Sparked by the crowdsourced fear-mongering over the Marathon bombers, SEK at Lawyers, Guns & Money shines a light on Michelle Malkin’s twitter-site, which yes is really named “Twitchy”:
… Despite all Malkin’s proud declarations about the importance of citizen journalists, in the end she’d rather hide, like the coward she is, beyond an anonymous byline because she knows “mistakes were and will be made.” How does she know? Because that’s the point of the entire site. She’s free to publish anything she’d like without having to worry about annoying things like “consequences,” because not only is she not directly responsible for what she’s published, she’s merely aggregating what other people have written on Twitter. It’s a perpetual bullshit machine powered by anonymity. She can take credit for its “findings” when some infernal occlusion causes it to belch out something accurate, but for the most part she denies via “UPDATE” the endless stream of bullshit it was designed to produce.
This is a more sophisticated version of the long-standing tradition among conservative bloggers of denying-without-denouncing the sexism and racism and homophobia and xenophobia of their readers. The bloggers are merely exercising their right to speak freely about their conservative values and extending their readers the same opportunity. When those readers inevitably reveal themselves to be within earshot of the whistle, these same bloggers claim to have no idea where all these dogs came from. The problem with this approach is that eventually the stench of urine sticks to bloggers who quietly encourage their readers to lift their leg on the America dream. So Malkin created a forum where figuring out where that smell’s coming from is as difficult as distinguishing one yellow stain from another — we certainly can’t blame her for the mess or the miasma.
But I think we can. I think we should force Malkin to take responsibility for the state of her house. She wants to shift the blame to her roommates or their friends but her name is on the deed…
Alison
BTW, site weirdness? Didn’t see this post linked from the previous one. Had to go to the home page to see the newer post…
Nemo_N
I think the Boston bomber should be declared an alien invader.
Yutsano
I just watched part of a video where Paul Ryan was
talkinglying his ass off. It made me slightly stabby.askew
Maureen Dowd has her usual ODS column up. According to her, Obama doesn’t know how to govern.
So many white pundits who are so sure that Obama is too stupid, naive, etc. to be president. All of them know better than him how to do his job. It gets old.
Violet
How/why did Michelle Malkin choose “Twitchy” as her site name? Just doesn’t have good connotations–twitchy movement or the “witch” within the word. Just makes her sound creepy, slightly unstable and like a bitch to deal with. I guess it’s accurate.
Yutsano
@askew: I am definitely NOT getting out of that boat.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Alison: odd, that’s how I got to the post, from a link on the previous one. It hasn’t shown up in the RSS feed yet, though.
ranchandsyrup
SD meetup was fun. Had to leave earlier than I would have liked but at least my face hurts from smiling and my heart is happy from meeting some outstanding people IRL.
Yutsano
@ranchandsyrup: They are kinda awesome aren’t they? Did you get to meet the bassets?
RobertDSC-eMac 1.25
Malkin is so tacky. Ugh.
ranchandsyrup
@Yutsano: no, he emailed with his regrets. Next time hopefully.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@RobertDSC-eMac 1.25: Everything she does should be accompanied by that hideous cheerleading video she made.
Hill Dweller
@askew: I’m not going to read her column.
That said, I’m so tired of the Village absolving the wingnuts of any blame for their behavior. They’ve taken obstructionism to a level no one has ever seen before, but the Village continues to either make excuses and/or blame Obama.
Elizabelle
@Hill Dweller:
Best bought and paid for media you ever saw.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Hill Dweller: They have been so cowed by thirty-plus years of relentless “LIBERAL MEDIA BIAS” attacks that they now automatically excuse the GOP.
Alison
I hate saying this because it feels so mean girl-ish, but I swear, Maureen Dowd acts toward Obama the way pretty girls in high school did when the cool guy didn’t like them back. She needs to get the fuck over it.
And for the love of God, I wish the NYT would get rid of her already.
Spankyslappybottom
Shorter Maureen Dowd:
Spankyslappybottom
Also, re Dowd, this tweet from Richard Dreyfuss:
In my head I imagine the trademark Dreyfussian head weaves and nods.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Alison: You could sum up her columns about Al Gore in one word: “Fag”.
Yutsano
@Alison: She’d just get hired at WaPo or even at Tucker’s vanity rag or something like that. They always fail upwards.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Alison:
Dowd is just a part of the NYT’s Pantheon of Douches. Who is worst among them depends on which of them excreted in print most recently.
Alison
@Yutsano: WaPo maybe, but even in these days of dying print media, that’s still IMO a step down from the NYT.
Daily Caller? Do they let girls in over there?
BillinGlendaleCA
@Alison:
I’m sure they would if she wears the cheerleader outfit.
