Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Hairymon (talk | contribs) at 03:39, 16 July 2005 (→Early Life). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Debbie Schlussel (born 1969) is an attorney, radio talk show host, columnist, MENSA member, and, since May 2005, blogger.

Early Life

Schlussel was born in 1969. Her grandparents were Holocaust survivors, her mother born in a concentration camp, and her father a Vietnam War veteran, which helped form her views.

Her activities during her teenage years included winning medals in the Maccabai Games and representing the United States in the Maccabiah Games in Israel. She got her political start, however, as a Young Republican, winning the title of “Outstanding Teen Age Republican in the Nation” in 1987. She later became the youngest female and youngest Jewish delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1988 and worked on many campaigns, including her failed vote for the Michigan House of Representatives, which she lost by one vote (had she won, she would've been the youngest person to win a seat).

Professional Life

Aside from her political campaigning and actions, Schlussel has become best known for her journalistic endeavors, especially her conservative-oriented columns. Her most notable achievement occurred while with the Detroit Free Press, where she went undercover into a mosque and reported on her findings, many of which angered the Muslim community as she presented examples of anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism. She continues to be published in the New York Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the Detroit Free Press.

Her journalistic endeavors also made waves with columns she wrote about Russell Simmons and his ties to Palestinian terrorism, the "radical Islamic ownership" of Caribou Coffee, and the awarding of an American citizen with ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, causing then-FBI Director Robert Mueller to revoke the award.

She also hosted a radio program, "The Debbie Schlussel Show" in 2002 and 2003. She became a regular guest on other radio programs as well, ranging from Howard Stern to Sean Hannity.

Controversy

Schlussel recieves criticism because of her tendency to routinely target Muslims for most of her political rants, many of which were viewed as anti-Muslim. She also tends labels people who support Palestine, or others who disagree with Israel, "terrorists", even if their disagreement is peaceful. Howard Stern, whose radio show she occasionally guest stars on, has jokingly called her column "Six Degrees of Separation to Al-Qaida". In the most extreme example, on her new blog, she equates being a fan of either Michael Jackson or soccer with supporting terrorism; using the loose association that a majority of Americans do not support either, whereas both are quite popular in many Islamic nations.

She occasionally targets feminists, as well, causing Ms. magazine to regard her as "Public Enemy #1". She particularly likes to criticize women's pro sports, especially the WNBA; to the point where her own cousin once wrote an editorial in a newspaper in disagreement over this.

She has been compared to Ann Coulter, another Conservative columnist, but has yet to achieve the same degree of mainstream exposure. However, her Yahoo fan club site is more popular than Coulter's.

Recently, Schussel achived some notoriety because of an editorial in the Wall Street Journal accusing Morgan Spurlock of the documentary series 30 Days and film Super Size Me of unbalanced practices in achieving the results for the two programs (particularly 30 Days). Spurlock has not responded.

External Links

• Debbie Schlussel's Homepage
• Detroit Free Press - 'Debbie Schlussel of Southfield amps up the conservative volume.'
• Wall Street Journal - 'Unreal for 30 Days,' an editorial where Schlussel criticizes Morgan Spurlock's methods for his documentary program.