PORT ANGELES — Conservative political columnist and blogger Michelle Malkin said Tuesday she knows she’s been called mean.
The 43-year-old author of four books, whose column has appeared on the Commentary page of the Peninsula Daily News on Fridays since 2007, said she will present a different side of herself when she speaks at the Port Angeles High School Performing Arts Center (the high school’s auditorium) at 304 E. Park Ave., on Thursday.
Admission is free to her talk, sponsored by My Choices Pregnancy Medical Resources of Port Angeles.
Doors open at 6:15 p.m. for general admission.
She will speak from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., and from 8:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. she will sign copies of her latest book, Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks and Cronies, which will be available for sale.
A backstage pass is available for a $100 donation. Passholders can meet Malkin beginning at 6 p.m. and get a photo with her and a signed copy of Culture of Corruption.
Passes can be obtained by phoning 360-452-3300 or visiting a My Choices clinic.
Clinics are at 824-A E. Eighth St. in Port Angeles and at 640 N. Sequim Ave. in Sequim.
‘I don’t hide anything’
Malkin admitted she makes some people uncomfortable with her bluntness, even among some conservatives.
“I don’t hide anything,” she said in a telephone interview. “I try not to waste people’s time.”
Some of Malkin’s detractors think they know her solely from the 24/7 cable TV news cycle she inhabits. She has been a regular contributor to Fox News.
“They see me yelling at someone on cable TV, and they get the sense that I am perpetually outraged or mad,” she said.
“Over two decades, you can’t sustain yourself if that’s all your shtick is.”
A mother of two, her topic Thursday will touch on the help and services My Choices provides to people facing unplanned pregnancies.
Those choices do not include abortion referrals or abortions.
“For as long as I’ve been in public life, I’ve always supported groups like My Choices that support women, many of whom don’t understand that there are a great range of choices when they face situations where they are pregnant, where they are alone and vulnerable,” Malkin said.
“That’s why I encourage people to come to this event. It may be revealing for people who think they know what I am about.
“It will be full of warmth and compassion and joy that you won’t get on cable TV.”
Culture of Corruption was No. 1 for six weeks on The New York Times’ hardcover best-seller list for nonfiction.
Her other books include In Defense of Internment: The Case for “Racial Profiling” in World War II and the War on Terror, which she wrote in 2004.
“I support and believe and stand by everything I wrote,” she said.
“The gist of [In Defense of Internment] is to have the readers put themselves in Roosevelt’s shoes and take a look at the trove of national security evidence he had to asses that decision.”
Malkin began her career in 1992 as a columnist and editorial writer at the Los Angeles Daily News and held the same positions at The Seattle Times in the mid-1990s.
She and her husband, Jesse, live in Colorado Springs, Colo., and visited Port Angeles during a wedding anniversary trip.
“We decided to drive around,” she recalled.
“We didn’t intentionally plan to end up in Port Angeles and spent the afternoon there.
“It was beautiful.”
Malkin, who occasionally still visits Seattle, travels to the North Olympic Peninsula this time by way of an invitation from My Choices.
She said she has no personal or professional connections to the organization. The invitation was unexpected but not unwanted.
“The message of the sanctity of life has been one of my core issues for the 20 years I’ve been writing and speaking,” Malkin said.
“If I only chose to speak or appear in large metropolitan areas and cities, that would limit the amount of influence I could have.”
Those who attend Thursday’s presentation may see a softer Malkin — but she won’t be leaving her cable TV news persona anytime soon.
“I love that this little brown girl whose parents came from a village in the Philippines . . . can make a living running off her mouth,” she said.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
