The Xena of Xenophobes Applauds FBI Harrassment
Reported by Marie Therese - August 20, 2004 -
Big Story with John Gibson. August 19, 2004. 5:44 PM to 5:47 PM EDT
Michelle Malkin (Creators.com) thinks that interning people of a specific enthicity in defense of the homeland is perfectly fine. Her latest book is entitled "In Defense of Internment: The Case for Racial Profiling in WWII and the War on Terror". Sound familiar? It's little wonder that she would support the FBI's harrassment - oops! questioning - of young activists (NY Times 8/18/04).
According to the NY Times report:
"Officials of the F.B.I. would not say how many interviews the bureau had conducted. Civil rights advocates who have monitored the process estimated that at least several dozen people had received visits from agents at their homes and elsewhere in recent weeks. They said they were continuing to collect anecdotal information from demonstrators who had been approached by federal agents.
In a newly disclosed episode in Colorado, two college students said that an F.B.I. agent approached the faculty adviser for their campus group late last month and that the agent showed photographs of the students, Mark Silverstein, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, said. The students did not want their names or college disclosed, Mr. Silverstein said, because "they're really scared out of their minds." (end of excerpt)
GIBSON: "So, they go around (knocks on his desk) 'Hello! Whadya' know about big protests?' Is there somethin' wrong with that?"
MALKIN: "Absolutely not. The FBI is simply doing its job, doing what everybody expects it to do, which is be proactive and preempt future acts of terrorism and violence."
CLIP of helmeted police with nightsticks roughing up young protesters in an unnamed city at an unnamed time!
MALKIN: "You've got all these whiners on the left, the ACLU, the NY Times reporters on the front page as well as the editorial board, a lot of anti-Bush demonstrators and civil liberties activists whining that what they've doing is tantamount to a round up and a dragnet...We know (she offers no proof other than her word) that a lot of these antiwar groups and anti-Bush groups are tied to guerilla movements, guerilla tactics, people like the Ruckus Society, Black Block. They have demonstrated that they have no regard for the law in the past. Look at the riots in Seattle and the FBI would be reckless and irresponsible if it wasn't (garbled because Gibson talked over her)."
The DELIVERY of this interview is hard to capture in writing. How do I convey Gibson's leering smile when he says "..Is there a tricky move goin' on here - and I would applaud it, if there was - in that it is illegal to lie to the FBI and, if these people turn up in the middle of a violent demonstration and they have been interviewed and they didn't tell the FBI the "TWUTH" (imitated Tweety Bird), they get busted."
Malkin agrees "They are being informed directly that, if they don't tell anything and they do know something that, yes, they can be arrested and punished for it."
When asked if she thinks anyone will tell the FBI what they want to know, she sighs in fake disappointment and says "I guess I have very low expectation that any of these groups would actually cooperate." She then claims that the NY Times compared the FBI to "totalitarian jackboot thugs". I read the Times article. Anthony Romero of the ACLU was quoted as saying "This looks like it's much more about intimidation and coercion than about criminal conduct." Either Ms. Malkin needs glasses or she should enroll in a remedial course in basic English grammar!
In a complete departure, she insults China, one of our Most Favored trading partners, at a time when we have a huge trade deficit with them: "If you want to talk about totalitarian tactics and regimes, it's what they're doing cutting tongues out of Falun Gong members in China - that's totalitarianism..." Tsk. Tsk. Michelle. Such talk won't help our international relationships! Especially with a country that's kicking our butt because we exported a large chuck of our manufacturing jobs to them!
Gibson goes on to say "Let's picture these responsible citizens (smarmy smile) for a moment, OK? We KNOW what they look like. We KNOW what they're gonna do at the Republican convention...."
It's unbelievable. Gibson is talking about America's children here as if they were aliens from outer space. These are college kids, John. With all the passionate naivete and desperate intensity of YOUTH.
But, oh, I forgot. You said in your "My Word" segment that you're going back to your high school reunion basically to see how many people are left alive.
During the first part of this interview FOX ratcheted up the anxiety level by airing the following BIG FACTS all in UPPER CASE letters:
US SPECIAL FORCES TO GUARD NYC DURING GOP CONVENTION
25 SNIPER TEAMS TO SURROUND MADISON SQUARE GARDEN.
UNITS WILL GO INTO HEIGHTENED ALERT WHEN BUSH ARRIVES 9/2
SPECIAL FORCES TO WEAR ALL-BLACK COVERALL SUITS
FORCES WILL WEAR BULLET-PROOF KEVLAR VESTS AND HELMETS
There, now, don't you feel safer?
