In Defense of Michelle Malkin
Never thought I'd write a post with that title, and yet here I am doing so. Certain parties who should know better (I'm looking at you, Atrios, and you, digby) are engaging in egregious quote-mining, demonstrating that people on the left are just as prone to knee-jerk reactions as people on the right. Even Think Progress, which is usually a "just the facts, m'am" kind of place, is getting in on the act.
Yes, folks, she did say she's skeptical of anything that has 'Bill of Rights' tacked on to it. But come on, she's making these statements in the context of the Airline Passengers Bill of Rights. I, too, am skeptical of this sort of thing. Just look at some other examples:
- Parents' Bill of Rights
- Patients' Bill of Rights
- Fathers' Bill of Rights
- Various "Consumers' Bill of Rights": 1, 2, 3.
- Teachers' Bill of Rights
- And last, but not least, David Horowitz's notorious Students' Bill of Rights.
What does this demonstrate? That couching something as a "Bill of Rights" is a common rhetorical device. And what do we know about rhetorical devices, boys and girls? That's right! They're commonly used to short-circuit the process of critical evaluation. So what should we do when we find a rhetorical device? All together now... be skeptical. Very good class...
Maintaing that Michelle Malkin is somehow taking a dig at the Constitution and/or The Bill of Rights is totally unsupportable... this time. I swear, the more I read the major bloggers the more I realize that they're not that much better than Rush Limbaugh. There's no reflection going on at all, they just pick a target and hammer away. Knock it off already... jesus.
posted by GG at 11:07 AM
11 Comments:
Good post. How many of the people blasting Malkin know the real Bill of Rights?
What is "notorious" about Horowitz's Bill of Rights?
It is deliberately based upon and faithful to the AAUP's own academic freedom quidelines.
Thank you, M'am for taking the time to think and write this post to explain to those that seem to do too little thinking these days.
I am a very conservative person and can respect those who make a cognizant argument with facts, not just throw vitriol around. I despise those who do, no matter what side of the political aisle but unfortunately the Left of this nation seem to have a preponderance of them these days.
Thank you for proving yourself to not be one of them.
Thanks for showing that there may indeed be such a thing as a thinking liberal. Refreshing that you recognized Michelle Malkin's comment as an objection to a lazy-minded and wrongheaded use of the notion or "rights."
Aw, isn't it sweet how nice the conservatives are when you agree with one of their talking heads?
Malkin may have a point, but she just can't admit that she made it in an extremely ham-fisted and moronic way.
And while those who are bashing her are over this are taking it out of context, it's not like she doesn't use quotes out of context to justify her points- like using Kerry's poorly worded joke about getting stuck in Iraq if you're not educated. Now everybody who knows the context of that joke knows it was clearly criticizing Bush, not the troops. But she still brings it up constantly to show how Democrats disrespect the troops. So either she knows the context but still uses it intentionally to mislead her more ignorant readers, or she is just to dumb and lazy to know the actual context.
Anyway, good of you to try and acknowledge the validity of her point, but don't let her get off for her ham-fisted Kerry-esque wording of said point. If a Dem said something like that, you sure know she wouldn't.
Dude, what is wrong with you? The point of this story is to make Michelle Malkin look as bad as possible.
We have to do anything to discredit her and her racist conservative friends. Most people will not get the nuance of what she meant.
But, if we tell everyone that Michelle Malkin is against the Bill of Rights - and we have the video as proof to back it up! - then we have succeeded in marginalizing her as a wacko, in the eyes of the wider audience (voters).
Think about it. Don't mess it up by extending her a lifeline!
We have to do anything to discredit her and her racist conservative friends. Most people will not get the nuance of what she meant.
But, if we tell everyone that Michelle Malkin is against the Bill of Rights - and we have the video as proof to back it up! - then we have succeeded in marginalizing her as a wacko, in the eyes of the wider audience (voters).
Wow, you're a real piece of work.
To paraphrase, you'll lie and do anything to attack Malkin because she's a racist. Because most people are too stupid to understand what really she said, you'll use that to lie about her.
All for the cause. Stalin would be proud.
BTW, Shiny Ideas. Thank you for a good post. This is the foundation for real dialogue.
Blooper -
I thought about the Kerry analogy almost immediately upon reading about this. We do ourselves a disservice by engaging in this sort of "gotcha!" politics, since by doing so we promote such politicking as a legitimate form of discourse. If we must comment at all we should, as you said, note that she was particularly ham-fisted and dismissive with regard to the issue.
As a side note, we now have her on record as saying that all liberals aren't stupid.
GG
"As a side note, we now have her on record as saying that all liberals aren't stupid."
Don't worry, we chastised her for that remark. You will soon see a correction at her blog stating that "One liberal isn't stupid".
Thanks, The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy
Gordon: With all due respect, I don't think you'd recognize irony if it hit you in the face with a frying pan ...
MrBuddWing:
If that was irony, then fine...but since it was indistinguishable from many substantively identical rants found in other venues, Anonymous (a different Anonymous) can perhaps be excused for not picking up on it, frying-pan face smacks notwithstanding.
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