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The Ezra Challenge
Hey Michelle, Ezra Klein has sent you a challenge.
“It’s militant leftist bloggers,” writes Malkin, “who wouldn’t know a good-faith argument if it bit them in the lip.” Let’s have a good faith argument. I will debate Michelle Malkin anytime, anywhere, in any forum (save HotAir TV, which she controls), on the particulars of S-CHIP. We can set the debate at a think tank, on BloggingHeads, over IM. Hell, we can set up the podiums in the shrubbery outside my house, since that seems to be the sort of venue she naturally seeks out. And then if Malkin wants an argument, she can have one. We’ll talk S-CHIP and nothing but — nothing of the Frosts, or Congress, or her blog.
My sense has been that Malkin doesn’t want an argument. Rather, she wants to feed her readers the steady stream of outrage that keeps her traffic numbers up. But I realized tonight that I could be wrong, and I shouldn’t assume Malkin doesn’t want a real argument unless I actually ask her.
So c’mon Michelle: Let’s debate health care. Prove to the world that you really want “a good-faith argument.” We can talk crowd-out, and cross-subsidization, and whether lower-middle class entrepreneurs are able to procure health care on the individual market. If this is a policy argument you care so deeply about as to travel to the Frost family’s house to see if they really deserved S-CHIP benefits, surely you’ll want to set up a web cam and talk through the issue.
Unlike you, he actually knows something about health care. So come on, then. Get on Bloggingheads and debate him.
We triple-diggity-dog-dizzare you. What do you have to lose, eh? Chicken! Chicken! BWAAAAAK-BWAAAAAAK-BWAAAAAAAAAK!!!!
Jillian said,
October 10, 2007 at 16:50
Ooh, this is gonna be good.
Who’s laying the odds on this one? Personally, I say fifteen to one she neither responds nor lets slip the dogs of war, because she knows she’ll walk away from this one a loser.
Stalkin’ Malkin is vicious and horrible, but she’s not stupid.
Legalize said,
October 10, 2007 at 16:57
I’ve sent 75, no 76 emails to Malkin regarding this challenge. She hasn’t responded to any of them. I predict she’ll do what she always does - smear the challenger on topics wholly unrelated to the issue at hand, and / or go on FAUX News tonight and whine about how she’s being attacked by unhinged moonbats for merely expressing her blah blah blah blah, and keep perpetuating that the evil commie liberals want socialized medicine so that they can sit on their asses and steal money from hard-working white people.
Jim/The Velvet Blog said,
October 10, 2007 at 17:23
Waiting … Waiting …
thelogos said,
October 10, 2007 at 17:36
I’m not sure Teh Innar Tubez can handle Teh Other Chicken Harpy vlogging.
tb said,
October 10, 2007 at 17:37
Kawk-a-kawk-a-kawk-a-kaaawww!
MCH said,
October 10, 2007 at 17:39
OT, but mo’fricken Hitchens.
Slate mentions that Vanity Fair has published just such a Hitchens piece as this:
In Vanity Fair, Slate contributor Christopher Hitchens meditates on the death of an American solider he inspired to enlist. (Read the article that encouraged the young man to join up.)—G.H.
OK, I tried clicking through. Yeesh. At least he felt “very deep pang of cold dismay” at the news, just after right before quoting Yeats and then modestly noting that he’s not comparable to such a looming figure. More namedropping of writers and works follow. At one point, he even stoops to image-is-everythingness:
In the last analysis, it was quite clear, Mark had made up his mind that the United States was a force for good in the world, and that it had a duty to the freedom of others. A video clip of which he was very proud has him being “crowned” by a circle of smiling Iraqi officers. I have a photograph of him, standing bareheaded and contentedly smoking a cigar, on a rooftop in Mosul. He doesn’t look like an occupier at all. He looks like a staunch friend and defender. On the photograph is written “We carry a new world in our hearts.”
Jeebus H. Tripe.
