Michele Malkin writes in the New York Post:

That's right, after all the nonsense, she gets to appear in a major news outlet. Just as she has, in the past, been a regular guest on Fox News Channel. And Malkin goes further than Riehl World View. He only mentioned one grandparent, presumably rich and therefore obligated to help. Malkin bagged both forks of the family tree:

Moreover, Frost's family comes from considerable means. The children's maternal grandfather was an engineering executive. Their paternal grandparents hail from affluent Bronxville, N.Y., where the grandfather is a prominent consultant.

Note how empty Malkin's claim is. Even if you take the point of view that grandparents should pay for stuff if they have money, Malkin hasn't made the case. She hasn't proven that the grandparents have money. Somebody was an engineering executive. So? Does that mean he has lots of cash today? Somebody "hails" (whatever that's supposed to mean) from a nice neighborhood. But that's superficial analysis - asserting individual status from a tendency of a community. Is everybody from England up on Shakespeare?

Malkin advances the argument that the Frosts should sell their house (or take out a second mortgage) in order to pay medical bills, but also that other relatives should extract money from their homes. What a country! Is America great or what?

Oddly enough, Malkin makes the case for SCHIP. Here's why. She looks beyond the family unit for financial help for the Frosts. She looks to the grandparents. But why stop there? Why not additional relatives? Why not distant relatives? Why not very distant relatives? And let's tease out the genealogical records all the way. Guess what? Malkin herself is related to the Frosts (as are all right wingers). Surely, the logic still applies. Help your relatives. And we have a way of doing it in an equitable manner. Use the government to fairly assess obligations (i.e. taxes) so that rich relative X pays an amount commensurate with his wealth, and poor relative Y pays less (or nothing). Genius.

It's not that Malkin is a deranged blogger. There are many of those out there. It's that her particular version of right-wing-anger is given wider exposure by the established media. That's where the real damage is done.


posted by Quiddity at 10/11/2007 07:30:00 AM