Let Them Be and That's the Lesson

Michelle Malkin went to go bother the Frost family today.

Think Progress reports:

Right wing bloggers have been harassing the Frosts, calling their home numerous times to get information about their private lives.

Malkin screeches something about "faux outraged leftists." I hasten to assure her that, no, this is the genuine article.

Her defense for her behavior, and for that of Greater Wingnuttia:

Asking questions and subjecting political anecdotes to scrutiny are what journalists should be doing.

But all this shit started with obviously stupid and dishonest "questions" that weren't questions at all, but  vile innuendo. The reason actual journalists didn't ask these "questions" is that there was never any reason to ask them except to engage in this innuendo. "Mr. & Ms. Frost, you appear to be spending $40,000 a year on your $45,000 income in order to send your kids to a swanky private school. Could you explain to our readers how you are perpetrating tax fraud and lying to the government to qualify for financial benefits?" A reporter who asked a "question" like that ought to expect a punch in the snout, frankly.

Nothing in this family's story is remotely implausible, and anyone who pretends otherwise is making up crap because they don't like a healthcare program that benefits the middle class. Period.   

A word for all the wingnut "Citizen Journalists": you're no such thing. You're just crazy assholes.

UPDATE: See e-Robin for action on SCHIP. And also the top posts at Bitch PhD. And of course FDL. Let's get this passed.

Comments

[The Kenosha Kid]

The real outrage is Atrios linking to Thers. Again.

Signed, A concerned D-list blogger.

[Rmj, Face of Bo]

Asking questions and subjecting political anecdotes to scrutiny are what journalists should be doing.

Which is not to be confused with harassment aimed at keeping anyone else from challenging the weltanschaaung of Malkin & Co.

All hail the power of the intertubes, which makes things like Malkin popular and possible!

I'm retiring to Bedlam...

[Douglas Watts]

You said snout. Aggressively.

[NTodd]

I know where Thers lives.

[flory]

Asking questions and subjecting political anecdotes to scrutiny are what journalists should be doing.

Really? Like those anecdotes about how Clinton shot Vince Foster. And John Kerry shot himself.
Those anecdotes?
Michelle spent a whole lotta time 'questioning' those.
Or do only anecdotes involving children count?

I hope this doesn't make it into the mainstream, for the Frosts sake.
But it would serve Malkin and her ilk right if it did. Talk about showing your true colors.

[travc]

I don't know the details of this particular case, but I would like to point out that tuition deductions are (at least were) very confusing on the tax forms. I ended up claiming full tuition costs (not subtracting grants) a couple of years back, thinking it odd at the time, but in accordance with the instructions. The IRS was even understanding and nice (in a peculiar way) when pointing out my 'error' and demanding a (fortunately very small) payment.

[Bruce]

A little background on Park. Yes, it's an expensive school but a very liberal one. Here in Baltimore, it is very strongly identified with Baltimore's very large and institutionally developed Jewish community and Jewish philanthropy. Most of Park's students come from about 5 Zip Codes in Northwest Baltimore and Baltimore County, and the school is predominantly Jewish but secular. The school was set up as an alternative to predominantly Catholic and WASP schools almost a century ago.

My cousin went there 12-odd years ago and my uncle busted his ass to make the payments to put her there even with an accommodation and financial aid as a professor at Hopkins. Why did he do it? Because there was a rape in the City public middle school that Rachel would have attended, and he wasn't &&&&&ng around with the City.

It is quite rare for a kid from Southeast Baltimore or downtown to go to Park; the drive alone is a bear. But arranging for the daughter of a woodworker craftsman to go there is the sort of thing that Park might go out of its way to do. So would holding a fundraiser to support the kid.

[The Kenosha Kid]

And remember, due to scary threats from DFHs, Michelle Malkin no longer lives at her old address at

sorry, TKK, I can't go there, even for Malkin -- T

so don't go there and ask her neighbors how much she spends on her car, her house, and her healthcare.

[eRobin]

I agree with the Kenosha Kid!
Except that as a G List blogger, I think that KK gets too much attention too.

Anyway, while the Crazy Assholes have been harassing a family that has suffered enough for a lifetime, I've been writing the perfect SCHIP post, sure to inspire us all to take action to get the veto overridden, which is really very very important (as I explain).

[John Moltz]

Holy hell, I joked about this in the previous thread BUT I WAS KIDDING! You just can't put anything past these fuckers.

[eRobin]

I agree with the Kenosha Kid!
Except that as a G List blogger, I think that KK gets too much attention too.

Anyway, while the Crazy Assholes have been harassing a family that has suffered enough for a lifetime, I've been writing the perfect SCHIP post, sure to inspire us all to take action to get the veto overridden, which is really very very important (as I explain).

