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(updated below)
One of the lowest and most dishonest tactics is to attempt to smear and demonize a blog by exploiting statements left on the blog by commenters despite the fact that the comments have no relationship to the arguments made by the blogger. It is no surprise that right-wing pundits have made that deceitful tactic one of their most frequently invoked weapons. The most recent example, of course, is Bill O'Reilly's campaign to pressure Jet Blue to withdraw its sponsorship of Yearly Kos due to statements made by Daily Kos commenters who have no connection to the site other than using it to comment.
Last night on his show, O'Reilly had on Clinton advisor Howard Wolfson -- who, rather meekly, was justifying Clinton's decision to attend Yearly Kos. O'Reilly read a few cherry-picked, inflammatory comments, labelled Daily Kos a "hate site," and then said: "Every respectable blog in the country does not permit this hatred."
Today, John Aravosis discovered several violence-inciting comments from Bill O'Reilly.com regulars, including ones threatening violence against Hillary Clinton. And O'Reilly was joined in his Decency crusade, as he always is, by his comrade and most frequent guest host, Michelle Malkin (who, oh-just-by-the-way, wrote a book defending the ethnicity-based imprisonment of innocent American citizens in interment camps). Malkin repeatedly helped to fuel the pressure on Jet Blue to sever their sponsorship of Yearly Kos.
Here is but a sampling of the views promoted by the Aribter of Upstanding Political Discourse, O'Reilly partner Michelle Malkin, on her two hate sites, MichelleMalkin.com and HotAir.com. The following comments which she promoted are all from this month, and because they are so representative of the filth she regularly promotes, they were easily found by a research assistant, Matthew Berman, in roughly an hour:
MichelleMalkin.com's NAACP thread: Most blacks just want a free ride:
NAACP thread: "Colored gangs" are rampant: 
NAACP thread: "MichelleMalkin.com on "negro culture":
Hot Air's call for a "jihad" against Democrats -- including arresting them for treason and seizing their bank accounts:
From Malkin's "Keith Ellison Watch" post -- American Muslims should be banned from government: 
Michelle Malkin.com on American Muslims:
MichelleMalkin.com copying Ann Coulter: John Edwards is a fairy:
Hot Air: John Edwards is a "butt pirate":
MichelleMalkin.com promotes theory that John Kerry shot himself in Vietnam:
It goes on and on like that. On a daily basis, Michelle Malkin's hate sites promote violence, rank bigotry, jihad against Muslim Americans, imprisonment of Democratic Party leaders. The comments are not deleted and are virtually never opposed. Her hate sites traffic in content which is the hallmark of white supremacism and violent groups targeting Muslims. And once she is done promoting that, she goes on Fox News and demands that corporate sponsors cut their ties with Daily Kos due to the comments left on that site.
UPDATE: From past experience, posts which employ the line of reasoning used in this post are fundamentally misunderstood by those who are, for whatever reasons, incapable of understanding this two-step logical train:
(1) Standard X is dishonest and corrupt.
(2) Those who advocate and apply Standard X to others ought to have that standard applied to them.
That is not all that complicated.
I was previously a constitutional law and civil rights litigator in New York. I am the author of two New York Times Bestselling books: "How Would a Patriot Act?" (May, 2006), a critique of the Bush administration's use of executive power, and "A Tragic Legacy" (June, 2007), which examines the Bush legacy. My most recent book, "Great American Hypocrites", examines the manipulative electoral tactics used by the GOP and propagated by the establishment press, and was released in April, 2008, by Random House/Crown.
Twitter: @glenngreenwald
E-mail: GGreenwald@salon.com
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