Last week, I ripped into Glenn Beck who, on his Fox News show, targeted and demagogued a Northern Virginia private school — ostensibly filled with children — as being a facility for terrorist indoctrination, and thus opening this school up for a potential attack by one of many trigger happy far-right vigilantes.
Fox News Channel is at it again. Following the lead of Michelle Malkin’s investigations of children and sick people, Fox News has also “investigated” the background of the little girl from yesterday’s town hall meeting.
This is so irresponsible, I don’t even know where to begin. It’s disgusting, vile and dangerous — the ends nowhere near justifying the means. Fox News discovered very little if anything worth reporting here. The kid’s parents are obviously supporters of the president, but there’s no evidence suggesting that she was coached by the White House. None.
But at a time when wingnut fury has reached fever pitch — when they’re crawling out of their holes like zombies to shout down and intimidate (some with firearms) anyone who even vaguely supports the president, exposing this little girl to the potential retaliation of these modern day fire-eaters is remarkably dangerous.
All it takes is for these wingnuts to look up the kid’s address online and that’s the ballgame. Malkin herself has already set a precedent with her drive-by stalking of 12-year-old Graeme Frost.
Certainly there’s always a danger when children are thrust into the spotlight, but to treat this kid like she’s an enemy — a villain who must be investigated — goes well beyond the realms of decency and safety and only encourages more Malkin-style stalking. Or worse.
Fox News Channel should personally finance a private security detail to protect this child and her family. It’s the least they could do after this atrocity they’re passing off as “reporting.”