[Dave in NYC]

The issue isn't investigating the family's story. The issue is that, rather than actually find out the answers to these questions, the bloggers merely post them as though the questions themselves are information. Or at best, they try to deduce answers from random information gleaned from Google searches.

Why not pick up the phone and call the family, or go down there and do some actual reporting, *before* posting all the innuendo and before you become personally invested in a particular slant on the story? That's what real journalists generally do.

[DrDick]

"You're just crazy assholes."
I think you are being overly generous here. "Asshole" doesn't even come close to describing the level of wankery involved here. These people really should be taken out and forced to live on the streets (preferably in Buffalo, NY) for a full year. The Chinese called it re-education.

[sin]

malkin is stalking a twelve year old boy and his sister.

[madamab]

My outrage and my rage are chasing each other like dogs in heat.

These right-wingnuts are savage beasts that should not be allowed into society with the rest of us 70%-ers. They understand nothing of civilization, of community, of morality.

They should be exiled to a very large island where they can all pretend to be more Christian than each other by seeing who can kill whom by the fastest and most painful method.

[Hesiod]

Did Malkin show up in her Catholic school girl outfit?

[gmanedit]

This is going to cost me more than $300 a year. Do I get to deduct this? I'm already paying for low-income New Yorkers' health care.

(No, I don't hate children, though I'm not too fond of them either. I'm all for socialized medicine, just not funded solely by smokers.)

[Hesiod]

Did Malkin show up in her Catholic school girl outfit?

[The Kenosha Kid]

Thers just can't admit how badass I am.

[Thers]

TKK -- Bad Brains!

I just sort of think that her neighbors have probably suffered enough...

[The Kenosha Kid]

I'm just a Citizen Journalist, doing what citizen journalists do - showing no mercy to members of the Right Brigade.

[flory]

I'm all for socialized medicine, just not funded solely by smokers.

Gotta agree with this. It should be funded from income taxes. So should Medicare.
But as long as its considered a 'benefit' and not a right, healthcare ain't coming out of general tax revenues.

All this patchwork of funding mechanisms does is keep the accountants and consultants busy.
Thank heavens......:)

[Trumandem]

Actually, the most hilarious part of Malkin's original post accusing the Democrats of "draging a 7th grader out of bed at 6:00am in the morning to read some script put together by a senate Dem staffer" and hide behind this poor little kid is the fact the GOP dragged a corpse named Teri Schiavo around and propped her up and hid behind her or what was left of her. The hilarity never stops over there.

[El Cid]

Wow, I can't wait 'til the Malkinites branch out from just being citizen journalists to being citizen cops and citizen surgeons and citizen meat inspectors and maybe even like citizen highway administrators, just so they can lend their considerable civic skills to more of society.

[craig]

Hey, I'm not too crazy about the "funded solely by smokers" thing either, and I'm pretty anti-smoking. It's just that the amount of smokers in the lower economic classes is much higher, and the tax will hit them harder... doesn't seem very progressive.

That having been said, though, when you smokers go complaining, please stop a moment to realize that the rest of society has been subsidizing the immense cost of smoking-related illness to the tune of billions of bucks. So don't go complaining too loudly... someone might pull out some statistics and $$$ numbers to bite you on the ass with.

[limbaugh's pilonidal cyst]

Did Malkin show up in her Catholic school girl outfit?

Posted by: Hesiod | October 08, 2007 at 07:45 PM

Wonder if Jesse bought it for her? Just sayin....but someone ought to call her and ask her. We've got a right to know, y'know....

[lambert strether]

While you're investigating, can you find out what Michelle was wearing under her Catholic schoolgirl outfit? If anything, of course. Thanks.

[Ms Kate]

So don't go complaining too loudly... someone might pull out some statistics and $$$ numbers to bite you on the ass with.

Grandma: I'm so sick of these cigarette taxes!

Teenage Me: Well, them, stop paying them! Just stop!

Grandma: I'd love to! How can I do that?

Teenage Me: STOP SMOKING!

I miss Grandma. She died of congestive heart failure in 1996 after a lengthy decline with COPD, during which much of her care was state-supported

[gimbler]

Isn't it weird - the way she can justify attacking a child and blame the attack on the Democrats for "sending a boy to do a man's job" - but, she and her crowd went all nuts over the Patreus thing?

Somehow they can use grown up military generals as "tools" and we're beyond redemption if we say something that might hurt his widdie-biddie feelings - but the gloves come off when dealing with a genuine injured kid.

The mind boggles...

[zsa]

If you want to analyze the effectiveness of a healthcare program, you don't pick a single family and drill into every detail of their lives. You analyze data collected about all (or at least a representative sample) of the program participants, and you, like, think real hard about it.

You pick a single family if you want to make it clear that dissent will be punished.