Alison
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: They seriously need to do a shake-up, but it doesn’t seem like the editorial board gives a fuck that the majority of the columns written by the majority of the contributors get ripped to shreds on a regular basis. I guess there are enough mushy moderate types who actually like people like Brooks and Friedman.
Tokyokie
The last I checked, libel law was still in effect, and at some point, one of these tawdry aggregator sites is going to run something defamatory and get the living crap sued out of it. Funneling any old crap onto your website, without bothering to determine its accuracy, is pretty much definitionally reckless disregard to whether the statement was true or not, which would open the aggregator site to exemplary damages. Now, the aggregator site will argue that it’s merely reporting the controversy, that the original tweeter made the defamatory comment, and therefore the aggregator is protected. But plaintiff counsel will counter by arguing that had the defamatory statement been confined to the original tweet of somebody with a couple of dozen followers it would not have caused the damage to reputation that the plaintiff suffered and that the original tweet only became a “controversy” for the aggregator to report by the decision of the aggregator to widely distribute the libelous statement. Therefore, the damage to reputation was directly attributable to the falsehood having been widely disseminated by the aggregator site. And although I’m generally inclined to take the side of publishers in defamation cases, my thinking is the plaintiff has the far stronger argument in this sort of situation. Once victims of this sort of scandal-mongering start routinely filing defamation claims, aggregator site operators are going to learn that their content isn’t cost-free as their business plans indicated it would be, because now they’re going to have to have legal counsel on retainer, buy some sort of insurance coverage to protect themselves from catastrophically high tort liability insurance coverage rates and hire editors to actually read what they’re rolling out on to the Web. And after a couple of ginormous awards to plaintiffs, the aggregator sites will start shutting down.
Newspaper websites face a somewhat similar situation. In order to get credit for being first with a story, they’re letting their reporters dump stories straight onto the paper’s website, without the stories being properly edited by line editors before the story goes online. At some point, something egregiously defamatory will wind up on some newspaper’s website, and the paper will be sued into oblivion, and the publisher as he ruefully packs his desk may finally wonder whether defenestrating most of the line and copy editors really was a cost-saving initiative.
Chris
@The prophet Nostradumbass:
More than that. Their behavior reminds one of a person sick with unrequited love, finding more and more desperate ways to try and grab their crush’s attention and not realizing that the more they do it, the more their crush holds them in contempt and wants them to go away.
It’s truly pathetic watching them beg for the right wing’s approval while it continues to drag them through the mud.
Suzanne
@ranchandsyrup: Jealous. I’m glad it was awesome.
Dowd is awful, but she doesn’t enrage me quite the way Douchehat does. GOD.
Yutsano
@Suzanne: I can’t look, is she being carved like a Thanksgiving turkey in the comments?
Joseph Nobles
I’ve always thought Twitchy was an amalgram of Twitter and itchy trigger finger. It only seems to exist as a way for Michelle to unleash her hordes onto the chosen leftist Twitter target of the moment.
Spaghetti Lee
@Violet:
My theory is that it’s an attempt at word reclamation. Or what she thinks is word reclamation.
Spaghetti Lee
Malkin is loathesome. An absolute terror. I can’t locate a single redeeming quality. Wouldn’t be so bad if she was just shrieking into the wilderness, but she’s somehow got an army of turds even dumber and angrier than she is to go on witch hunts. If the US ever turns into a right-wing dictatorship, she’d make a great secret police commissar.
Spaghetti Lee
@Alison:
My dream NYT Editorial board: Charlie Pierce, Roy Edroso, Lindy West, The Rude Pundit, Doghouse Riley, and someone from Wonkette. Any other suggestions?
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Spaghetti Lee:
Nope, she’d be among the first to be liquidated a la Stalin’s purge of the Old Bolsheviks.
Alison
@Spaghetti Lee: Irin Carmon and Ann Friedman.
(I know Irin doesn’t do much opinion writing but I think she’d be great.)
Joseph Nobles
@Spaghetti Lee: Lord God, screw the editorials from that band. I want to read the expense accounts.
Narcissus
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: @Spaghetti Lee:
Stalin purged the Bolshevik cadres because they were a legit threat to him. Malkin doesn’t threaten anyone.
She’s popular because of the cheerleader getup, not in spite of it.
SatanicPanic
@ranchandsyrup: That was a great time, nice to meet some SD Balloonbaggers, thanks for organizing! +4 or 5
Xenos
Hate to be obtuse, but I have gone over to Twitchy a couple times and just seen the usual Drudge-light gathering of various and sundry bitchy links. Is the idea to send a batch of flying monkeys out to comment on any topical article and flood the scene with false consensus?
I always wondered where the crowds of creeps posting to AP lead stories came from.
nellcote
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Dowd’s more the catholic schoolgirl type.
