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Image:Congressman-malkin cropped.jpg Michelle Malkin (born October 20, 1970) is a Filipino-American columnist, blogger, author and political commentator. She is a social and political conservative. She makes frequent guest appearances on national syndicated radio programs and on television networks such as MSNBC, The Fox News Channel, and C-SPAN, and is currently a columnist for Townhall.com and the Jewish World Review.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Background 1.2 Career 2 Viewpoints 3 Negative reactions to her viewpoints 4 Students Against War controversy 5 Youtube Censorship 6 Notes and references 7 Books 8 External links 8.1 Malkin's sites 8.2 Anti-Malkin

[edit] Biography

[edit] Background

Malkin was born Michelle Maglalang in Philadelphia to Filipino parents, Dr. Apolo and Rafaela Maglalang, in the United States on a work visa. Her maternal grandfather fought under General Douglas MacArthur.<ref>On Bataan and Balikatan, Michelle Malkin, Jewish World Review, April 6 2002</ref> She grew up in Absecon, New Jersey, and graduated from Oberlin College. In 1993, she married Rhodes Scholar and RAND Corporation economist Jesse Malkin, with whom she has two children.

[edit] Career

She began her career at the Los Angeles Daily News, working as a columnist from 1992 to 1994. In her column, she once described her early career thus:

"How can anybody live on $25K/year?? When I was 24 and making less than that, I did it by eating Spaghetti-O's, Ramen noodles and Swanson pot pies for dinner; driving a Toyota Tercel with no air conditioning; and sleeping on a $30 futon." <ref>The Skanks on Capitol Hill, MichelleMalkin.com, 26 May 2004</ref>

In 1996, she moved to Seattle, where she wrote columns for The Seattle Times, and participated in a panel at an Asian American professional conference with John Carlson debating Initiative 200, a ban on racial preferences. She became a nationally syndicated columnist in 1999. Malkin's column, syndicated by Creators Syndicate, appears in over 200 newspapers nationwide as of 2005. She is also a frequent commentator for FOX News Channel.

In June 2004 she launched a political blog which quickly became highly popular, at most times residing among the top five conservative political blogs.<ref>List of highest-traffic blogs and traffic details for Malkin's blog at The Truth Laid Bear; Malkin's blog at Alexa</ref> Like many political bloggers, she has disabled comments on her blog because of a torrent of obscene (and, in her case, racist) comments.<ref>Comments, Trolls, and the Left's Continued Whore Fixation, MichelleMalkin.com, 8 February, 2005</ref>

Malkin's blog occasionally highlights investigative reports from other sites, most notably an investigation into financial irregularities at Air America Radio.<ref> Inside Air America: An Investigative Blog Report, Michellemalkin.com, 17 August 2005</ref> She is frequently used as an example of the blurred line between bloggers and reporters, given such investigations and her widely distributed columns and appearances on multiple media outlets.

Her first book, Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists, Criminals, and Other Foreign Menaces, was published in 2002 and was a New York Times bestseller.

In 2004, she wrote In Defense of Internment, defending Japanese American internment by the United States Government during World War II and relating this theme to the contemporary War on Terrorism, taking some heat from Asian American civil rights organizations who had been uniformly opposed to this historical policy. The "Historians' Committee for Fairness", a group of professors, condemned the book for not having undergone peer review and containing a central thesis they argued was false.<ref>Open Letter to Michelle Malkin from the "Historians' Committee for Fairness", signed by 40 professors</ref> Opponents also attempted to ban the book from the Manzanar relocation center National Historic Site but failed when the management refused to "censor dissenting viewpoints".<ref name="mte">A Book-Banning Dodged--Thank You! MichelleMalkin.com, 7 May 2005; has links to Malkin's responses to criticisms of In Defense of Internment</ref>

Malkin's third book, Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone Wild was released in October 2005.

On April 24, 2006, Hot Air, a "conservative Internet broadcast network" went into operation, with Malkin as founder and CEO.<ref>Conservative Internet Broadcast Network Debuts, PRWeb.com, 24 April 2006</ref> She has a daily newscast on Hot Air called "Vent With Michelle Malkin."

[edit] Viewpoints

After the arrest of alleged spy Leandro Aragoncillo was announced, Malkin wrote, "If it means now that the White House will be applying extra scrutiny to naturalized Americans of Filipino descent working at the top levels of government and in the military, well, yes, I support that. It's obviously overdue." <ref>Espionage in the White House, MichelleMalkin.com, 5 October 2005</ref>

Malkin has criticised the media for being preoccupied with cases in which attractive white girls go missing, and referred to this phenomenon as "Missing Pretty Girl Syndrome" or "Damsel in Distress" Syndrome.<ref>Missing Pretty Girl Syndrome, MichelleMalkin.com, 11 June 2005</ref>

Despite being born in the US to parents visiting on a work visa, Malkin is outspoken in opposition to the granting of automatic U.S. citizenship to babies born to tourists and temporary workers (so-called "anchor babies"), saying, "Citizenship is too precious to squander on accidental Americans in Name Only." Malkin articulated her position on "anchor babies" with regards to the case of Yaser Esam Hamdi, an American citizen born to Saudi parents who were working in the United States on temporary work visas.<ref>What makes an American?, Michelle Malkin, Jewish World Review, July 4 2003</ref>

Malkin has expressed support for Joshua Belile, the Marine who has been investigated for composing and performing his controversial song Hadji Girl.<ref>Vent with Michelle Malkin (video), hotair.com, June 15 2006</ref>

