My reply to Respectable Liberal Blogger Ezra Klein and his fellow travelers; Plus: Hillary threatens S-CHIP critics
Update 1:35pm Eastern. WHY DO YOU HATE CHILDREN SO MUCH?!
Update 1:00pm Eastern. Snort-worthy blue-on-blue spat of the day: ThinkProgress vs. CNN.
Snort-worthy reverse conspiracy theorizing of the day: ThinkProgress in a tizzy over a McConnell aide’s e-mail to reporters about blogger coverage of Harry Reid’s poster child abuse, which the left-wing group touts as proof! proof! that McConnell was “involved in the right-wing campaign to smear Graeme Frost and his family.” He’s no more “involved” in the “right-wing smear” than CNN or any of the other MSM outlets trailing behind and finally asking hard-headed questions about the story behind the story.
Update 9:25am Eastern. Your S-CHIP editorial cartoon of the morning comes from Nate Beeler of the Examiner…
Meanwhile, Time magazine recycles Democrat talking points and passes it off as reporting.
Update: Hillary Clinton, She Whose Hand Rocks The Cradle, warns S-CHIP critics to “lay off.” Or else what, Mrs. Clinton?
“I don’t mind them picking on me; they’ve done it for years,” Clinton said to laughter from the audience at Symphony Hall in Boston. “You know, I think I’ve proven I can take care of myself against all of them.
“But President Bush and the Republicans should lay off Graeme Frost and all the other children who are getting health care because we have decided to do the right thing in America,” Clinton said.
Hillary should lay off the kiddie shields. Last time she exploited a sick child to argue for universal health care, it didn’t turn out so well.
***
The Respectable Liberal Blogger Ezra Klein in repose
On behalf of all liberal bloggers of purported good faith, the Respectable Liberal Blogger Ezra Klein has chivalrously stepped up to the plate to challenge me to a debate about S-CHIP.
I’m. Trrrrembling.
With. Laughter.
A good-faith debate would require that Respectable Liberal Blogger Ezra Klein actually be a person of good faith. He is treated as such in some elite conservative circles, where his work is linked frequently and intellectual repartee among the Beltway boys’ club is warm and chummy. He is free to continue traveling in those cozy circles where highbrow right-wingers are not so mean and scary.
But I’d just as soon share a stage, physical or virtual, with Respectable Liberal Blogger Ezra Klein as I would with Chris Matthews, Geraldo Rivera, or an overflowing vat of liquid radioactive waste.
First, let’s bust the cherished myth that Respectable Liberal Blogger Ezra Klein is as brilliant as he, the nutroots, and his respectable conservative friends think he is.
He is proudly touting the discovery of a blog post I wrote about my experience with Maryland’s individual health insurance market in 2004. He excerpts this part:
I have commented before on the problems with central planning in health care. I certainly am not convinced that a government-run system is the answer, but I do agree with Krugman that there are serious problems with our health insurance system, particularly in the market for individually-purchased (non-group) coverage.
After my husband quit his job earlier this year (to become a full-time stay-at-home dad), we had a choice. We could either buy health insurance from his former employer through a program called COBRA at a cost of more than $1,000 per month(!) or we could go it alone in Maryland’s individual market. Given our financial circumstances, that “choice” wasn’t much of a choice at all. We had to go on our own.
We discovered that the most generous plans in Maryland’s individual market cost $700 per month yet provide no more than $1,500 per year of prescription drug coverage–a drop in the bucket if someone in our family were to be diagnosed with a serious illness.
With health insurance choices like that, no wonder so many people opt to go uninsured.
What he fails to excerpt is the rest of the post:
In the end, we decided to purchase a very high-deductible plan (sold by Golden Rule Insurance Co.) coupled with a tax-sheltered Medical Savings Account (MSA). We couldn’t qualify for the preferred rate because Golden Rule says I am underweight. Hmph! In any case, while Krugman and most Democrats don’t seem to like MSAs, in our case we were glad they were an option.