This man Hitchens is unreadable. The ego just drips off the page, even in the course of saying things that are supposed to humanize him, like his pangs. And don’t let his writerly emotions disguise his lack of self-awareness. Check this subtly mind-blowing graf:
In his brilliant book What Is History?, Professor E. H. Carr asked about ultimate causation. Take the case of a man who drinks a bit too much, gets behind the wheel of a car with defective brakes, drives it round a blind corner, and hits another man, who is crossing the road to buy cigarettes. Who is the one responsible? The man who had one drink too many, the lax inspector of brakes, the local authorities who didn’t straighten out a dangerous bend, or the smoker who chose to dash across the road to satisfy his bad habit? So, was Mark Daily killed by the Ba’thist and bin Ladenist riffraff who place bombs where they will do the most harm? Or by the Rumsfeld doctrine, which sent American soldiers to Iraq in insufficient numbers and with inadequate equipment? Or by the Bush administration, which thought Iraq would be easily pacified? Or by the previous Bush administration, which left Saddam Hussein in power in 1991 and fatally postponed the time of reckoning?
Perhaps Mark was killed by the highfalutin’ propaganda of one Christopher Hitchens? Funny how that one factor escaped the differential diagnosis of “ultimate causation”, in this of all articles.
Spirula said,
October 10, 2007 at 17:45
That photoshop pic is HILARIOUS! Well done.
Legalize said,
October 10, 2007 at 17:47
I love that picture.
NobodySpecial said,
October 10, 2007 at 18:00
Shouldn’t have fed her the tacos, guys.
Gary Ruppert said,
October 10, 2007 at 18:06
There is no reason for Michelle Malkin to waste her time squashing a squaking moonbat leftist like yourself.
The fact is that the Democrats are trying to expand SCHIP to cover illegal immigrants and adults, while raising taxes and raising spending.
As well, the Frosts are obvious Welfare queens, leaching off the government at every opportunity.
Democrats are a bunch of a gutless cowards who hide behind women and children to make their political points.
Democrats are also a monstrous horde of liars. Such as the idiotic affirmative-action case Jim Clyburn, who said that “Our base will understand what a filibuster is, the American people will understand what a filibuster is. They don’t understand this 60-vote-rule business. But they remember which party filibustered against all the civil rights bills back in the ’50s and ’60s, and to have that same party stand up there and start filibustering against health care for children? Man, I would love that picture.”
Of course Clyburn was inferring that Republicans filibustered civil rights bills, which is false.
It says a lot about the Democrat leadership when you look into how they got their jobs
Pelosi got her job because she’s a woman
Hoyer got his job because he finished second to Pelosi
Clyburn got his job because he’s African-American
Democrats went for affirmative-action and Title IX first.. and look where that got them.. the most idiotic gutless house leadership in history.
The bipartisan opposition to SCHIP will win out in the override fight. Not enough Republicans will sell out to make your side victorious.
Teh Eternal Order of Teh Sammich said,
October 10, 2007 at 18:06
Down.
In.
Flames.
Bravo!
Johnny Coelacanth said,
October 10, 2007 at 18:19
Stalkin’ Malkin show up for a debate with someone who knows what they’re talking about? I give that two chances: fat and slim. On her tripe-filled followup from which Ezra quotes, she goes on about the terrible blogger who posted her home address as “retribution” (and then took it down), for “telling the truth” about the Frosts. Does she mention that the freeper she holds up as a “scrutinizer” posted the home and business addresses of the Frosts? And that the information is still available for all to see at Freerepublic.com? Of course not, because that would detract from Michelle’s victimization and, ulitmately, this is all about Michelle Malkin.
Two flamin’ thumbs up on the Photoshop, btw.
Johnny Coelacanth said,
October 10, 2007 at 18:21
Ruppert Expectoronum: There is no reason for Michelle Malkin to waste her time squashing a squaking moonbat leftist like yourself.
Hey, cheesedip, nobody on this site is asking Stalkin’ Malkin for a debate. It’s Ezra Klein, who is a real journalist, unlike El Reya De La Stalk.
