"Meanwhile, white supremacist blogger Robert Stacy McCain (new darling of the right wing blogs) is attacking again. No linkies for him."
-- Charles Johnson, Little Green Footballs, Sept. 15, 2009
"Never tell a lie, nor take what is not your own, nor sue anybody for slander, assault and battery. Always settle them cases yourself."
-- Andrew Jackson, recalling his mother's advice
Charles Johnson's gutless passive-aggressive act -- outrageously libeling me, trying to
prevent me from reporting on the 9/12 March on DC, and then falsely claiming that
I am attacking
him -- has been permitted to continue too long. Honest people are now compelled by simple decency to denounce him as the craven, sadistic liar he is.
Contrary to anything Mad King Charles may tell his dwindling pool of yet-to-be-banned readers in their "
private" discussions, this engagement began when
Johnson attacked my friend Pamela Geller for her attendance at the
October 2007 Brussels conference. Though I was not involved in that dispute, as I told Pamela in a brief phone conversation this morning, I now regret that I did not immediately leap to her defense.
Pamela Geller is a brave woman who can fight her own battles without my aid, but by the time I finally spoke up -- in November 2008 -- Charles had already irrevocably committed himself to the disgraceful campaign by which he has since
destroyed his own reputation and influence:
Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs has apparently decided that the problem with the conservative movement is that it needs more purges, and Pam Geller at Atlas Shrugs seems to be his designated scapegoat. . . .
Pam is a good person and I would suggest that this guilt-by-association "urge to purge" is antithetical to the best interests of conservatism. You can't build a movement by the process of subtraction.
Now that Mad King Charles is so obviously lost beyond any hope of redemption, I blame only myself. If I had been paying attention in 2007, rather than selfishly absorbed with minding my own business, perhaps I could have intervened at the outset. Had I been vigilant and dutiful, I would have warned Charles against poisoning his mind by giving heed to duplicitous and/or ignorant creatures like LGF commenter "Dave of Sweden," who were maligning the friends of liberty in Europe.
Word to the wise: Beware the advice of Internet trolls. A cautious attitude toward anonymous sources is something every journalist must learn sooner or later. If someone is peddling materials attacking someone else, and asks you not to tell anyone where it came from, you must consider the motives of the attacker.
Consider why such attackers are always intent on conducting their business secretly -- protecting their own anonymity -- and ask whether you wish to lend your name and reputation to pursuing someone else's private vendetta. (Hint: Before
Trig-Truther "Audrey" and her friends blame me, they need to ask themselves who she pissed off
before she became "Audrey." It wasn't the Palins, who had nothing at all to do with the
investigative reporting Dan Riehl and I did.)
Only Fighters Need ApplySay what you will about
Pamela Geller, she is not afraid of a fight. And what the conservative movement needs now -- far more than we need ideological unity among intellectuals or would-be intellectuals -- is people who are not afraid of a fight.
The Chicago Way has come to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and if anybody in the conservative movement doesn't know what that means, they need to stop hitting the snooze button and wake the hell up. A few months ago, I read an account of how Rahm Emanuel -- now President Obama's chief of staff -- masterminded the Democrats' 2006 mid-term congressional victory. From my
May 26 American Spectator column:
Emanuel's tenure as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during the 2006 election cycle is the model Republicans must attempt to reverse-engineer if they hope to regain power in Washington anytime soon. And Republicans are never going to succeed if they listen to those who tell them the reason they've been losing elections is that the GOP is too "mean-spirited." . . .
Rahm Emanuel . . . unloads f-bomb barrages as remorselessly as the RAF pounded Dresden . . .
Emanuel is a hard-driving Chicagoan ("intense+Rahm+Emanuel" = 46,800 Google results) who takes pride in the brutal effectiveness of his political tactics. . . .
In summer 2006, accusations of shady dealings by Democratic Rep. Al Mollohan of West Virginia threatened to wreck Emanuel's message that Republicans had a monopoly on corruption. And if an incumbent Democrat were defeated, that would change the math on Emanuel's strategy to recapture a House majority.
How did Emanuel rescue Mollohan? By calling the incumbent's Republican rival a liar. The GOP challenger had been in the military during Operation Desert Storm in 1991 and called himself a "Gulf War veteran," although he hadn't deployed overseas. Emanuel seized on this and had DCCC staffers push it to reporters. "We need that story," Emanuel said. "It's all about Al Mollohan unless we come up with something." The result? "Mollohan Foe Battles Résumé Charges," said the headline on a news story by Roll Call's John Bresnahan. Other publications followed suit, effectively changing the subject -- exactly the outcome Emanuel sought. Was this unfair? Ask Emanuel that question, and you'll get a two-word response. (Hint: The second word will be "you.")
Charles Johnson deserves nothing but the same two-word response from any conservative. His conduct for the past two years has been, in a word,
dishonorable.
"No linkies for him," indeed! As if any honest man need fear such a miserable coward as Charles Johnson.