Update: The Times reports that the proportion of Americans without health insurance is on the rise. The Wall Street Journal, on the other hand, says the proportion has remained steady. (Both are right; it depends on which timeframe one is talking about.) The WSJ editorial writers suggest:
States like New York could do a lot for [those who cannot obtain health insurance] merely by getting rid of the state insurance regulations that make a basic policy roughly 10 times more expensive than it is in neighboring Connecticut. Better still, Congress could save poor New Yorkers from the tyranny of Albany by putting an end to our Balkanized and anachronistic 50-state insurance market and simply decreeing that there shall be nationwide commerce in health insurance. They could then buy policies issued in saner states or over the Internet.
Respectable Liberal Blogger Ezra Klein and his Pavlovian (Yet Respectable) boosters are treating my 2004 post as proof-positive of my utterly flabbergasting HYPOCRISY!
Look! The wingnut complained about the health insurance market! Ergo, she is a HYYYYPPPPOCRITE. And stupid! And a Nazi bitch!
Continue flinging your peas. I do have a spit shield now.
Grown-ups, on the other hand, will be able to grasp effortlessly that if I had decided not to buy private insurance and then demanded that the government cover my medical expenses and insure me after a catastrophic accident, then, yes, why, yes, you could flap two HYPOCRISY! cards up and down in each hand until your feet lifted off the ground.
In fact, I advocated MSAs and noted approvingly the Wall Street Journal’s suggestion that the cure for limited market choices was less government intervention. Not more.
This is perfectly consistent, in other words, with my INHUMAN, FASCIST, CAPITALIST, WINGNUT views.
Is it Respectable Liberal Blogger Ezra Klein’s view that only commentators and analysts who adore the current state of the market are allowed to criticize S-CHIP’s mission creep? If anything, health care entitlement growth will make the problems I wrote about three years ago worse–problems due in significant part to the government regulations the WSJ spotlighted. Herd more people into government-subsidized health care and the private (unsubsidized) individual market will become even more dysfunctional.
True to form, however, other Respectable Liberal Bloggers are mindlessly promoting Respectable Liberal Blogger Ezra Klein’s discovery of my observations as the Holy Grail of Hypocrisy Cards–and falsely characterizing my post to boot. Respectable Liberal Blogger Jonathan Cohn at TNR’s The Plank claims that “I couldn’t find health insurance” and that “there was no affordable coverage to be had.”
Reading comprehension grade: F.
Nutroots pandering grade: A+ with an unhinged smiley face!
RLB Cohn thinks he has another trump card in noting that “[i]t’s the insurers who sell individual and small business coverage that screen carefully for pre-existing medical conditions, raising premiums or denying coverage for those whom they deem high medical risks.” Other left-wing blogs have zeroed in on the Frosts’ reported inability to obtain affordable insurance after their car accident.
Well, yes, it sucks. But Earth to liberals: That’s how insurance works–if you don’t buy it before you need it, you shouldn’t be shocked if it’s impossible to get after you need it.
Yet, somehow, I’m the HYPOCRITE for acting responsibly by considering alternative health insurance plans before anyone in my family required catastrophic care. As I wrote in my post, I wasn’t too happy about the choices at the time, especially the most expensive plans, but instead of expecting Big Nanny and American taxpayers to be our insurer, we made the decision to shell out for an inexpensive, high-deductible plan. (Yes, such plans do exist.)
Most noxious is the continued sanctimony of left-wing bloggers positioning themselves as champions of the children of working-poor in their embrace of S-CHIP expansion. Notice how they say nothing about the entitlement creep that has this working-poor children’s health insurance program covering a growing number of adults.
Large numbers of these adults, also growing in number, are by no sane definition “working poor.” As Tom Blumer at BizzyBlog points out:
In California…it appears that there’s nothing stopping a trust fund baby, if their ONLY income comes from investment returns (i.e., it’s “unearned”), from qualifying for SCHIP! Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie could sit at home and stop boring us with their TV show, appearances, and commercials, have babies by any number of entourage members, and join in the SCHIP party. Is this a great country or what?
Seriously folks, 46 states and the District of Columbia (HT Democracy Project) do not have an asset test for SCHIP. It seems likely that they, like California, as Kesler has just shown, don’t include “unearned” income either. Such laxity in regards to assets and “unearned” income may also be present in some or all of these states’ much larger Medicaid programs.
This is nuts.
