Nothing Scares Michelle Malkin More Than An Honest Debate

This post, written by TRex, originally appeared on FireDogLake

With the video to your right, TBogg points us to this meltdown moment from the Swiftboating of John Kerry as an object lesson as to why Stalkin' Malkin is too terrified to have an honest debate with Ezra Klein. When you remove her from the rarefied hothouse climate of her vanity project HotAir TV or from the protective confines of Fox News, she's got nothing. As a debater, she is leaden, slow on her feet, and clearly has only a passing grasp of the facts of any issue.

Ezra sez:

Michelle Malkin replies to my challenge for a debate about S-CHIP. Her answer? Of course not. She's afraid to debate policy on the merits. She has no interest in "a good-faith argument." She's here to swing the hatchet, and lacks either the interest or the aptitude to rise above that station.

For the record, Malkin's "reply" was a gibbering screed about how bitterly she is persecuted and how debating Ezra would be, "a perverse distraction and a laughable waste of time". Right, because Malkin's time is precious, my dears. Her days are chockablock with really, really important stuff like making cheerleader videos and staking out the homes of sick and injured children.

Jonathan Chait:

Malkin's reply:

"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."

Yes, that was the plan. And now that she's on to it, I might as well confess our scheme: Dispatch Klein to tie up Malkin for an hour or so, and while she's distracted, push universal health insurance through Congress. Indeed, we've used similar tactics in the past, such as 1993, when we passed the Clinton tax hike after luring Rush Limbaugh to an all-you-can-eat buffet for much of the afternoon. Next time we'll have to be even smarter.

One of Malkin's loony fans has suggested that the best way to have a substantive discussion on health care issues is to challenge Ezra to a charity boxing match.

Ezra says:

Can't we just compare penis size or something?

Only if I get to be the judge.

Obsidian Wings has some thoughts on the difference between Malkin and Coulter, and why we can take heart from the fact that the little virago seems to be genuinely rattled by the outraged response to her harassment of the Frost family:

Unlike Coulter, Malkin is on board with the movement. She's a true believer. And she believes in herself as well -- she (subjectively) sees herself as having journalistic integrity, dedication to facts, etc. That's why she's gone off the deep end with this SCHIP stuff. The pushback has touched a nerve and it's clearly getting to her. If Malkin only cared about stirring up outrage, she wouldn't be this upset.

Yay.