In April of this year,
Charles Johnson smeared Pamela Geller as a "Poster Girl for Eurofascists." Calling a proudly Jewish woman an advocate of fascism? Madness. This was a continuation of his months of attacks on Pamela and
Robert Spencer for having attended the
October 2007 Brussels Conference, and for her subsequent defense of those courageous Europeans waging a desperate struggle against the alliance of the Left and Islamofascists. (
David Horowitz has described that "Unholy Alliance.")
The Sissy King of LGF
Two days after the "Poster Girl for Eurofascists" smear, Charles Johnson
threatened Michelle Malkin (!) for having linked in her "Buzzworthy" sidebar feed to
Robert Spencer's Jihad Watch. Trying to end a potentially damaging conflict among conservatives,
I wrote:
Is there someone -- anyone -- who can stop this madness? As previously noted, I ignored the dustup between LGF, Geller and Robert Spencer for months, hoping it would fade into insignificance. It was only because of Johnson's continued ax-grinding against them that I mentioned it in November, and it was only because he went after Ann Coulter in February that I began paying more attention.
All I wanted was for Charles to end his malevolent campaign of character assassination against conservatives.
It is important to note that, from the very outset of this affair in October 2007, Charles has always been the aggressor, attacking others, doing everything in his power to destroy the reputations of decent people who never wished him ill, and then -- when they objected to his repeated libels -- dishonestly claiming that they were attacking him.
Clearly, the man has succumbed to a narcissistic personality trait that is all too common among weaklings. As his habit of successively banishing nearly all of his commenters clearly shows, Johnson is a control freak, incapable of tolerating disagreement. He will heed no counsel of caution and reacts with fury to the slightest hint of criticism. Trustful only of those who flatter him, he is suspicious of strangers and envious of the merits of others.
The character of a deceitful backstabber -- weakling, bully, coward, liar --is a species of sociopathic evil which, in real life, wise men know and avoid. But remembering Steiner's Law ("On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog") we see how long Charles Johnson succeeded in pretending to be what he never was, nor could ever be. He lacks not only sound judgment, but also honesty, courtesy and courage.
Every conservative blog must defend itself against trolls -- i.e., you don't have the right to use my bandwidth against me -- and Professor Glenn Reynolds doesn't even allow comments at Instapundit. However, Mad King Charles has let his authority over commenters tempt him into megalomania.
It has been years since Charles has done anything that could rightly be called "reporting." He himself does almost nothing, and never anything constructive, original or genuinely helpful. This has turned LGF into the Kommenter Kidz Klub, over which Mad King Charles reigns as the despotic overlord. Without any warning, he will banish commenters merely for linking the "wrong" source or referencing some story he wishes to ignore.
This dictatorial attitude is a surefire formula for blogospheric oblivion. I despise the New York Times as an institution of Evil (with a capital "E") and yet, if they report something I want to quote, I have no trouble giving them the linky-love -- or linky-hate, as is more often the case. And occasionally, they give a little back.
Mad King Charles did not attack me until I defended Pamela against his vicious lies, and let us not neglect to observe that chief among his targets have been three women -- Geller, Coulter and Malkin. If Charles Johnson were a Sioux, his tribal name would have to be "Fights With Girls."
Should Mad King Charles wish to begin describing me as a "
homophobic white supremacist blogger," let him do so immediately, for certainly I am not alone in the suspicion that he is
getting in touch with his inner Andrew Sullivan. NTTAWWT. IYKWIMAITYD.
Pray to Nothing, Charles
Having extensively defended myself since Sunday (see
here,
here and
here, just for starters), I noticed Monday -- see:
Charles Johnson 'making even Andrew Sullivan and Markos Moulitsas look sane' -- that
Da Tech Guy had commented:
McCain has been countering and putting up a good defense here in Round 2, but has yet to shift to offense, as we’ve seen in the Griffin and Audrey fights. McCain tends to mount his offense in mid to late rounds but they simply overpower their opponents.
Very perceptive, sir. When a man knows that he has been falsely maligned by a worthless fool, he can be confident of the outcome against his overmatched antagonist, and there is no need for haste. Being vilely insulted by Political Cesspool's James Edwards . . . well, I'll worry later about that minor distraction. Surely the SPLC's attacks have rendered my right flank impregnably secure and, as my old music buddy Haywood Tucker told me yesterday, the Lord knows who I am.
Haywood's praying for me, as are others. Charles Johnson hates God, and he hates all those who believe in God. As I once advised the atheist anti-Palin blogger Jesse Griffin:
Speaking of prayer, Griffin, on your blog you say you're an atheist. Maybe you should pray to Nothing and see if that helps.
Well, guess what? When you pray to Nothing,
the results are predictable. A God-fearing man may suffer terrible wrongs, yet has the comfort of knowing that God's grace is constant. The God-hater suffers far more painfully, for when his destruction draws nigh and he is predictably abandoned by his phony two-faced "friends," he suffers
alone. In such circumstances, the unrepentant atheist inevitably proves a vicious liar and a coward, like Charles Johnson.