Meanwhile, RLB Cohn piles on with another complaint about us savage right-wingers. I missed his e-mail in the deluge of moonbat mail that’s currently overwhelming my inbox. He wanted to know if I had tried to contact the Frosts. Here’s your answer: The reason I went to the Frosts’ commercial property was to try and interview Halsey Frost. He wasn’t there, which is why I ended up talking to one of his two tenants, who was happy to share his views. In fact, he noted that two other media outlets had stopped by. He was happy to talk to them, too. So much for my “grilling” and “harassment” of the Frosts’ friends. Out of respect for the family, contrary to this mythic image being conjured up of me pulling a Code Pink-style stunt at their home, I did not go onto their private property uninvited. I simply drove by their house, on a public street, and reported what I saw.
Can you imagine if I had gone on their property? Knocked on their door? Or called them up?
If you’re a conservative blogger and you don’t call them, then you aren’t getting their side of the story. If you do call them, you’re guilty of harassing them.
If, on the other hand, you’re an MSM reporter who asks only softball questions and snaps photos of the couple at their doorstep, you’re a Respectable Journalist.
As I’ve said before, you can’t win with these people.
“Debate” Ezra Klein? What a perverse distraction and a laughable waste of time that would be. And that’s what they really want, isn’t it? To distract and waste time so they can foist their agenda on the country unimpeded.
Last point: Let’s take the costume off, Mr. Klein, shall we? More than a year ago, I informed Respectable Liberal Blogger Ezra Klein that he had printed false, libelous claims about my run-in with the thugs at UC Santa Cruz. He refused to retract them and continues to intentionally spread that false, libelous information–weaving it, in fact, into one of his latest diatribes:
Something has gone wrong on the Right. Become sick and twisted and tumorous and ugly. To visit Michelle Malkin’s cave is to see politics at its most savage, its most ferocious, its most rageful. They say they’ve spent the past week smearing a child and his family because that child was fair game — he and his family spoke of their experience receiving health care through the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. For this, right wingers travel to their home, insinuate that the family is engaged in large-scale fraud, make threatening phone calls to the family, interrogate the neighbors as to the family’s character and financial state.
This is the politics of hate. Screaming, sobbing, inchoate, hate. It would never, not in a million years, occur to me to drive to the home of a Republican small business owner to see if he “really” needed that tax cut. It would never, not in a million years, occur to me to call his family and demand their personal information. It would never occur to me to interrogate his neighbors. It would never occur to me to his smear his children.
The shrieking, atavistic ritual of personal destruction the right roars into every few weeks is something different than politics. It is beyond politics. It was done to Scott Beauchamp, a soldier serving in Iraq. It was done to college students from the University of California, at Santa Cruz. Currently, it is being done to a child and his family. And think of those targets: College students, soldiers, children. It can be done to absolutely anyone.
This is not politics. This is, in symbolism and emotion, a violent group ritual. It is savages tearing at the body of a captured enemy. It is the group reminding itself that the Other is always disingenuous, always evil, always lying, always pitiful and pathetic and grotesque. It is a bonding experience — the collaborative nature of these hateful orgies proves that much — in which the enemy is exposed as base and vile and then ripped apart by the community. In that way, it sustains itself, each attack preemptively justifying the next vicious assault, justifying the whole hateful edifice on which their politics rest.
It is a blessing and relief that these mobs, as of yet, do nothing more than smear, that the blood they exult in is figurative and the inflicted harm is emotional or occupational. But they are howling, braying, thirsty mobs nonetheless, and their frequent, communal savagings of chosen representatives of their enemies is ugly and unsettling. It’s impossible not to wonder when the first one will drive by a house, and then decide to ring the doorbell, and then. Indeed, it’s already come damn close.
Christy Hardin Smith, has more, as does Digby. Think Progress has the facts of the story. And it’s worth following some of the links, including the one to Malkin’s attack on college students from years past. Malkin is, last I looked, the highest traffic rightwing blogger. What she’s channeling is real, and it should repulse and worry decent people, no matter their political orientation.
Good faith, eh? What would Ezra Klein know about it?
Now, run along and thump your chest over your “victory” at BloggingHeadsTV or something.
