I published a brief item, “Rittenhouse Isn’t a Lawless Place,” on November 16, 2003, that after receiving the previously published e-mail from Jesse D. Malkin, and in which post I wrote, in part:

If you’re a public official or a public person of one sort or another, a regularly published member of the punditocracy, for example, with, say, a nationally syndicated column, and you don’t like something I’ve written about you here, feel free to send me an e-mail detailing or outlining your complaint, dissatisfaction, or disagreement.

Whatever you do, don’t ask your spouse or significant other to send me such a missive, and to the best of your ability, prevent him or her from doing so on his or her own.

No matter the tone -- hostile, nasty, plaintive, even pleading -- such third-party messages carry little weight around here, reflect poorly on the subject under discussion, and are, just in general, all-too-Vincent/McNulty-esque to enable the relevant party to maintain any credibility whatsoever, and you know you can do better than that, don’t you?

Shortly thereafter I received an e-mail from Jesse Maglalang Malkin, reproduced herewith:

For the record, I wrote that e-mail on my own initiative. Michelle has been in the hospital since Thursday; she has not had access to the internet and does not read your blog.

Nice, huh?

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