In quotes covered by Editor & Publisher, Lake explained that the Virginian-Pilot's editorial board had concluded that Malkin was "too stridently anti-liberal" and that readers objected to her "seemingly mean-spirited rantings and suggested that she be dropped."

Malkin's meticulously researched columns have covered a variety of topics, including exposing Sen. Robert Byrd as a Ku Klux Klan sympathizer years after he formally left the organization and warning about how America's failed immigration system has left the country vulnerable to another terrorist attack.

Malkin has also authored two landmark books, one on immigration and the other on Japanese internment during World War II.

Still, editorial writer Don Luzzatto was unimpressed, telling Lake: "I was really put off by her penchant for name-calling and ad hominem attack. I think we can do much better.”

Virginian-Pilot editorial board member Bronwyn Lance Chester went so far as to invoke Malkin's race.

"She’s an Asian Ann Coulter. ... She says outrageous things just to get TV appearances and book deals. She’s the worst of what’s wrong with punditry today. She adds absolutely nothing to genuine political discourse.”

Editor's note: