Left-wing talker Stephanie Miller made an eyebrow-raising attack on Michelle Malkin on Thursday. Just before playing a clip of Malkin from Fox News Channel's Hannity program on her radio program, Miller snarked, "Let's unpack this rice ball of health care nonsense from Michelle Malkin." This line could leave one with the impression that it was a racially-tinged insult of the conservative commentator [audio below the jump].
Miller's sidekicks Chris Lavoie and Jim Ward joined in the verbal assault on Malkin with sophomoric jabs about her digestive tract:
JIM WARD: Did she need a colonoscopy to pull that out of her ass? (Lavoie and Miller laugh) Is there insurance for that?
CHRIS LAVOIE: Someone on your Facebook page just said, dear Michelle Malkin, your colon is not a fact checker, no many how many of your ignorant statements you pull out of your ass. (Lavoie and Ward laugh)
The "rice ball" line was actually a reference to something the radio host mentioned earlier in the hour and became something of a running gag during the program: a video of a primate called the slow loris eating the food item. But someone tuning into the show at that very moment might have been left with the wrong impression, to say the least, if they had missed this banter.
During the clip, the conservative writer talked about a "brain drain" from the health care sector as a result of ObamaCare. After Miller played it the second time, Ward chimed in with a barb at Malkin's intelligence: "Boy, she would know about brain drain." Schechner herself launched an insult at the Fox News commentator: "Michelle Malkin is a senior fellow at fantasy think tank." She soon added, "I have no idea where she [Malkin] gets this stuff, other than just making it up out of her own mind."
About ten minutes later, a caller from Memphis, Tennessee named Gloria stooped to attacking Malkin's appearance, which prompted Miller and her confreres to revisit Ward's earlier gutter humor:
GLORIA, CALLER FROM MEMPHIS: I want to talk about Michelle Malkin. You know, she has the most annoying face. (Jim Ward laughs) It just looks like somebody just balled her face up and just gave her a real big pinch, you know? (Jim Ward and Stephanie Miller laugh) She's just so annoying, you know?
STEPHANIE MILLER: At least you're keeping this all intellectual. All right. (Chris Lavoie and Gloria laugh)
GLORIA: ...I don't know where Michelle Malkin is getting her quote, unquote facts from.
MILLER: Yeah. Well, I think Jim explained where: during a colonoscopy. All right.
LAVOIE: Someone on your Facebook page just said, dear Michelle Malkin, your colon is not a fact checker, no many how many of your ignorant statements you pull out of your ass. (Lavoie and Ward laugh)
The Dowager Countess of Grantham, a character from the popular British series Downton Abbey, could have had Miller, Lavoie, and Ward in mind when she said, "Vulgarity is no substitute for wit."