I have to get back to work. You know, “stalking.” “Assault.” “Savagings.” “Howling. “Braying.” “Hateful orgies.”
That stuff.
***
Previous:
Democrat poster-child abuse, the nutroots’ pushback, and the continued campaign to silence the Right
Video flashback: John Kerry’s health care poster child abuse
Graeme Frost and the perils of Democrat poster child abuse Updated
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Then why not debate him? Your reasons above basically amount to “because I don’t want to.” – nikkos
She pretty much explained in the article. It wouldn’t be an intellectually honest debate. He’s already demonstrated that he’s willing to ignore anything Michelle says that doesn’t support his point. . . I wouldn’t try to debate someone like that either. What would be the point?
Both parties of guilty of this practice. Remember the “snowflake babies” trotted out a few years ago?
Either way, I think Michelle should do the debate. It would make for good TV!
Not to answer for Michelle, but, why waste the time debating someone who is simply interesting in ad hominem attacks, smears, and misrepresenting “facts.”
Nikkos – are you brain dead. Debating a tape recording is not a useful exercise.
Nikkos:
“So when did you stop beating your wife?”
Get it?
He’s mental.
sorry all – I need to keep the discourse a little more civil – but good grief.
He left this fact out….
As I read the quote of RLB Ezra Klein’s latest diatribe at the top of the thread, I would have sworn I was reading a description of Media Matters, or MoveOn.
Is he actually saying it is wrong to call a fabricator of war crimes a liar?
He is right to condemn the “shreiking, atavistic, ritual of personal destruction” but he is a little off target.
Drop – 100 Left – 180.
MM I live by 2 saying the authors are unknow by me. they are; “Never get into an arguement with an idiot because he will beat you to death with experience.” and “Against logic there is no armor like IGNORANCE.”.
MM. My first comment ever. Thanks for what you say and how you say it. I think you should debate Klein at any college with a fair moderator. He would run out of facts in about 5 minutes. But in the end it will come down to differing opinions. Liberals WANT to spend their money helping more people and they think everyone else should too. Facts come in second to feelings.
Stay on the high road.
I think MM would do a debate with anybody, who honestly wanted to get to the root of problems that plague our insurance problems. They are not interested in that. They want smear her. Just ask Rush.
Bravo Nikkos. Michelle, if he is so intellectually inferior and you have the FACTS, why not debate him. Wouldn’t it further your cause if you showed him to be lying, pea flinger you make him out to be? It’s easy to hide behind words and hurl insults at your opponents if you never have to engage them in direct confrontation. I for one would welcome an intelligent (KEY WORD INTELLIGENT) debate by opinion makers on this subject.
Thanks les, your comment is appreciated!
Hahahahaha!
Oh man that link did my heart some good!
and
Ha. Have fun defending that, echo chamber.
les – let me explain this with small words to make sure you understand. The facts have already been exposed and they have been ignored. That makes the people who ignore them ignorant. You suggest having an intelligent debate. Can you have an intelligent debate with an ignorant person? If you continue to ignore the facts, may we call you ignorant?
Rusty: I’m a little unclear on your logic. Please explain medical savings account again – government subsidized? So you think allowing something pre-tax is the same as subsidizing it? Guess your 401k account is also gov’t subsidized too then.
-les
I’m sure Michelle would be happy to debate Ezra if she thought for one moment that what you describe were possible . . .an “intelligent debate” cannot be had with someone who is intellectually dishonest. She has shown already that such a debate with Ezra is unlikely in the extreme.
I’d love to see an honest debate on this too. Point is, it won’t happen with Ezra because it appears he’s not capable of it, NOT because Michelle wouldn’t be willing to participate.
#103. Exactly. Having the feds give you a tax break to incent you to do something is a whole lot different than paying for it with federal funds.
401k’s, IRA’s and other retirement savings accounts were created to shift the onus for retirement saving AWAY from the government and TO the individual. By the same token, MSA’s were created to encourage individuals to save money to pay their own health care expenses.
Well, I only have an IRA. And of course it’s government subsidized. It’s tax-free income.
