Regular readers of this site know that I am hardly a knee-jerk defender of the big banks. But I think Michelle Malkin, who is a force in right-wing news and opinion circles, as described in this New York Sun profile of her, carries it too far in her latest column describing the Obama administration as being "infested" with the men of Goldman Sachs. That particular language resonates, and it has a sordid history.
It's an example of the way that the backlash against big banks is eroding traditional left-right political distinctions -- Ms. Malkin, a right-winger, sounds like Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone, a left-winger. On some levels that may be encouraging for those of us who opposed TARP. But on another level it's disturbing for its echoes of the old Red-Brown coalition. Not that Ms. Malkin is a Nazi. And I sure wouldn't want to make too much of the selection of a single word. But anyone who knows the history can't help wincing to see the word "infested" applied to bankers from a traditionally Jewish firm.
Update: Ms. Malkin responds, quite reasonably, I think, below.