WereBear
When you think of the metric TONS of money that get spent on careers like Malkin’s, and consider that the crazy billionaires save money on their taxes… you see where the money shortage is coming from.
TR
Can we declare Malkin to be an enemy combatant?
I mean, it’s clear she’s an insane fanatic who hates everything about America and is actively working to destroy it.
TR
Heh. From SEK’s comments:
Definition of Malkin:
http://m.dictionary.com/d/?q=malkin
mai naem
I’ve always thought of Twitchy as a tweaker/meth addict term and I was totally shocked that she used the term. OT I took traffic school and the instructor told us the reason she had such uncomfortable chairs was because she would occasionally have tweakers taking the class and she needed plastic chairs that she could wipe down easily. The tweakers would either be perspiring or twitching and scratching themselves.
Re:Dowd – I actually think Dowd can write some really awesome columns(the one on Dick Cheney a few weeks ago.) But this column – WTF. She really seems to be confusing RL with a movie/TV series. A few weeks ago the WP did a poll with different issue bills(immigration, guns, climate control) with and without Obama’s name.Support dropped with Obama’s name attached. Just with his name.
Kay
@mai naem:
I think gun control has them rattled. If you look what happened square in the face you have to make some admissions; Congress is broken, some of them are completely captured by lobbyists, all of the things we talk about here. Those things are true. This puts them in stark relief.
It’s easier to talk about arm twisting.
I just don’t think they’re credible anymore, because their answer to all these problems is always “strong leader.”
Even the polling analysis is bullshit. Part of the problem is people believe there are stronger gun laws in place than there are. Gun manufacturers have been deregulating for 20 years.
People here also believe there is some quick, black and white process for involuntary commitment of seriously mentally ill people or limiting their access to a weapon. There isn’t. It’s long, it takes consent by the person who is ill or it takes an elaborate process that involves police (who have their own rules regarding who they pick up), mental health pros (own rules, again) and a court.
People believe there are more protections than there are. They’re horribly misinformed.
Baud
@Hill Dweller:
The Village isn’t going to treat us any better than we treat ourselves, and we treat ourselves like shit.
Maude
@Baud:
#45
Speak for yourself. I treat myself very well, thank you very much.
And, good morning to you.
Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS)
The Koch Bros. are looking at the Tribune fish wrappers:
Kay
@mai naem:
We had a bad shooting in Toledo 2 weeks ago. There is widespread outrage at police and prosecutors. No one is looking at the laws they had to work with, or the FACT that they have very few tools.
They don’t want to know.
Sean
@Chris:
Heh. I thought you were talking about Senate Democrats for a second.
Baud
@Maude:
I was speaking of Democrats in general.
Kay
@mai naem:
I think what pisses me off the most is what a beautiful business model weapons makers have fashioned.
They deregulated weapons sales to everyone, which justifies ever-increasibg weapons sales and tactical gear and the rest to law enforcement agencies.
It’s an arms race.
Baud
@Sean:
I don’t think the problem with Senate Dems is that they seek right-wing approval per se. Rather, I think their problem is they (1) want to do things and that usually means cutting deals that we don’t like and (2) are afraid to take risks, likely because Senate campaigns take a lot of money to win.
Baud
@Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS):
If the Kochs are involved, Tribune toilet paper is probably more accurate.
gogol's wife
@askew:
GAAAAAH! I came here just to complain about her. Yes, the failure of the gun bill is all Obama’s fault. He should have had Mark Begich over for a drink.
Why is this woman in the New York Times?
gogol's wife
@Hill Dweller:
And I love this focus on the four Democrats who voted against the gun bill. I wrote to Joe Nocera yesterday to ask why he focuses on them and not the many, many Republicans who voted against it and who also abuse the filibuster time and time again. I don’t expect an answer.
cmorenc
You really think shame or blame will stick to Michelle Malkin where it really matters? The fact that she has a substantial steady audience (and comfortably rewarding contract) on FoxNews, as well as one for her blog, should be ample disproof for you.
Villago Delenda Est
@Tokyokie:
The MBA asshats told him that the sacred bottom line demanded it.
Villago Delenda Est
@gogol’s wife:
She gives head that the leadership of the NYT does not get at home.
Kay
@gogol’s wife:
They can’t pass a watered down public safety measure that actually had two gifts to gun lobby embedded in it.
That’s what Dowd doesn’t want to look at, because it’s scary.