In 2004, Malkin and several other bloggers accused blogger and columnist Andrew Sullivan of making bogus fund-raising claims.<ref>Sullivan's Gold-Plated Bandwidth?, MichelleMalkin.com, 26 July 2004</ref> <ref>The Real Dish on Andrew Sullivan, MichelleMalkin.com, 3 February 2005</ref> Shortly thereafter, Sullivan created a parody Malkin Award for "shrill, hyperbolic, divisive and intemperate right-wing rhetoric."<ref>The Malkin Award, time.blogs.com, 16 January 2006</ref>

When University of Kansas religion professor Paul Mirecki claimed to have been beaten up by two male attackers because of his criticism of creationism and "intelligent design", after linking<ref>What Happened to Paul Mirecki?, MichelleMalkin.com, 10 December 2005</ref> to a newspaper report with a photo showing Mirecki's injuries,<ref>Professor blasts KU, sheriff’s investigation, Laurence Journal-World, 10 December 2005</ref> Malkin (along with others) raised the possibility that the claimed attack was a hoax.<ref>The Mirecki Files, MichelleMalkin.com, 14 December 2005</ref>

[edit] Negative reactions to her viewpoints

Malkin occasionally posts hate mail she received, which often consists of racist or sexist epithets.<ref>Minority Conservatives And The Sellout Smear, MichelleMalkin.com, 12 January 2005</ref> <ref>Maglalangadingdong this, MichelleMalkin.com, 3 December 2004</ref> According to Malkin, she has been "attacked as an 'Aunt Thomasina and a sellout and a race traitor' by liberals of Asian background".<ref>Malkin: Liberal Bigotry on the Rise, NewsMax.com, 28 November 2004</ref>

In November of 2004, the Norfolk, Virginia-based Virginian-Pilot ceased running Malkin's nationally syndicated column.<ref>Pilot error, MichelleMalkin.com, 24 November 2004</ref> Fellow columnist Bronwyn Lance Chester explained, "I think [Malkin] habitually mistakes shrill for thought-provoking and substitutes screaming for discussion. She's an Asian Ann Coulter."<ref>Michelle Malkin dropped by Virginia paper, Media Matters for America, 23 November 2004</ref> Malkin responded "I'm not Asian, I'm American, for goodness' sake. I would take the comparison to Ann Coulter as somewhat of a compliment. I have a lot of respect for Ann Coulter."<ref>Malkin: Liberal Bigotry on the Rise, NewsMax.com, 28 November 2004</ref>

[edit] Students Against War controversy

In April 2006, Students Against War, a campus group at University of California, Santa Cruz, staged a protest against the presence of military recruiters on campus, and sent out a press release containing contact details (names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses) of their three-person "ad-hoc press team" for use by reporters. Malkin included these contact details in a blog post criticising SAW and UCSC.<ref>Seditious Santa Cruz vs. America, MichelleMalkin.com, 12 April 2006</ref> Malkin claims the contact information was originally taken from SAW's own website, but that later SAW had removed the information and had "wiped the info from the cached version."<ref>More Thuggery from Santa Cruz, MichelleMalkin.com, 17 April 2006</ref> SAW "politely asked"<ref name="SAW51">SAW on Malkin and abusive e-mails, 14 April 2006</ref> her to remove the contact details; Malkin refused, writing in her blog "I am leaving it up." Furthermore she wrote "As for SAW, my message is this: You are responsible for your individual actions. Other individuals are responsible for theirs. Grow up and take responsibility." <ref>Seditious Santa Cruz vs. America, MichelleMalkin.com, 12 April 2006</ref> Malkin noted that none of the three students contacted her with that request, and posted a screenshot from one of several Indymedia websites where the complete press release was still available.<ref>The contact details were removed "as per request" after Malkin posted this</ref> After Malkin's post, the three SAW contacts received abusive emails and phone calls, including death threats.<ref name="SAW51"/> Malkin also received hostile e-mails.<ref name="M5008">Malkin on SAW and abusive e-mails, MichelleMalkin.com, 17 April 2006</ref>Subsequently, Malkin's opponents published her private home address, phone number, photos of her neighborhood and maps to her house on several websites, mainly as blog comments. Malkin has stated that this forced her to remove one of her children from school and move her family.<ref>Cyber war over UCSC protest heats up, Santa Cruz Sentinel, 22 April 2006</ref>

[edit] Youtube Censorship

Malkin became a leading voice in opposition to a campaign by YouTube, a popular video sharing website, to remove conservative-leaning videos. Videos were removed often-times by bogus claims that the political content violate Terms of Use policy prohibiting threats, harassment and racially offensive content. YouTube user DarrylRevoke, along with other self-professed leftists successfully campaigned to remove hundreds of videos by numerous conservative authors; Malkin offered to host the censored video on Hot Air, her own website.<ref>[1], Communication posted on YouTube "Conservative Groups", October 11, 2006.</ref> On October 4, 2006, Malkin used hotair.com to respond to YouTube's flagging of her YouTube Conservative Group (as containing offensive content) and the general removal of conservative videos on the YouTube website.<ref>[2], Communication posted on YouTube.com "Conservative Groups", October 4, 2006.</ref>

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] Books

• Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone Wild Regnery Publishing, 2005, ISBN 0-89526-030-1
• In Defense of Internment: The Case for "Racial Profiling" in World War II and the War On Terror, Regnery Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-89526-051-4
• Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists, Criminals, and Other Foreign Menaces, Regnery Publishing, 2002, ISBN 0-89526-075-1

[edit] External links

[edit] Malkin's sites

• Michele Malkin's Townhall.com column archive.
• Malkin's official site, which hosts The Immigration Blog
• The Hot Air site

[edit] Anti-Malkin

• A series of blog posts by professors Eric Muller and Greg Robinson critiquing In Defense of Internment
• One of many claims by some opponents that Malkin lies about the authorship of her blog and columns
• Is Michelle Malkin a Journalist? - a journalist, blogger and critic of Malkin says no