Behold, God's Mighty WarriorI have often urged readers to purchase
Sam Childers' remarkable book, Another Man's War. Sam is a mighty warrior for God. As I told him over breakfast one morning, "Sam, you're going to be an action figure." And I meant that quite literally.
That was February 2008. Eighteen months later, the film deal has been signed, and I'll bet every leading man in Hollywood has his agent begging for the part of Pastor Sam Childers. When the movie becomes a box-office sensation, Sam will be like Indiana Jones or Luke Skywalker. Little boys and girls will be begging their mothers to buy them the Happy Meal so they can get the Sam Childers action figure.
Sam risked everything -- his fortune, his friendships, his family, his reputation, even his very life -- to build an orphanage in Sudan. And he very nearly lost everything, more than once, yet he remained faithful. He has been through that dark valley of the 23rd Psalm, he has seen times when it was just him and the Lord, and whatever struggles he must now endure, the favor of God is upon him.
Buy
Another Man's War, and study Sam's life. When he was a young hoodlum, when he was an outlaw biker, when he was a shotgunner for drug dealers, Sam learned all that any man needs to know about fighting. He never suspected that one day, God would call him to use those skills to save the lives of children in Uganda and Sudan.
Sam is not about politics. He is not a Republican or a Democrat. He has no ideology but the gospel of Christ. After interviewing him, seeing the work he does, and studying his character, I told him, "Sam, you're a natural-born libertarian." But that's just an intellectual label, and Sam is not about words or labels. He is a man of action.
Let the intellectuals sneer at him, the son of a Pennsylvania steelworker, but you must know this one thing:
If it ever comes to a fight, bet on Sam Childers. You throw the first punch against Sam, and you'd better be ready to kill him, because he won't stop fighting so long as he has the strength left to fight. And if Sam ever decides to throw the first punch . . .
Dude. Don't even ask.
Sam is an easygoing, friendly guy by nature, happy to serve the Lord and willing to help anyone who needs help. Having seen Sam angry, however, I promise you that you don't
ever want to make Sam angry.
Just Keep Digging, Charlie!
All of this I explain not to praise Sam -- who has no need of my praise -- but rather by way of explaining why, when I came under attack from LGF, my response may have struck some readers as an expression arrogance:
Charles Johnson will regret it but once,
and that will be continuously
Because I am a professional journalist, this was not a threat, but a statement of objective fact. Within 48 hours of his infamous assault on my character, Johnson reaped the consequences of his own maniacal hatefulness, bringing upon himself disasters independent of anything I had done. LGF was delinked by Power Line and Charles burnt one of his few remaining bridges to conservatives by de-linking Pajamas Media.
Johnson was unconscionably wrong in attacking Pamela Geller and her friends. However, because he refused to admit or recant his error, he committed himself to a path of unjust vengeance against the innocent. In the process, he revealed himself to be a creature of unscrupulous cruelty, an immoral monster who can never expect anything but contempt from civilized people.
There is a God in heaven, and the man who spitefully chooses to pursue unrighteousness will ultimately destroy himself. Therefore, wise men observe the madness of King Charles and shake their heads sadly, knowing what the final outcome must be.
Charles Johnson is already in a very deep hole and, at the frantic pace he's digging now, can be expected to reach the fiery pit of hell no later than next Thursday.
Bon voyage!
UPDATE (Smitty):
Linked at Jaded Haven. Thanks, Daphne!
UPDATE II (Smitty):
Also picked up at Bonzai. Thanks, mate!
UPDATE III (Smitty):
SI VIS PACEM says CJ has pulled a Sully.
UPDATE IV (Smitty):
The Fabulous Pamela links us and brings the Rifqa Bary angle. Pamela packs more heat in her little toe than everything Charles can muster.
UPDATE V (Smitty):
Fishersvill Mike completes the phrase "Little Green" with "Apples". Why do you hate fruit, Mike?
UPDATE VI (Smitty):
Dennis the Peasant links Pamela's Downfall treatment from mid-April. New to me, quite well done.
UPDATE VII (Smitty):
Linked by one lonely Troglopundit in Wisconsin who seeks abuse. Apparently an erroneous reference to his metrosexuality was insufficient.
UPDATE IX (Smitty):
NOVA Townhall picks it up. This post is going to turn into a mini-FMJRA Real Soon Now.
UPDATE X (Smitty):
Fish Fear Me takes us back to single Roman numerals. But is Charles Johnson a fish?
UPDATE XI (Smitty):
Carol's Closet turns it up to 11. Now, were she given a choice between a free Spinal Tap and Obamacare, would there be an apparent difference? Never mind, I wouldn't wish either on anyone. Even Charles Johnson. A cluebat, now...
UPDATE XII (Smitty):
The Daley Gator makes a dozen in the parade of support.
UPDATE XIII (Smitty):
Saber Point makes it a baker's dozen. Thanks, Stogie!
UPDATE XIV (RSM): At last, Charles Johnson exposes the real neo-Nazi: HIMSELF!
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