MCH said,
October 10, 2007 at 18:25
Of course not, because that would detract from Michelle’s victimization and, ulitmately, this is all about Michelle Malkin.
It’s becoming clear that she’s just another Althouse, though more hateful and thuggish, and less self-referential and drunken.
Northern Observer said,
October 10, 2007 at 18:28
I would not accept fox news as a neutral forum.
Paddy said,
October 10, 2007 at 18:29
Wonder if Michelle Malkin will attack this family?
Gary Ruppert said,
October 10, 2007 at 18:32
Ezra Klein, the guy who graduated with a PolSci degree, is a real journalist?
PoliSci degrees are just elaborately designed napkins.
Anyways, most of the anti-Malkinism from the left is due to her being Asian and Conservative
FGFM said,
October 10, 2007 at 18:38
Of course Clyburn was inferring that Republicans filibustered civil rights bills, which is false.
Well, some of them were a little late in switching parties.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strom_Thurmond
FGFM said,
October 10, 2007 at 18:39
It says a lot about the Democrat leadership when you look into how they got their jobs
Pelosi got her job because she’s a woman
Hoyer got his job because he finished second to Pelosi
Clyburn got his job because he’s African-American
Any opinions about Clarence Thomas?
Johnny Coelacanth said,
October 10, 2007 at 18:43
Anyways, most of the anti-Malkinism from the left is due to her being Asian and Conservative
I don’t care what she is. The problem is, she’s a vicious, low-rent media whore who couldn’t argue her way out of a wet paper sack. Anyway, most of the pro-Malkinism from the right is due to her being sort of attractive and Conservative and that’s the only reason she appears on Fox “news.” You think she’d be on TV if she looked like Lucianne Goldberg?
Olexicon said,
October 10, 2007 at 18:45
shorter gary
“I have nothing to say enjoy these ad hominem attacks”
Doodle-bean said,
October 10, 2007 at 18:52
Ezra nails the issue on the head: the only reason the unhinged wingnuts are attacking the Frosts is because they cannot attack the S-CHIP program.
Excellent job amplifying his point and great photo!
forked tongue said,
October 10, 2007 at 18:53
THAT is one of the funniest graphics evah.
comsympinko said,
October 10, 2007 at 18:55
There she is, Michelle Malkin, the Tiny Ignoramus, right there on the dock.
Smiling, she picks up the T-bar; the sun gleaming off her shiny leather jacket, her cheerleader skirt ruffling in the breeze.
She gives the go signal…and she’s off!
Look at this miniature patriot bravely skiing the waters of Left-Wing Nutjobbery in order to jump the Shark Of Truth…I’ve never seen such courage!
She’s at the ramp…she’s in the air…
OH MY GOD!!!
She’s hit the opposite ramp and fallen into the containment cage!!!
Oh, this is terrible…the Shark Of Truth is tearing the Tiny Ignoramus from limb to limb…I’m afraid there’ll be very little left…not that there was much to begin with…Oh, the HUMANITY!!!
Sometimes words are simply not enough to convey the carnage, the true human loss when Unstoppable Ignorance and Immovable Truth collide…
…but in the end, Truth remains unmoved.
And still really hungry…who’s next?
El Cid said,
October 10, 2007 at 19:01
Most of the right wingers who agree with Michelle Malkin do so because she pays them money and because they belong to secret societies which pledge to destroy the U.S. working and middle classes. This is well known by everyone.
phleabo said,
October 10, 2007 at 19:02
Yeah, well, not everyone is so keen on following your path and studying animal husbandry, if only because it’s illegal in 29 states.
Johnny Coelacanth said,
October 10, 2007 at 19:09
“animal husbandry”
That’s not nice. Gary believes in the sanctity of marriage, so he would never call himself an animal “husband.” They’re committed life partners.
Principal Blackman said,
October 10, 2007 at 19:09
Personally, I say fifteen to one she neither responds nor lets slip the dogs of war, because she knows she’ll walk away from this one a loser.