[gimbler]

In fact, I think she should have written:

"When a President and Republican political leaders drag a general down to Washington at 6 in the morning to read a script written by White House staffers on a crusade to continue the stupidest fucking war in history, someone might have questions about the general’s claims. The newspapers don’t want to do their jobs. The vacuum is being filled.

If you don’t want questions, don’t foist these military generals onto the public stage.

Fight your battles like adults and stop hiding behind men in uniform dragging around flag covered coffins filled with your talking points."

[Brett]

"the boy is fair game"

How depraved would you need to be to type - and quote approvingly - that sentence?

[limbaugh's pilonidal cyst]

Isn't it weird - the way she can justify attacking a child and blame the attack on the Democrats for "sending a boy to do a man's job" - but, she and her crowd went all nuts over the Patreus thing?

Somehow they can use grown up military generals as "tools" and we're beyond redemption if we say something that might hurt his widdie-biddie feelings - but the gloves come off when dealing with a genuine injured kid.

The mind boggles...

Posted by: gimbler | October 08, 2007 at 09:49 PM

Kinda stinks of desperation to me, on both counts (the Frost family and Petraeus). It's abundantly clear that the majority of the American people want SCHIP expanded and don't trust the bush administrations' rosy assessment of the success of the "surge". All the republicanists and their tools have left are these made-up controversies that totally ignore their own hypocrisy (see Shiavo, Terry re: the Frosts and Kerry, John; Cleland, Max; Murtha, John, "Phoney Soldiers", etc, etc, re: Petraeus).

Last throes, anyone?

[limbaugh's pilonidal cyst]

"the boy is fair game"

How depraved would you need to be to type - and quote approvingly - that sentence?

Posted by: Brett | October 08, 2007 at 09:59 PM

I think Mark Foley may have been quoted as saying that, but it was probably in a somewhat different context. But it was still depraved.

[Mirele]

Michelle Malkin, I'm going to say the same thing to you that I wrote in a letter to the editor of the East Valley Tribune last week.

If you feel so strongly that kids shouldn't get insurance on the state's dime, perhaps you should stand in solidarity with these children and give up your own health insurance.

And now, more for Michelle:

Now as you babble about why you wouldn't ever give up your insurance, you might want to consider that it's a good thing to have children insured.

But no, you'd rather spend multiple times the amount on that doomed war in Iraq than ensuring that every child in America has access to health insurance.

Beeyotch.

[jethro]

hope the family has caller-id.

i've got some questions i'd love to phone up and ask those callers.

[Me]

Last throes, anyone?

Wow, Mr. Cyst (or can I call you Limbaugh's Polinidal?), I just posted the same thing over at Digby. Stop stalking me, and stop stealing my material!

[SteveB]

You pick a single family if you want to make it clear that dissent will be punished.

Gee, there's a term for that - for using fear and intimidation to accomplish a political objective - I just can't quite recall what it is... hmmm... starts with a "t" and ends in "ism", I think...

[SPIIDERWEB™]

Am I the only one who finds it a tad bit amusing Malkin calls herself a journalist?

Hell, I have a blog so I must be one too.

[limbaugh's pilonidal cyst]

Last throes, anyone?

Wow, Mr. Cyst (or can I call you Limbaugh's Polinidal?), I just posted the same thing over at Digby. Stop stalking me, and stop stealing my material!

Posted by: Me | October 08, 2007 at 11:02 PM

Well, I usually go by my nickname, "limpballs", so you can call me that if you like. And stop stalking me. Michelle says you're starting to crowd her.

Am I the only one who finds it a tad bit amusing Malkin calls herself a journalist?

Hell, I have a blog so I must be one too.

Well of course, you're both journalists, as long as you say you are. It's just an example of that "wide stance" concept, reaching beyond the toilet stall of your limited thinking with both feet.

[An Outhouse]

malkin is stalking a twelve year old boy and his sister.

Gee, there's a term for that - for using fear and intimidation to accomplish a political objective

For some reason I stumbled across Malkin's post yesterday and I wondered exactly where the line is between being an evil obnoxious bitch and stalking. Can they get a
restraining order to keep her away?

[cavjam]

How dare the Dems think that someone directly affected by SCHIPS should address the issue? That's like MJ Fox talking 'bout stem cell research.

And, of course, as well for one as the other, the response from the reptilian brain is the argumentum ad hominem, tactic de rigeur of the cerebrally bereft.

The "Snowflake babies" photo op has apparently faded from memory.

[Ms Kate]

Am I the only one who finds it a tad bit amusing Malkin calls herself a journalist?

It's more amusing and accurate if you pronounce the "j" in "journalist" like a "y".

[Doug]

It's fear. Just plain, simple fear. Malkin and all the rest are fully aware that they are slipping down to well-deserved obscurity (2015 "Where are they now?").
Oh, and the fact that they are assholes.

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