MM is using a tax shelter (created by Democrats!) to help pay for her family’s health insurance. It’s subsidized health care by another name. If she truly thought that government intrusion was a problem, she wouldn’t have set up her health care that way.
Or, she just did what was best for her family. Just like the Frosts. And just like anyone else who would benefit from an S-CHIP expansion.
Absolutely not. IRA’s are not tax free income. You either pay the tax on the income prior to putting it into the IRA, or when you redeem it.
It’s not the government’s money to begin with. why is that so difficult to understand????
IRA is tax-deductable, not tax-free, and when you actually start pulling money from it, you pay taxes on it.
Rusty,
Your ignorance shines through, yet again. You have a hard time with facts don’t you?
MSA’s or HSA’s, however you refer to them as, are NOT government subsidized. They’re an IRA for medical expenses, basically.
Also, in order to qualify for an MSA or HSA, you must purchase a high deductible private insurance plan (for catestrophic events).
So, in fact, Michelle was taking money from her own pocket, saving it for small medical expenses in an MSA, and then paying premiums on a private insurance plan, all while her husband was unemployed.
Thanks for allowing us to defend that and I’m sorry that it wasn’t the “bomb” that you intended it to be.
And it is comments like this one that go to the root of the issue here. It is subsidized because “we say so”. Do not dare to challenge that assertion, for it is the keystone that we build the rest of our argument upon.
You pay taxes on what you put into an IRA or 401(k) at the time you withdraw the funds. If you need access to the money early, like say, for a medical emergency or to live on in the event of a job loss, well that’s tough. That will be a 10% penalty plus taxes as ordinary income.
As for your rather indignant response to my assessment of MR. Klein, I believe I pegged him pretty well. Sorry you got your panties in a wad. He is 23 years old, with no record of any service of any kind to his country. He has virtually zero experience in life, and certainly does not know what it is like to have children. His thought processes are still immature, lacking the ability to see reason through emotion. Yet, this is the guy put forth as a respected spokesman for the left. Respect is something that in most cases must be earned, and Mr. Klein has zero capital in that regard.
As for the debate challenge, it was really clever of Klein to make that offer. I am sure it has increased his web traffic.
But let’s be realistic here on the topic of a debate. Michelle Malkin does have standards and scruples. And she would never, never, engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent. Like I said before, you cannot reason with someone who has no ability to reason.
conservativesRus, I won’t engage in the name calling you are so apt to do. I left grade school long ago. So you know all the facts, can you provide me and all the readers a comprehensive outline of the SCHIP program, qualifications, benefits, etc. If you know all the facts, perhaps a chart would be nice. All I’ve seen on this site is alot of commentary with no evidence. One falsehood for example is that illegal aliens are afforded health care under SCHIP. That is an oft reported and repeated falsehood. Michelle and Ezra are each trying to sway public opinion on these and many other issues. I’m tied of all the carping and name calling. So, let’s see them square off against one another and let the best pundit win. Neither Michelle nor Ezra are ignorant people, they would not have gotten where they are if they were. To blanketly call your opponents ignorant and a discussion with them a waste of time is a cowardly thing to do.
ok … let’s get real on the MSA business … there are things being tossed around here that are not factual about the way it works … I will post one and give a link to more information for those that would prefer to discuss things from a more informed standpoint
Myth #1: MSAs provide a tax break for the rich.
Fact: MSAs create a level playing field by giving self-employed and uninsured workers the same tax break as people who work for corporations. Today, individuals whose employers offer health insurance do not pay taxes on their health insurance. Yet those who work for companies that don’t offer health insurance must pay income taxes on their purchase of health insurance.
MSAs promote tax equity by allowing all workers to save money tax-free for medical care, regardless of whether or not their employer offers health insurance
This came from the following link:
http://www.forhealthfreedom.org/Publications/HealthIns/MSAs.html
Secondly, as Michelle told everyone she had to purchase a “high deductible” policy … that is part of the requirement to qualify for a MSA/HSA … and there are limits on how much one can contribute to the account and how the money is spent …
Other links with info on MSA and HSA and the difference between them are to be found here:
http://www.msainfo.net/
The Treasury Dept has a nice PDF of a Powerpoint presentation here:
http://www.treasury.gov/offices/public-affairs/hsa/pdf/all-about-HSAs_051807.pdf
If that’s not enough … do a search on your own … just get the facts straight before condemning anyone …
BTW … it is obvious that the Frosts could not have been taking part in these programs to lessen their taxable income or they would have had to have medical insurance
EdDantes
Looks like we were typing the same thoughts at the same time …
Rusty–
I was almost taken by your attempt to sell yourself as someone attempting to rise above it all. Almost.
