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
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.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member