Is That Legal?

saw bernstein's comment. hoping you'd respond. ball's now in bernstein's blog. will he respond?

on a similar topic -- women taking edgy positions -- I know of a Magistrate Judge in Tennessee who recently ruled that the criminal health-care administrative subpoena statute (18 USC 3486) is unconstitutional because it impermissibly shifts to the Justice Department the Grand Jury's exclusive authority to compel the disclosure of evidence during a criminal investigation.

Courageous ruling for a federal magistrate . . . .

So... Does that mean *only* a female, non-white blogger nearly as prominent can challenge or condemn Ms. Malkin?? Jest asking Mr. Bernstein...jest asking.

Someone tell me again why Patricia Williams is not a household name?

You may have seen it already, but Ampersand had the right reaction (in my opinion). The debate going on in the comments is also worth cheking out.

I guess Bernstein was looking for a mention of Margaret Cho or any other "anti-Malkin". Better not indulge in this catfight/battle royale game.

Off the subject, does anybody know what the heck Mithras was talking about when he wrote "probably not written by her"? I think she should be locked up (just as a temporary safety measure until terror is banished from the earth since she was born in the Phillipines and Al Qaeda operates there) but the book is written in her usual style and includes many of her previously published looney "solutions".

I think it's a reference to the allegation that Jesse Malkin, Michelle's husband, ghost-writes a lot of her material.

As the the ghost-writes stuff:

I don't find the evidence persuasive enough to start throwing arround that kind of accusation. I want to believe the worst of Malkin, but all the author really has is 3 uses of "our" and the fact that her husband is at home all day. Certainly it seems likely that he reads her stuff and gives her his thoughts on it (why wouldn't he?), but I don't see enough evidence to conclude that she is really a mouthpiece for hist thoughts or that he is blogging under her name.

It could be somewhat easy to try to prove, however. As a right wing hack pundit, Malkin gets invited to many a speaking engagement. Perhaps there is a post made while she was on stage, spewing our her idiotic distortions about internment. If that's the case, then we would have good evidence. In the absence of evidence like that, I hesitate to take this allegation seriously.

Liberal Avenger looked into the ghostwriting question awhile ago.

Link

So, because Malkin is a pig, it's okay to attack her race and gender?

Michael Heinz--
Huh?

My cop out response:

We have a great deal of additional information that more than satisfied us but that we felt was too personal to circulate. (Even shitbag liberal bloggers have boundaries.)

I'll also point out that we called her just-announced next book project accurately four months ago.

As her last book's title includes "The case for racial profiling," calling attention to her race is fair game.

While I found the "tits" comment to be mildly amusing, it was also clearly misogynistic and cast a pallor over an otherwise very clever, funny and spot-on post. I wish Mithras hadn't mentioned her "tits."

Liberal Avenger:

Certainly you will understand why I'm not willing to believe an accusation based on your claim to having other personal evidence. I think it would be simply unfair of me to do so. I wouldn't trust Malkin if she said she had private evidence that Muller's book was actually written by his wife. It's not fair for me to then trust those who claim to have definitive evidence about her without seeing that evidence. The fact that I really do want to believe the worst of Malkin in my view only makes it more imperative that I try to be impartial about the evidence.

I don't mean that I think you are lying or a liar. I just mean that I feel compelled to follow certain standards of evidence, and that just doesn't reach those standards.

I hear you, Michael. Note that I did qualify my comment as a "cop out" response.

Even would-be death-camp wardens like Michelle and Jesse Malkin don't deserve having their deepest and darkest secrets laid bare by detractors for the sake of public consumption.

You must admit, however, that it was pretty cool that we unearthed her next Regnery screed when we did.

Michael Benson: I wouldn't trust Malkin if she said she had private evidence that Muller's book was actually written by his wife.

The difference here, Michael, is that one would expect, especially in the blogosphere, that one will address a serious accusation like this one in a timely manner. She, or her husband for that matter, could easily state that the whole thing is ridiculous. And that would kill the whole thing, right or wrong.

Although I don't consider Malkin's silence to be evidence of guilt, she is completely aware of the allegations, and if I were in her position, I would have handled this whole thing in a completely differently.

Mithras' post, in part, shows that the ghost blogging meme is a mainstream one among blogosphere observers. It may put doubt on all of her work down the line. Could you picture Chris Matthews or Bill O'Reilly asking her on television if she wrote her new book on her own?

That's a very racist attitude.

What the heck does her being non-white have to do with her position on Japanese American internment or immigrant rights?

The bit on immigrant rights is especially inane. Are you suggesting that non-whites are somehow less American than whites? Why should their position be any different than a white's?

I could see it if Malkin was American Indian - after all, they are the Native Americans - but otherwise why on earth is her race relevant?

would be death camp wardens. . .

There's a great article in the last National Journal, asking whether the MoveOn campaign to make the Dems more shrill and abrasive is a good idea. It may be worth asking, as we banter about whether Michelle Malkin's t**s won her a job, and we throw about allegations (proved by secret, personal information we'd never share, out of respect, of course) that she doesn't write her own stuff.

I speak as somebody who usually votes "R" but will vote "D" especially if the "D" is stronger on defense and budget issues, a rarity at the federal level but common at state level (crime and budget anyhow) and not uncommon in the South. However, if the likes of Kos and Duncan Black and the MoveOn folks and crazy Howard have truly captured the Democratic Party, those days may be gone. If the Dems new strategy is strictly focused on nasty personal attacks and sneering and shrill propaganda and "outing" gays and censuring minorities for being conservative, the Dems can forget about getting my vote ever, not even for town dog catcher. The Republicans lost my vote for a while in the early 90's, and I started splitting my ticket because I was so pissed about their tax hikes and general cowardice in addressing a number of issues. They are close to being that bad again with their undisciplined spending, but the shriller the Dems get, the less likely I am to abandon the Republicans. And if the lefty web logs are the new face of the Party... fuggedaboutit. I'd rather lose the franchise, than vote for an Administration that would ride into office using these jokers as consultants. They make Lee Atwater look refined, and that's bloody hard to do.

Liberal Avenger:

I hereby give you "mad props" for figuring out the topic Malkin's latest assault on rational discourse.

Ryan:

I wouldn't expect Muller to reply to suh a statement by Malkin. Maybe he would, but if I were in his position, I would not.

Disagreement with Malkin's opinions quite simply does not justify the comments. Her race and her sex are not relevant. Those who disagree with her and want to be listened to would be wise to diagree on the merits.

What happened? Is the war over? O'reilly get prison raped? I haven't seen this much of a buzz since....yesterday! So the FOX Non-Blond got her feelings hurt. Only Libs are supposed to have feelings , anyway, according to OXY-Moron Rush.
She's made a career of being a royal pain in the ass to anyone darker than Ann Coulter, including, a couple of White people. She probably thought they were Blackanese or Libecan or
related to her. I always thought you had to be Black to carry as much self-hatred as this skank obviously has. Maybe she can phone up Star Parker and find out the exact surgical procedure she needs to have done so that she'll never feel pain in spite of hurting so many others.

As a man of color, I have no compassion whatsoever for people who make their living making fustian back of the hand references to their consanguineous maladroits.

This will blow over like a breeze to that crowd to my right. This "full frontal assault" will have the effect of a gnat flying by. A quick swat and it's gone. Ms. Malkin , Ms. Parker, and the powerful "Thoughtless Tanks" that do their bidding won't remember why there was even a stink.

Disagreement with Malkin's opinions quite simply does not justify the comments. Her race and her sex are not relevant. Those who disagree with her and want to be listened to would be wise to diagree on the merits