Meh Culpa: On Michelle Malkin and cause and effect

Most of the time I simply have to laugh at her thinking, but I scare myself when I start agreeing with Michelle Malkin.* I want to break out the smelling salts, it’s that bad. Aside from grumbling about the bailout mess we really don’t agree on anything at all, though. Still, I thank all my fortuitous constellations that I want to smack her upside the head for her post(s) about Attorney General John Mukasey’s collapse and as well as for calling Washington Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders a heckler.

Malkin depicted the situation as if the “heckling” caused Mukasey to begin slurring and to slump over the podium in a faint, or something his doctors aren’t authorized to discuss, such as what many people thought it was: a stroke.  Let’s imagine it was a stroke. Can the stress of hearing yourself referred to as a tyrant once on a single evening cause a stroke? Uh, sorry.  According to the Standford University Stroke Center, “A one-time stressful event rarely causes a stroke, but long-term unresolved stress can contribute to high blood pressure.” Michael Mukasey has held this demanding job as the head of Justice, one that could cause a good deal of stress, for about a year.  Hmmm, that could be chronic.  But not the fault of the word Justice Sanders called out before leaving the Federalist Society dinner.

Malkin is all bent out of shape that her old friend Sanders, whom she compared to “an unhinged Code Pink protester,” not only doesn’t like the treatment given to Gitmo detainees, but she is disgusted that he’d make use of his First Amendment right to free speech and actually say so in public. (Oh, the nerve of the man!)

Says Sanders to Malkin:

In his speech, Attorney General Mukasey justified the Bush administration’s policies in the War on Terror, which included denying meaningful hearings for prisoners in Guantanamo, and other questionable tactics, all in the name of national security. Mr. Mukasey said those who criticize the Administration for abandoning provisions of the Geneva Conventions fail to recognize that “… Al Qaeda [is] an international terrorist group, and not, the last time I checked, a signatory to the Conventions.” Although the United States is a signatory, and these Conventions prohibit torture, the audience laughed. Attorney General Mukasey received a standing ovation. I passionately disagree with these views: the government must never set aside the Constitution; domestic and international law forbids torture; and access to the writ of habeas corpus should not be denied.

The program provided no opportunity for questions or response, and I felt compelled to speak out. I stood up, and said, “tyrant,” and then left the meeting. No one else said anything. I believe we must speak our conscience in moments that demand it, even if we are but one voice.

I hope those who know my jurisprudence will agree that to truly love the Constitution is to uphold it, to speak out for it, not just in times of peace and prosperity, but also in times of chaos and crisis.

Well said, I think.

Also, Malkin seems to misremember what heckling actually is: a persistent attempt to bully a speaker with taunts, questions or objections. Hey! Catch the ongoing nature of the ridicule there? Justice Sanders spoke one work and left the dinner. That is so not heckling.

Malkin writes:

Needless to say, I’m hugely disappointed. I have few enough heroes in public office as it is. Now, I have one less.

::rolls eyes::

Oh, color me disgusted.

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* History is usually taught in increments, even at the college level. I think kindergarnters are too young to understand, let alone discuss, what happened between Pilgrims and Native Americans until they’re in middle school.