How Not To Defend An Argument.

from PostPartisan.

A Michigan governent official went on CNN yesterday to defend the blog he wrote personally attacking a gay college student. Watch how he tries to defend his argument, he does such a poor job that it is a) amusing and b) slightly informative.

*Update. one of the wonderful things about the internet/blog world is that in addition to just reading about things, you can actually take action. I work with an organization called Advocates For Youth, who are running a small campaign to get this guy fired. Check it out, and consider clicking the button to sign on to a letter to remove this crazy person from office.

From post partisan (if you are interested in hearing more about this story...)

An assistant attorney general for the State of Michigan is waging an ugly one-man crusade against the first openly-gay student body president at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He may be doing this on his own time, but it raises issues of fairness and security. How can the gay men and lesbians of Michigan trust a lawyer for the state when he spends every waking hour out of the office denigrating who they are?

Since Chris Armstrong was elected in April, he has been hounded by Andrew Shirvell. "Chris Armstrong Watch" is the primary vehicle for the public servant's seemingly unhinged rants against Armstrong and his "radical homosexual agenda." Shirvell also called Armstrong "Satan's representative on the student assembly," a "privileged pervert" and accused him of recruiting incoming freshmen "to join the homosexual 'lifestyle.'" You'd swear the two were running against each other for office. Or that Shirvell's constant and vitriolic blog postings would constitute cyber bullying. But there's no anti-cyber bullying law on the books in Michigan.

In an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper last night, Shirvell said that he was practicing his First Amendment rights of free speech. That's fine. What's stunning is his total lack of judgment and his seeming inability to understand how, well, strange his actions are.