I bet she begs off by saying, “Oh, this is clearly a liberal trap, and I’m not going to talk to some deranged lunatic stalker.” Because it just wouldn’t be Stalkin’ Malkin if she didn’t find a way to bludgeon irony.
Also, that graphic is a true classic.
InsaneInTheCheneyBrain said,
October 10, 2007 at 19:13
So, will Jesse get to prompt her via an earphone during the debate?
J— said,
October 10, 2007 at 19:13
Why is Michelle Malkin afraid to debate this man?
objectivelypro said,
October 10, 2007 at 19:21
Best photoshop ever…
Tommykey said,
October 10, 2007 at 19:21
Most of Michelle’s fanbase has a crush on her and they like to think that if she wasn’t married to Jesse they might actually have a shot at her. She is like the girl in junior high who gets the geeks who adore her to carry her books around for her.
ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said,
October 10, 2007 at 19:29
The fact is, it is both funny and sad that the members of the Blogostomy™ (aka the assholosphere) are going batshit insane on the Frosts and S-CHIP, when most of the GOOPers in the Congress wish Bush would not have vetoed it.
It’s the penalty they’ve earned for all these years of feeding the hatred of their Gary and Malkin base, and letting the C+ Augustus wipe his ass with the Constitution.
I’ll concede plenty of Democrats are undeserving (F.U, Steny and Rahm), but watching the GOP go down in 2008 just like Malkin in the above photo is going to be poetic justice.
mikey said,
October 10, 2007 at 19:33
Hey Gavin. If that “Malkin going down in flames” image is your work, you need to watermark it. ‘Cause people (likely including me) are going to be snagging it all over left blogistan…
mikey
ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said,
October 10, 2007 at 19:34
objectivelypro said,
October 10, 2007 at 19:21
Best photoshop ever…
Clearly, some of that smoke WAS photoshopped.
Principal Blackman said,
October 10, 2007 at 19:35
So, will Jesse get to prompt her via an earphone during the debate?
Well, naturally. I imagine it being something like when Kent Brockman went and played tennis with the Simpsons and had his writers in a van outside feeding him lines.
Vin Scully said,
October 10, 2007 at 19:39
“Ezra Klein, the guy who graduated with a PolSci degree, is a real journalist? PoliSci degrees are just elaborately designed napkins.”
Hmm … this “I know which college degrees are worthless” argument seems awfully familiar … anybody else think that the new Gary is actually Kevin?
Olexicon said,
October 10, 2007 at 19:42
… anybody else think that the new Gary is actually Kevin?”
I’d agree but he doesn’t use “hippie” as an all purpose slur
watertiger said,
October 10, 2007 at 19:44
ZOMG! I want a poster of that.
t4toby said,
October 10, 2007 at 19:46
Gary, Kevin, Chocolate Cream PIE!
What’s teh diff?
r@d@r said,
October 10, 2007 at 19:56
when the roto-rooter guy came and rooted out my basement drain, it made this awful, gut-wrenching sound…..it was sort of like, “uhh-ruppert-ruppert-ruppert….ruppert-ruppert-ruppert……….”
i know, my name’s stupid too, but at least it’s fake.
Uncle Mike said,
October 10, 2007 at 19:57
Best. Photoshop. Ever.
Oh, and Malkin is a chicken. Ya hear me, McFly? You’re a chicken!! Bok-a-bok-a-bok!
g said,
October 10, 2007 at 20:00
I think they’ve had a staffing change in Gary duty. This new one is kind of gabby. The one two weeks ago kept saying “heartland” like he was George Bush with a new “word of the week.” The new Gary hasn’t said heartland at all, but his rants are more fanciful.
I think they change them out on a periodic basis. Maybe to keep them from getting stale.
Confederate Yankee said,
October 10, 2007 at 20:03
WAY off topic, but has anyone heard any of the new Radiohead yet? What I’ve heard is kinda poppy.
