Hey SPLC, where is our letter to “demand a retraction of the libelous statement”?

I don’t know how the hell I missed this, but from way back in April:

Now, in a column this week criticizing a U.S. Department of Homeland Security report on right-wing extremism, Malkin has made another utterly erroneous assertion: “The SPLC,” she wrote, “has designated the venerable American Legion a ‘hate group’ for its stance on immigration enforcement.” The claim rapidly spread to right-wing sites on the Internet and elsewhere.

In fact, the SPLC has never listed the legion as a “hate group” nor put it on any other kind of list. Intelligence Project Director Mark Potok on Thursday wrote Malkin and her syndicate to demand a retraction of the libelous statement. “Your assertion … amounts to reckless disregard of the truth,” he stated in an E-mail sent early Thursday. As of Friday afternoon, however, the SPLC had received no response. Malkin’s columns appear in major newspapers nationwide and are also published online.

Then they even name us, but naturally, no link:

In addition to including the misinformation in her April 15 column titled “You Might Be a Radicalized Right-Wing Conservative if…,” Malkin also proclaims the same falsehood in an item she posted the previous day on her blog. In it, she links to another blog called “This ain’t hell,” which she appears to have relied on for her “facts” — never mind that the blog doesn’t even get the SPLC’s name right. “This ain’t hell,” in turn, links to an SPLC blog post that doesn’t come close to asserting that the legion is a hate group. Instead, the story points out numerous misstatements and myths in a legion report on immigration enforcement. The legion later issued an updated report from which the most egregious mistakes had been removed.

Let me show just one more time for Mr. Potok whence comes the assertion of Ms. Malkins:

Now, notice the prominent moniker of “HATEWATCH” and then underneath it an article about The American Legion. What if someone had a website entitled “Pedophile Alert: Keeping an Eye on Those who Would Make your Child a Catamite” and the first article was entitled to “SPLC is it again.”  Now, would you not be offended by that? 

I am on their email list now, and I have to tell you, everything they touch is full of half-truths and stuff taken out of context.  It’s astonishing.  Today they are lamenting that Joe Arpaio subpoenaed Acorn records. What part of “Law” is it that the Southern Poverty Law Center opposes? Even a group that was potentially willing to help smuggle in underage children as sex slaves is fine with them, because there is no money in going after their allies.

What a despicable group SPLC is.

Category: Politics