Michelle Malkin Is Being Silly

Lord knows I like and respect Michelle Malkin.

Nobody on the right side of the Blogosphere works harder than Michelle, and she is the most spirited fighter we conservatives have.

But every once in a while, I feel obliged to reflect that Michelle’s performance could be improved if her brakes were upgraded.

Yesterday, Michelle fell for an indignant posting from an easily alarmed busybody named Winfield Myers (who monitors Middle Eastern Studies on college campuses), all about the president of the University of Pennsylvania posing with a student named Saad Saadi Halloween-costumed as a suicide-bomber-cum-terrorist.

I must confess that I was taken in briefly myself, and started writing up my own outraged posting, until I followed up the photo links (Mr. Myers’ posted images were of poor quality) to the student’s facebook page (the Halloween photos have since been removed), and discovered no evidence of Islamicism or political intent whatever. Saad Saudi, a senior at Penn majoring in Engineering, was obviously just a nerdy college kid, blowing off steam at Halloween by trying for a topical and outrageous costume.

There was no endorsement or support from Penn President Guttmann. She was simply acting in her presidential role as hostess of a seasonal party for Penn undergraduates, attended by more than 700 students. Along came Mr. Saudi, who posed beside her for a picture. Posing for pictures with students, and remaining affable and unflapped in the face of harmless undergraduate tomfoollery in terrifically bad taste is a basic part of her job description.

President Guttmann deserves kudos for her good humor and sense of perspective. Mr. Myers needs to get a life. If he is too obtuse to differentiate undergraduate monkeyshines from meaningful political statements, he shouldn’t be blogging.

Our fierce and valiant Michelle needs to be a bit more careful of her sources.

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Unfortunately, all this ado over nothing attracted other leading conservatives.

And Michelle is still swinging away with her broadsword at an undergraduate’s Halloween.costume.

Gentlemen and ladies, there are far more significant issues infinitely more worthy of your valuable attention.