I’m going to miss your input.
“To visit Michelle Malkin’s cave is to see politics at its most savage, its most ferocious, its most rageful.”
Maybe this guy should try visiting any of the left-wing blogs. Daily Kos, etc.
No, no, Lanzman, they are all considered “mainstream.” It’s like a Twilight Zone episode.
les: the only thing you need to know about SCHIP. They take money from some and give it to others.
les …
perhaps a quote from the SCHIP bill itself would get your attention … emphasis is mine … this portion changes the proof of eligibility requirements
The bill mandates that “in lieu of requiring the individual to present satisfactory documentary evidence of citizenship or nationality … establish a program under which the State submits each month to the Commissioner of Social Security for verification the name and Social Security number of each individual enrolled in the State plan.”
now … tell me how that is going to be better than the current requirements of presenting birth certificates and as such is going to not open the doors for illegals … ?
just what we need … another “program” to go along with a program that is in place and working as intended …
Satan thy name is “Bureaucrat”
governmentdrone = Satan?
DesertLover, I enjoy reading your comments. Rational, reasoned, well-written, generally civil…all the things necessary for intelligent discourse on tough issues. Folks such as Jim M. and conservativesRus, not so much. Substitute a few words and names, and their comments largely resemble the lowest common denominator stuff on Kos. Book recommendation for you guys: Common Ground by Cal Thomas and Bob Beckel.
Heh.
folks: I honestly don’t understand how this is such a tough issue. I’ll say it again. It is taking money from some and giving it to others. Some level of income re-distribution may be necessary to have a well functioning society, however, the USA is already way past that “necessary” point. Those that have been blessed and benefited from a society do indeed have an obligation to give back – however, I find amazing the notion that our politicians know better who to take from and who to give it to than do the people who have benefited. I think the ones with the skills to benefit, are probably also the ones to know how to distribute for maximum benefit.
dakine
noted and appreciated …
I respect most of the commenters here … including some of those that are from the liberal side of the fence … just as long as things are kept civil and within reason … but I do have my limits when people won’t take time to check their facts and think through what they are posting … the information is out there for the finding …
Amazing. We are the savages and we are the ones who partake in the politics of hate? Let me see, just how many hateful insults did Mr. Happy-Pants come up with in his little rant? How many horrible, awful things have these knuckleheads come up with and stated ad nauseum concerning Michelle’s race, color of her skin, sexual orientation and gender? how many vile and loathesome things have they said about all of us on the Right on a daily basis in print, in blogs and on TV? Harrassment? how many people does the Left and the Liberals harrass at bus stations, subways, college campuses, street corners and yes, even parties? Are they worried about mentioning that they are Dems or Liberals out in public? No. Are we? Sure, because to publically admit you are a Conservative, support Bush for the most part, support the WOT and the troops opens you up to verbal and sometimes physical abuse where the abuser feels not only obligated to do so, but vindicated in having “Spoken truth to power”. How many Liberal speakers are shouted down, ge pies thrown on them or just plain told they are not welcome and kicked out of the place where they are going to be speaking?
Savages indeed. And orgies to boot. Well, if I am going to be a savage at this orgy, I want a better loin cloth and expect me to be going Commando.
Rusty, “with the help of the government” means our tax money. Why is it my job to help them achieve “the American Dream”?
Civil enough? Clear enough? Any echos? Am I smearing a 12 year old?
I hear ya DesertLover.
OT (sorry, it’s playoffs time): You’re a D-Backs guy right? What is up with the unsold tix in Phoenix. I’m tempted to get a last minute fare and head down for game 2. I’m a Red Sox guy, but have lived in metro Denver for the past 12 years and root for the Rox as my NL team. A Sox/Rox series would be really sort of ridiculous for me. I see a 7 gamer in the NLCS…how do you see it?