Clem said,
October 10, 2007 at 20:04
One shoot-down? That’s nothing. Debra Cagan was shot down 30 times and lost a portion of one leg, but was still credited with destroying over 500 Soviet tanks, 26 aircraft and one battleship, and was the only Republican to be awarded the Romulan Cross with Brass Fly-Trap Leaves, Spoons and Rhinestones.
Beautiful graphic, though.
nylund said,
October 10, 2007 at 20:09
Malkin is too chickenshit to do this. I will bet any sum of money on that.
She has never ever once talked about the actual issues on any subject whatsoever. She is a smear merchant whose only trick of the trade is an ad hominem attack in a mini-skirt.
ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said,
October 10, 2007 at 20:10
Debra Cagan was a stuka pilot?
Gavin M. said,
October 10, 2007 at 20:10
[Fixed the picture more]
objectivelypro said,
October 10, 2007 at 20:18
For your musical pleasure.
Spokane Moderate said,
October 10, 2007 at 20:20
Add another kudos to the pile. Hall of Fame Photoshoppin’, right there.
Cangrejero said,
October 10, 2007 at 20:23
Confederate Yankee said,
October 10, 2007 at 20:03
WAY off topic, but has anyone heard any of the new Radiohead yet? What I’ve heard is kinda poppy.
We’re taking up a collection to donate for you. How much would you like us to raise?
blogenfreude said,
October 10, 2007 at 20:27
I think they’ve had a staffing change in Gary duty. This new one is kind of gabby.
And the spelling is improved. Something’s up - you’re right.
Notorious P.A.T. said,
October 10, 2007 at 20:38
Gary, you give idiots a bad name.
Bullsmith said,
October 10, 2007 at 20:51
The new Gary’s not very good. But the napkin line was decent. Still, he lacks the raw earnestness, the solid-as-granite-but-not-as-agile depth of understanding I’ve come to know and love.
Still, half a Ruppert’s better than none.
anangryoldbroad said,
October 10, 2007 at 20:56
That’s the funniest fucking graphic I’ve seen in nearly forever.
Otto Man said,
October 10, 2007 at 21:00
Wow, Gary pointed out that conservative Democrats filibustered against the civil rights bill four and a half decades ago.
Well, that totally justifies stalking injured children.
Clem said,
October 10, 2007 at 21:01
Yup, Cagan flew the Ju-87 Stuka before transitioning to the Fw-190.
Malkin flew one of these.
TR said,
October 10, 2007 at 21:06
Malkin will never debate Ezra on the issues. All she has is outrage and insults.
There isn’t a single idea in that empty little head. Just hate.
Kevin K. said,
October 10, 2007 at 21:31
Hey, Sadlies, don’t know if you saw this, but Riehl is claiming he may be on CNN tonight to discuss the Frosts & S-CHIP.
Tim said,
October 10, 2007 at 21:45
Can I just say two things totally unrelated to this particular thread?
1) The Fundie Undie post and subsequent comments section have made my day. That is some of the greatest shit I have ever read, anywhere !
2) I’m glad to see Jillian posting as part of the front-line. Great stuff.
Ex-Fed said,
October 10, 2007 at 21:59
Ezra, have you met my friend Godot? Godot, this is … what the hell, he was here just a second ago. Oh, he’ll be right back.
mitch said,
October 10, 2007 at 22:20
that graphic is friggin’ awesome! but watch out, next thing you know the Nutters are gonna claim that you CLEARLY CLONED IN TEH SMOKE!!111! then they’re gonna come after you.
RubDMC said,
October 10, 2007 at 22:36
I just noticed that if you turn that photo over, it looks like Malkin is shooting up.
Very cool.
Batocchio said,
October 10, 2007 at 22:49
Love the graphic! And I love Ezra’s challenge.
a different brad said,
October 10, 2007 at 23:14
Alternately, Ezra could debate Megan. Granted, Ezra would lose his fangs and spend most of the debate talking about her feet, but the stupid shit she’s saying about this would probably force him into an intelligent response or two.
