The eternal question

Peter Daou:

MICHELLE MALKIN WADES INTO THE GUTTER: The blog world is certainly not for the political faint of heart. Personal attacks, harsh language, and hyperbole are routine. But in this post, Michelle Malkin sheds every last vestige of decency: “THE GHOULS OF THE LEFT – They support the troops…by partying over their deaths.” Her post links to a Little Green Footballs entry that makes the same odious argument, namely that this group is throwing “parties” on the day that we cross 2000 U.S. military deaths in Iraq.

Here’s how the actual events are described: “Events to mark the 2,000th reported U.S. military death will range from candlelight vigils to public actions that illustrate the size of the death toll.” Surely, these aren’t “parties.” I spent years in Beirut, I lived and breathed war, I watched friends get blown to pieces, I’ve seen horrors I hope Malkin never has to see. Those who are fighting to stop this war deserve the utmost respect, whether or not you agree with their politics. Prominent bloggers like Malkin should know better than to soil our public discourse with this kind of garbage….. Rant over.

The eternal question with Malkin and her ilk is, of course, whether they are stupid or lying. Is Malkin really unable to comprehend the distinction between somber reflection and gleeful celebration? (In which case, she must really get confused each year on dates like September 11 and December 7.) Or is she–perish the thought–deliberately misrepresenting the truth in order to score cheap rhetorical points? Actually in this case, there’s probably a third alternative to “stupid” or “lying”: “both of the above.”