Quite the hornets’ nest you’ve stirred up here, Michelle. I doubt we’ll see any Saul-on-the-road-to-Damascus style conversions on the topic, but you’ve sure got people fired up to speak their minds…
As for debating Klein, it’d be a waste of time. I don’t think he’s interested in debating the practicality, cost-effectiveness or consequences of mission-creeping S-CHIP into an ersatz foundation for HillaryCare 2.0.
What he wants to do, he’s already indicated by what he’s written thus far: change the subject from S-CHIP to “Whether Michelle Malkin is a scary, hypocritical meany.”
The logical fallacy of changing the subject is a crutch of many liberals’ thinking. It’s more benign form is Alan Colmes’ trademark “Two Wrongs Make a Right” dodge whenever anyone points out something that puts the liberal position in a bad light.
It’s more malignant form is what Klein and Cohn do: morph the discussion into a “debate” about whether you’re a hater/stalker/hypocrite for daring to disagree with them.
Of course, the true intention of that tactic isn’t to “encourage” debate but to shut it down; and it’s largely effective. Most of us don’t have the time, patience, determination and thick skin to put up with others insinuating that we’re somehow lesser humans for not backing down before Hillaryesque emotionalisms-qua-argument like “The Children”(TM) and “The Greater Good”(TM).
But you stand your ground, Michelle.
If you take away nothing else from this post, you pint-sized package packing the heavyweight punch, just accept my thanks for the service you provide here.
It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.
dakine
OT response … There aren’t that many unsold tickets for the game tonight (currently about 600) … we always sell these things out with the last tickets going late because of being during week and an early game start local time because everything runs on east coast time on TV … Friday game has only a few hundred tickets left … and yes … am solid D-back fan from day one they started … just don’t like the color change to Red … still wear my D’Backs purple … lol
dakine … I see D-backs in 6 …
This is a truly remarkable statement! “It would never occur to him….?” Didn’t it just occur to him to make this statement? No, no, the left never would imply wrong-doing, or impugn anyone’s character or motives!
Michelle,
I really enjoyed the link to the NRO report on Manipulated Chile Syndrome (MCS). Too bad so many Democrats are out to use these children as human shields. I think I remember this being a violation of the Law of Armed Conflict or Geneva Conventions. Thanks for including with the growing information on the S-CHIP issue. Amazing what happens when more and more of the facts are uncovered instead of relying on emotions.
right_on: What the left also fails to understand – a tax cut is taking less of our money – it’s not at all the same as giving us something. Does it matter if somebody “needs” a tax cut? If I told every student in my former class that they had to give me a dollar and then I decided that those wearing glasses didn’t have to – did I give the glasses wearing ones anything? NO – I just didn’t take from them.
I didn’t read through all the comments, but smoking will help fund this bill-to-be-law for Child’s Insurance. But maybe if those parents just didn’t smoke, they would have the money for insurance?
And lets shamelessly whore our children in hopes we don’t have to put our money into something worthwhile (insurance) and can continue spending it on silly things (new cars, new houses, new toys).
Correct and that is the area where Rusty is confused here. He believes the money you earn by the sweat of your brow by default actually belongs to the government, not you.
She didn’t say he did, and in fact, linked to those who did.
“Ezra wrote none of those things.”
Actually even one of his own commenters complained about the terms he used to attack Michelle:
-I read the adjectives and nouns in this post and ask if this is going to help.
“sick and twisted and tumorous and ugly”, “shrieking, atavistic” “howling, braying, thirsty mobs” and so on.-
Who the f*** is Ezra Klein?Sounds like another idiot lefty trying to make a name for himself by getting his butt kicked(intellectually)by a conservative woman.I guess that is the left’s definition of male feminist-a guy who likes getting spanked.I wonder if he enjoyed the Folsom Street Fair.Silky can’t get money without A.C,Germ can’t get ratings without Michelle,now we get to hear from this fool—nothing but a bunch of ineffectual pansies–no wonder they love government entitlement programs –they need caretakers because they can’t survive on their own merits.
blues, was that last comment really intended to advance the discussion? C’mon man…intelligent, rational and civil discourse without resorting to adolescent name calling and personal attacks. It’s just not that hard.
