, like you, wants her right to say what she feels and wants to take away my ability to call her on her bullshit.

Malkin's best response to ugly free speech is more free speech. She should open up comments on her board and cultivate her groupies....

In the meantime, I am waiting for someone to register the domain, michelemalkinisacunt.com.