In FMM news, it’s starting to look like Megan really does read us. It’s good to know that I am calling her a racist to her face.
Hoosier X said,
October 10, 2007 at 23:32
I want to see Bat Girl Malkin and Megan McAddled debate on something like Adam Smith or Habermaus’ Public Sphere or Marshall McLuhan’s Understanding Media.
Snorghagen said,
October 11, 2007 at 0:35
MCH wrote, concerning Christopher Hitchens:
That was one part ego to two parts gin.
RobW said,
October 11, 2007 at 1:19
I just noticed that if you turn that photo over, it looks like Malkin is shooting up.
Well, she’s always written as if she were shooting up.
Sporkey said,
October 11, 2007 at 3:19
After seeing that picture, the pain went away for a few minutes. Thank you so very much, sir!
lobbey said,
October 11, 2007 at 4:30
Most of Michelle’s fanbase has a crush on her and they like to think that if she wasn’t married to Jesse they might actually have a shot at her. She is like the girl in junior high who gets the geeks who adore her to carry her books around for her.
is Jessie not like, 20 years older than her, then the fan boys would have a chance to make those wet dreams a reality….
Fishbone McGonigle said,
October 11, 2007 at 4:59
I haven’t had much use for Ezra in the past, but over the past few weeks I’ve come to see him in a more favorable light.
Yglesias, on the other hand . . .
Fishbone McGonigle said,
October 11, 2007 at 5:23
is Jessie not like, 20 years older than her
I don’t think so. I believe they met in college (Oberlin, maybe?), so unless he was her crrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeepy PolySci professor . . .
forked tongue said,
October 11, 2007 at 5:38
Hey, why’d ya delete the pom-poms?
Righteous Bubba said,
October 11, 2007 at 7:13
Malkin’s chicken.
Lesley said,
October 11, 2007 at 8:02
A lot could be done with this image.
Robert M. said,
October 11, 2007 at 15:43
Followed Righteous Bubba’s link, and I’m confused. Malkin spends a couple thousand words saying that it would be silly to debate Ezra Klein, but never actually says why.
She quotes Klein as saying:
Malkin laughs at the idea that anyone has done any of those things. But, with the exception of the phone calls, she admits to all of it in her response. Then her commenters laud her for her work fact-checking the Democrat lies.
One commenter seems to get it:
He gets shouted down as a passive/aggressive concern troll by the other commenters, but oddly no one addresses the actual content: why are right-wingers attacking the Frost family, instead of the SCHIP program?
I’m trying not to sound like a mirror of her echo chamber, but the lack of awareness here is really breathtaking. Malkin and her commenters tell us we’re unreachable brainless beings, living in a fantasy world and willing to twist any fact to its breaking point to justify our agenda–and they do so directly beneath a column that attempts to justify attacking middle-class American citizens for the crime of getting government help for their sick kids.
What would it take to get through to these people?
konopelli/wgg said,
October 16, 2007 at 2:17
“We carry a new world in our hearts.”
which may be true, but it matters little if you still tote the old one around in your ammo belts…
konopelli/wgg said,
October 16, 2007 at 2:24
What would it take to get through to these people?
We could start with their utter and complete immiseration. Poverty, illness, deformed children, unemployment: any of those, if they seemed permanent, would very likely do the trick. If all those befell, the gutless punks’d drug out.
Doodette said,
October 16, 2007 at 19:31
While we’re at it, let’s GET one of the biggest pork-barrel projects in the country. This one makes you pay whether you own that Hummer or SUV or just take the bus or walk or ride a bicycle. Like it or not, you HAVE to pay for the biggest, most important and most expensive part of any vehicle:
The road.
I for one, am tired of paying for other people to go joy-riding or traveling to jobs when they could — with a little effort — learn to telecommute like me! Let’s put an end to this massive government payout that no one but the oil companies and auto industry really benefit from!
fltnsplr said,
June 17, 2008 at 13:53
Down She Goes!