LOL, but you are spot on. Some whiny kid on a free blog site is desperate for attention.
?advance the discussion? I think the discussion is pretty far advanced already. A family put forth their child as a reason for expanded government health care insurance. Skeptical people investigated and discovered what appears to be a family that chose not to purchase insurance when they most likely could have. The skeptics were then called uncaring. Did I miss anything?
That is one EPIC rant Michelle!
Bravo! Clap clap clap…
Uh, okay conservativesRus, then blues comment was completely unnecessary. Thanks for helping to make my point.
Dakine:
If you want to moderate a blog, start your own blog.
If you want to critique comments, start a criticism blog.
If you want to discuss baseball, go to a baseball blog.
Don’t waste Michelle’s bandwidth.
And my time.
Yes, that is you area.
Honestly, the “holier than thou” position you take is getting old already. As well as the passive aggressive hit and run tactics.
Let me guess – fairly new shiny lawyer, lives in Colorado and is in to snowboarding. Still hangs the old law school diploma on the wall to let the world know he is a lawyer.
The problem is that piece of paper in the real world does not confer any superior intellect on its owner. That only worked with the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz.
If you have something to say, say it. If you disagree with something that is said, note it and back it up. This game of shaking the digital finger in people’s faces is not doing anything for your credibility.
slp, how long did it take you to come up with that one? How ’bout this: you post your comments, and I’ll post mine; you read and respond to the comments that pique your interest and I’ll do the same.
Really Jim M.? That’s the best you’ve got. C’mon man. You can do better than that. You may not like my comments, and that’s fine. Tell you what though, I don’t engage in the kind of infantile personal attacks that you feel compelled to engage in. You’re one to talk about credibility…give me a break.
It did not take very long.
I noticed that you were spending all your energy as a comment critic and baseball blogger and not engaging in a substantive discussion of the issues raised by Michelle.
dakine – in your past several comments…I don’t see the discussion being advanced. Maybe I missed it.
Really. My guess is that hit real close to home.
I see now that you cannot help yourself when it comes to passive aggressive behavior. Guess that’s what happpens when you can’t back up what you believe.
Thing is, it is not just those guys, but pretty much everyone getting tired of the “Holier Than Thou” liberalism you project. Happens on every thread you comment on. If one person complains, fine, that is just one person. However, if a great many people do, you should rethink what you are doing because you obviously have an issue, or are just in the wrong place.
conservativesRus, touche and fair point.
Jim M. and slp, went back and reviewed my comments in this thread, and I gotta admit that I really didn’t add much to the discussion. Not even close though Jim M.
Later boys…off to watch some high school football and listen to the Rockies on the radio (sorry ’bout that slp).
Actually, the MSA was created by a Congress controlled by Republicans, but let’s not let facts get in the way of a good argument.
A clue for you, Sherlock. Not every dollar belongs to the government; in fact, none of them do. Just because something isn’t taxed doesn’t mean it’s subsidized by the government. Unless you are such a complete moron that you believe government owns all your money and just allows you to keep some of it.
Boy, the wisdom of the libs never ceases to amaze me. Tax cuts don’t cost you money, pal. No matter what you learned in your gummint-run skool. Who the hell are you to determine whether someone “needed” a tax cut? It ain’t your money. And it sure as hell ain’t the gummint’s. It belongs to the taxpayer.
Michelle just did the job of the lazy Drive By Media, who have elected to simply serve as the lapdog and mouthpiece for the Democrat Party.
And no one smeared anyone’s chil’run, no matter what you lefties claim. The family’s assets are fair game when the Democrats use the 12 year old as a human shield.
I’ll pass on the “moron” bit there, but that is exactly what liberals believe. i.e. “you’re lucky the government doesn’t take all of it’s money away from you”.
Thought I was the only one who noticed that. Maybe his next crusade will be free domains for everyone. You know, because it’s in the Constitution and all.
Of course. Anyone caught LYYYING to promote their power-grabbing cause.
Yes, the body of an enemy caught LYYYING. Don’t be so quick to warp the facts and you won’t give anyone here red meat to rip into. DUH.