Michelle Malkin defended WWII internment, racial profiling today; said Mineta's view “clouded” by his internment

Written by Nicole Casta

Published

Syndicated right-wing columnist, author, and FOX News Channel contributor Michelle Malkin is making the conservative talk circuit rounds peddling her new book, In Defense of Internment: The Case for “Racial Profiling” in World War II and the War on Terror (Regnery Publishing, August 2004).

In her August 9 appearances on MSNBC's Scarborough Country, ABC Radio Networks' Sean Hannity Show, and in an August 10 appearance on FOX & Friends First, Malkin advocated racial profiling; defended the internment of Japanese-Americans (and other ethnic minorities) during World War II; and called for the removal of Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, claiming that he couldn't be objective on the issue of racial profiling because of his personal experience as an interned Japanese-American.

Malkin advocated racial profiling

And, um, all I will say is that I think that -- that, uh, these -- these, uh, uh, categorizations: Race, ethnicity, religion, etc., shouldn't be taken off the table. And I'll tell you -- you've got these civil liberties hypocrites -- these liberal hypocrites ... who have no problem using these classifications if it means that, uh, they can have diversity in police departments or fire departments or to, uh, affect and socially engineer, uh, a campus. [The Sean Hannity Show, 8/9/04]

And I'd like to hear what their answer is to what I just said which is, if we are allowed to use these categories for domestic policy -- if everyone agrees that it's legal, for example, to use race to engineer a, uh, a campus, why isn't it legal for our, uh, homeland security officials to use those same categories to try and protect us? [The Sean Hannity Show, 8/9/04]

Malkin defended the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII

I think that, based on the military intelligence and legal assessments at the time, the Roosevelt administration did the best that it could do [interning Japanese-Americans]. [Scarborough Country, 8/9/04]

And I think that one of the main problems with public education today is it's got this America-bashing component. We are made to have this collective guilt trip for everything that's been done to protect the homeland during World War II and today. And I think we need to stop that. [The Sean Hannity Show, 8/9/04]

Malkin called for Mineta's ouster

Well, I think they are being too timid. And I think they have bent over backwards, contrary to what you'll here from the ACLU and all these grievance-mongers. They've bent over backwards to be sensitive. ... And then there's, if the Bush administration wants to do one single concrete thing, it could get rid of Norm Mineta, who embodies this problem. He is somebody who experienced the evacuation during World War II. He was evacuated to a camp in Heart Mountain, Wyoming. And it has clouded, it has absolutely clouded his view of what needs to be done now. [Scarborough Country, 8/9/04]

It is long past time for the Bush administration to send him [Mineta] out to pasture. And it is time for America to purge itself of the addled, anti-profiling mindset of Mineta. [New York Post column, 8/9/04]

Malkin's column, which is syndicated by Creators Syndicate, appears in nearly 200 papers, according to her personal website; it also appears on the Heritage Foundation's Townhall.com, as well as right-wing websites WorldNetDaily and Human Events. She has also written several exclusive columns for Rupert Murdoch's New York Post and numerous articles for the conservative National Review Online.

In these columns, Malkin consistently unleashes personal attacks against progressives and prominent members of the Democratic Party. For example, in a January column titled "Howard Dean in a dress," Malkin attacked Senator John Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry. “Skulking in the campaign background is a ticking time bombette with a volatile temper and acid tongue who makes Dean look like Mr. Rogers on Prozac.” In an April 28 National Review Online article, Malkin referred to former 9-11 Commissioner and former Senator Bob Kerrey as “Commissioner Buffoon,” writing that Kerrey is "[t]he member of the 9/11 Commission who most deserves the boot -- or at least the swiftest kick in the pants."

In a column published during the Democratic National Convention, titled "Five reasons to fear the Democratic party," Malkin argued that Americans should fear the following, whom she affiliated with the “party of the Chicken Little Clean-Up Crew”:

In her August 4 column, Malkin decried the journalists in attendance at the UNITY: Journalists of Color, Inc. 2004 conference, who “huff and puff in unison.”

Malkin is also the author of Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists, Criminals, and Other Foreign Menaces to Our Shores (Regnery, 2002), which was a New York Times best-seller.

Malkin is the daughter of Filipino immigrants; is a graduate of Oberlin College; worked as an editorial writer and columnist for the Los Angeles Daily News; and served on the editorial board of The Seattle Times, where she wrote editorials and weekly columns -- and credits herself with having "[o]pposed [her] publisher and supported [a] successful campaign to abolish race-based affirmative action in government hiring, contracting, and college admissions."