I wonder where it ends, because with every ratcheting up of firepower on the street, police agencies have to respond with more firepower of their own. I don’t know that they can GET more like a military, but we’re going to find out. I think that was probably the lesson they took from the LA situation “we’re out-gunned!”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I didn’t even read it, but I’ve now seen the “gun bill failure Obama’s fault” thing in Politico, Buzzfeed, I think Time, and now the NYT. The blame always goes to the Democrat(s), always.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Like I said, I didn’t read MoDo and I ain’t gonna, but Richard Dreyfus did
Why am I not surprised she referenced this movie? I’m sure there’s a West Wing reference, too. If only Democrats would learn to script the Republican and public response to their proposals, we’d be golden!
Kay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
It’s so damaging, because it disempowers people like the Newtown activists. The overwhelming message is “no matter what you do it comes down to One Strong Leader”
They’ll have to actively resist and ignore that, and that takes energy they could use elsewhere.
I already heard them doing it at the press conference, insisting they had power. They need that to go on.
It’s not enough that the douchebags sit on their ass and provide commentary, they also actively drain energy from people who are working.
Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS)
@Kay:
Repeated for emphasis.
Baud
@Kay:
A million times this.
Kay
@Baud:
It’s true. It broke my heart a little when the father had to say he wasn’t beaten and he wouldn’t quit. I know what he’s doing. He’s steeling himself against the commentariat who can’t wait to point out that he lost.
Tokyokie
@Villago Delenda Est: Reduce expenses in the short term in a way that’s ruinous in the long term. That’s the MBA way. I’m only half kidding when I say a good way to get the economy going again would be to imprison everybody who’s using an MBA degree. I have yet to ascertain what long-term positive contribution a single damn one of them makes.
Baud
@Kay:
I feel like it happens all too often. The only choices permitted our side are complete victory or failure. There is no place for long term movement building.
rachel
@Tokyokie: I know a couple who do–but that’s because they’re working as English teachers.
It’s not that they want to, they just can’t find work in their chosen field. Can it be that the job market is finally becoming saturated with MBAs?
Kay
@Baud:
She got on the phone with some people who fed her a line about why the bill failed. She doesn’t name them, and she’s apparently too
stupid to realize that they’re self-interested.
She then prints their excuse, like a good stenographer.
Woodrowfan
Malkin is addicted to hatred and anger. Seriously, her brain now needs the elevated levels of chemicals produced by those emotions. It’s the same thing that those people who watch Fox all day long, or leave their radio on Rush and his clones suffer from. “Twitchy” is a perfect name for that site.
John
@Spaghetti Lee: Driftglass
Morzer
@Violet:
Well, you couldn’t ask for ‘tweakers’ as a site name. That’s a lot more honesty than Malkin wants to have about her target audience.
Tokyokie
@rachel: Well, we seem to have reached the saturation point with lawyers.
gogol's wife
@Kay:
Why aren’t you writing on the Times op-ed page, so that every Sunday when I get the paper I wouldn’t start screaming?
Morzer
@gogol’s wife:
They offered Cole a second round pick, but he’s holding out for their first rounder this year plus a second rounder next year.
SFAW
@Kay:
Paging Mr. Bell, Mr. Gordon Bell!
ETA: OK, so I’m a geek.
SFAW
@gogol’s wife:
It’s Kay’s way of ensuring that your blood pressure doesn’t get too low. She’s compassionate like that.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
nice, it their rush to go Jack Baur they gave this asshole the excuse for an infinite amount of appeals. This is the problem of evil, it’s a sort term gain of dubious value that creates long term problems, self defeating.
g
@Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS): Christ! That just answered my question – How much worse could the LA Times get?
West of the Rockies
@Narcissus: I agree… I believe Malkin enjoys popularity (and keeps getting booked on various talking-head shows) because she is photogenic. I don’t have TV, so I get my news pretty much from online/radio/print sources, but it seems to me from the number of times Malkin is linked in some blog or other that she is on TV way more often than, say, Cokie Roberts. I suspect this is because most male Republican viewers would much rather fantasize over Malkin than Roberts. Now, if only Coulter would pass her sell-by date and stagger off to much-deserved oblivion, that would be great.
Sadly, it seems that men don’t suffer quite the same fate in terms of fading appearance. Rush remains a bumbling bloviator, but he is still all-too-popular. Of course, Rush was never appealing to many females, so his appearance is less a factor than Michelle’s. But guys can forgive all sorts of nonsense if the female speaker is pretty. They can forgive much nonsense from males if he is appropriately tough and cocky (and in their political camp).
Another Halocene Human
@Kay: I talked to some lawyer friends. They feel great sympathy for the government officials caught up in the Fast and Furious scandal because they said straw purchasers are allowing illegal weapons to flow and the legal system does not allow them to pursue prosecutions. So the law enforcement types kept trying to get a conviction but keys acts aren’t illegal, and although the lawyers kept warning them it wouldn’t work, people kept dying, so the federal LE kept trying.
It’s hard to solve a problem with two hands tied behind your back.