It’s not just a woman’s prerogative to change her mind; it’s also Conor Friedersdorf’s. In his Atlantic column today, Friedersdorf got himself all bent out of a shape over a 2002 column by Michelle Malkin that dealt with illegal immigration. Malkin had argued that Iraqi terrorists could potentially enter the U.S. through our southern border with Mexico:
.@conor64 Why don't you actually link to my 2002 column? http://t.co/SgNYFWCt0J
— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) March 21, 2013
Uh-huh. RT @conor64 @michellemalkin Sorry, thought I had. It is now linked.
— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) March 21, 2013
.@conor64 My 2002 column quotes NYT & cites 3 fed cases involving illegal alien ME smuggling rings; I sent you 2 more fed cases….
— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) March 21, 2013
.@conor64 AND fundamental point about entry-exit failures, deportation, lax screening remains, 11 years after I wrote that column.
— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) March 21, 2013
.@conor64 I'm proud of ALL the work I've done taking BOTH parties to task for post-9/11 failures. Thnx for bringing it up. #backfire
— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) March 21, 2013
.@conor64 I pointed u to 2 AQI cases. Who knows how many others? But carry on w/your smug post-9/11 hindsight & xenophobia-card-playing.
— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) March 21, 2013
.@conor64 Now you show just how deliberately ignorant u r about my natl security work & book thesis. Just keep playing ur little cards, son.
— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) March 21, 2013
.@conor64 And look how oily you are. My column was about ILLEGAL ALIENS, dual citizens & deportation absconders from the Middle East.
— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) March 21, 2013
And according to Friersdorf, that makes her a fearmonger who suffers from a raging case of “needless, xenophobic panic.”
I'm supposed to repent for making a simple point: We don't know who crossed our borders, & it's a natl security risk. http://t.co/SgNYFWCt0J
— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) March 21, 2013
Recommended
These punks who solicited links from me years ago and now use their lib platforms to bash me for traffic are a dime a dozen. Punks.
— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) March 21, 2013
Thing is, a few years back, Friedersdorf was singing a completely different tune. He insisted that terrorists could leak into the country via illegal immigration:
.@conor64 I also have emails from you dating back to '06 pimping your illegal immig stories. Guess I wasn't such a toxic xenophobe back then
— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) March 21, 2013
Friedersdorf actually warned about the implications of unprotected borders on multiple occasions, as Breitbart.com’s John Sexton points out:
@michellemalkin "Islamic terror groups know that security along our southern border is weak": http://t.co/TJ53L3GYlg
— John Sexton (@verumserum) March 21, 2013
@michellemalkin Also, duel loyalties: http://t.co/CsFp8t2MFO
— John Sexton (@verumserum) March 21, 2013
According to @conor64 "Iraqis" crossing border to commit terror is fearmongering, "Islamists" doing the same is not.
— John Sexton (@verumserum) March 21, 2013
"The ease with which terrorists can cross a porous border bolsters calls for a crackdown." – @conor64, 2006
— John Sexton (@verumserum) March 21, 2013
"The ease with which terrorists can cross a porous border bolsters calls for a crackdown." – @conor64, 2006
— John Sexton (@verumserum) March 21, 2013
"We face a terrorist threat on our southern border." – @conor64, 2005
— John Sexton (@verumserum) March 21, 2013
"Islamic terror groups…have developed plans for smuggling terrorists into the United States" @conor64, 2005
— John Sexton (@verumserum) March 21, 2013
"it can be stated as a fact that…their having slipped across the border made virtually no difference" @conor64, Today
— John Sexton (@verumserum) March 21, 2013
Keep this handy in case @conor64 denounces voter ID efforts: http://t.co/1dmyEBfr9I
— John Sexton (@verumserum) March 21, 2013
You can run, Conor, but you can’t hide from the truth.
Ace of Spades continued the shredding:
@michellemalkin Well he's evolved, Non-Evolver
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
.@conor64 seems to forget that terrorism was a pretty major concern nine months after 9/11… and the still-unsolved anthrax attacks.
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
yes I said still-unsolved anthrax attacks.
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
right now no one cares or thinks about terrorism anymore.. it's all so silly to us now… and will be silly… until the next attack.
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
@conor64 "a single group"? I tend to think an Islamic terrorist attack will largely consist of Islamists; am I xenophobic for saying so?
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
"Remember how unconcerned we were about terrorism" before 9/11 has been replaced by "Remember how silly we were about terrorism" post-9/11
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
@conor64 Iraqis can't commit terrorism? I think some Iraqis would disagree with you.
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
@conor64 you seem to be having fun conflating "did not happen" with "could not have happened so wasn't this all terribly silly"
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
apparently the Fashionably Clever Position is to now sort of pretend 9/11 was a one-off and not worth getting bothered about.
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
I do feel reassured to be informed that mass-scale terrorism was a one-off event confined entirely to Bush's first term.
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
Now that Obama's president no US personnel are under any threat of attack by Al Qaeda… they might be attacked by a video, but that's all.
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
Dumb people have a rather bad habit of only remembering the past six months and extrapolating all of future history from there.
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
@conor64 have you? Can I read it? I'm not saying I don't believe you, I'm just asking for something to read.
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
I guess you misunderstood, I meant, Did you write a column about Sullivan's adventures in Womb Raiding? @conor64
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
in a two week period, @conor64, when you were a secret ghost-writer on @sullydish, the deranged Sullivan offered 3 conspiracy theories:
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
1. That the SkyBomb terrorist plot was concocted to influence the Joe Lieberman primary which had… already occurred. (???) @conor64
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
2. That Dick Cheney intentionally shot his friend with a shotgun to kill him or scare him into silence about "what he knew." @conor64
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
3. That Cheney and Rumsfeld deliberately screwed up the occupation of Iraq as a pretext for carpet-bombing the entire region @conor64
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
Plus, of course, @conor64, his continuing deranged obsession with Palin's fake-preganacy fat suits and secret passageways at hospitals.
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
since you've appointed yourself as Minister of Hygeine for the Online world, I'm just curious when you'll be turning to these. @conor64
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
.@conor64 by the way, given that you were a secret unacknowledged ghost-writer at this time — an "underblogger," Sullivan called it later–
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
…I suppose my first question would be: Did you write any of the conspiracy theory posts in question? @conor64
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
The Daily Dementia, by Andrew Sullivan http://t.co/mLeDxPlnGR
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
@conor64 You weren't already an "underblogger" when Sullivan was forced to disclose that he had secret underbloggers? You came on after?
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
It's just good form to shower before you preen.
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
I'm told.
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
My favorite part of every @hardball_chris show is when he rants about Birtherism, then turns to @sullydish and says "Tell me what you got"
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
The left has just agreed to ignore the hulking elephant of deranged conspiracism in the room, and insists we do too.
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
I see here that @conor64 blames Trig Trutherism on Palin– on Palin's failure to produce any *proof" she birthed Trig http://t.co/ZbfVTiTAW7
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
that's pretty fucking rich @conor64
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
"An amoral political strategist would advise her to keep hard evidence of Trig’s maternity hidden at all costs…" 1/2
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
"… in the hope that critics would continue questioning it" 2/2 — @conor64
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 21, 2013
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the smackdown done gets brung.
Correction: We misspelled Friedersdorf’s name in an initial version of this post. We regret the error. Also, we revised the headline to clarify that it was Brietbart.com, not Breitbart, who shredded Friedersdorf.
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