Thread: Michelle Malkin Plagued by Death Threats

This is a lead story on AOL News today under the above title. From the picture accompanying her column, Ms. Curtis is African American.

Mary C. Curtis
Contributor

The Softer Side of Michelle Malkin: Who Knew?

Posted:
09/23/09
Filed Under:Woman Up

Michelle Malkin, conservative bulldog, is not known for pulling punches. But beneath the tough exterior of the best-selling blogger and columnist, there beats a heart that breaks. That's the point of Lloyd Grove's piece at The Daily Beast: "Michelle Malkin Has Feelings, Too."

"Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks, and Cronies" is the title of Malkin's latest book and a pretty good example of her style -- unadulterated confrontation. Her fame comes from her controversial stands (defending the World War II internment of Japanese-Americans and favoring racial profiling of Arab-Americans in the war on terror, for example) and her uncompromising tactics.

Grove's story describes a different image than the one we're used to seeing on TV gabfests, the visage so intense and unblinking you're sometimes forced to look away. This Malkin is a happily married mother of two who twice has moved her family (the last time to Colorado Springs) for fear of the haters. A security guard travels with her on speaking tours, and death threats are mixed in with the adulation of those who share her views.

"I'm a human being," says the 38-year-old first-generation American, whose parents moved from the Philippines in 1970. She found her calling in college in Ohio, when her career choice of concert pianist didn't pan out and an editorial she wrote condemning affirmative action earned her the scorn of students and the nickname "The Eva Braun of Oberlin."

Malkin's race distinguishes her from blond talking heads such as Ann Coulter, and makes her a target of a special kind of criticism from those who label her "self-hating." This is "liberal racism," she told Grove, "holier-than-thou, sanctimonious, this-is-not-racism racism.

"Overt racism, to me, was always easier to deal with. After a while it gets stultifyingly boring to me. I blog every day, I break news, I've written four books -- and people just want to harp on the fact that I've been very open and candid about race and conservatism. I just think it shows you there is no such thing as post-racial America." Malkin would rather tout her reporting chops, from Iraq to the Democratic National Convention, a war zone of a different kind.

She has not let anything stop her, as she runs two political Web sites, writes books and a column, and makes TV appearances, though the Daily Beast mentions her boycott of Bill O'Reilly's show since he aired Malkin critic Geraldo Rivera's apology, one she considered insincere. (Rivera had called her a "hateful commentator" who wanted to deport people, and told the Boston Globe that he'd "spit on her" if he saw her.) Malkin is definitely in charge of her image and her successful life, so why the complaints?

As someone who has been on the receiving end of threats (some involving ropes and trees) and hostile e-mail campaigns, I can certainly sympathize with Michelle Malkin's plight. (And I also have a child old enough to glimpse what others are saying about his mom.) While you can ignore particularly hateful name-calling, it's never a pleasant way to start the day. With Malkin's high profile, I can't imagine the amount of sludge she has to wade through each day. As a minority, I also feel the frustration of dealing with people you've never met who take one look at your picture and think they are experts on what you think and how you should think.

Then again, it's part of the job whenever you put yourself and your opinions out there. I can't believe that Malkin, who laps up air- and face-time each time a book leaves the press, is so naïve to think she will be greeted solely with hearts and flowers. How can someone who traffics in outrageous pronouncements all of a sudden go all Shakespearean on us? "If you prick us, do we not bleed?"

Sure, Malkin does. But she's usually the one with the rapier, and I've never heard a peep of regret for the blood drawn or much criticism of conservative attack dogs who personalize grudges.

The public Michelle Malkin has no patience for whiners. Now the private Michelle Malkin wants it both ways?

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/09/23 ... =main|html

I don't care for this author’s sarcasm. Michelle Malkin has every right to express her findings of corrupt gov't w/out fear to herself and/or her family. Stupid liberals don't understand that if the fascist shadow gov't takes over THEY will also lose their rights!