Politics Edwards Caves to Right-Wing Bigot
posted by on February 7 at 12:54 PM
John Edwards made a really smart decision in hiring two high-profile bloggers, Amanda Marcotte (of Pandagon) and Melissa McEwan (of Shakespeare’s Sister), to run his blog and “netroots” campaign, respectively. Both bloggers are prominent and well-respected commentators; both are also outspoken liberals and feminists.
You probably get where I’m going with this. Today, a a vicious smear campaign by right-wing bloggers like Michelle Malkin, including the charge that Amanda uses “hate speech”, curses (my lands!), and, my personal favorite, is “ugly” (lots more here) culminated in an attack by antisemitic Catholic League wingnut Bill Donahoe (the same guy who told former Rep. Mark Foley he shouldn’t have “allowed himself to be molested” and who believes “Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular”), the two bloggers have reportedly been fired.
What a stupid, wrongheaded decision. Marcotte and McEwan are smart, sharp-witted, and funny writers with huge online followings. By caving to pressure from right-wing bigots, Edwards brings his own integrity and ability to show leadership under fire into question. More importantly, his decision sends a message to the wingnuts that personal attacks, however untrue, work if repeated often enough. Lie; pour; stir.
The irony, of course, is that the “hate speech” Marcotte and McEwan have been accused consists, basically, of calling people “homobigots” and “Christofascists.” If you really want to see the depths to which web-based hate speech descends, look no further than prominent right-wing bloggers like Instapundit, the Autonomist, and Jane Galt. From Media Matters:
Misha of The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler on the Supreme Court: “Five ropes, five robes, five trees. Some assembly required.” [7/11/06]BC of The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler on John Kerry: “Rope. Tree. Justice. The only three things that Qerry [sic] deserves for his ‘service’.” [10/28/04]
Dean Esmay on New York Times reporters: “Exposing such a secret program is not whistle-blowing — it is high treason. When I say ‘treason’ I don’t mean it in an insulting or hyperbolic way. I mean in a literal way: we need to find these 21st century Julius Rosenbergs, these modern day reincarnations of Alger Hiss, put them on trial before a jury of their peers, with defense counsel. When they are found guilty, we should then hang them by the neck until the are dead, dead, dead.” [12/18/05]
Denny K of The Flying Monkey-Right Blog in reaction to photos of Rumsfeld’s and Cheney’s homes: “Let’s start with the following New York Times reporters and editors: Arthur ‘Pinch’ Sulzberger Jr., Bill Keller, Eric Lichtblau, and James Risen. Do you have an idea where they live? Go hunt them down and do America a favor. Get their photo, street address, where their kids go to school, anything you can dig up, and send it to the link above. This is your chance to be famous — grab for the golden ring.” [7/02/06]
And on and on. What a shame for Amanda and Melissa— but the bigger loss, by far, is Edwards’s.
Or a tempest in a teapot, depending on how you feel about blogs, right or left. Marcotte and McEwan have the advantage over Malkin of not being raging psychopaths, but really, nobody cares what any of them think.
Good thing we're all for Gore and Obama around here.
I had no plans to vote for him anyway, but it kinda makes every dem look bad.
Or, if I may paraphrase the "president," this only serves to embolden the enemy.
Bad move on Edwards part. Those chicks have a huge following and his abject failure to stand up to a bunch of blow-hard wingnuts on the blogosphere and their fabricated scandel says he doesn't have the brains, guts nor thick skin it takes to run a country. He should just cash it in and go home now.
Edwards is such a JC Penney mannequin of a man...and a politician...
This is, I think, Edwards' "clean and articulate."
yes, there is plenty of vitriol in the blogosphere, both left and right, but I don't see any of the right-wing examples being hired on to a Presidential campaign.
I think that is one significant difference in the issues here. They can be potty-mouthed and nasty all they want on their blogs, but it's a tough jump from self-published aggrandizer to public figure spokesman, at least it is if you have a long history of baggage to bring along.
For example, I don't see the Misha example going to work for any of the Republican candidates, for exactly the kind of stuff you've used in your examples.
No. 7: Bullshit. Right-wingers get hired on to presidential campaigns just like left-wingers. Here's just one example: http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2007/02/look-at-john-mccains-blogger.html.
That's how we seem to like our Democrats: spineless and pathetic.
Frak Edwards.
P.S. I was planning on telling people who called or stopped by asking for money that "I'm just not there yet," regarding his candidacy and lack of support for marriage equality. Now, I can also add the above.
ECB: Your link gives a 404 page not found.
However, if John McCain has hired a blogger from the right with a history, then that's a mistake and he should be held accountable for it.
The point is that these bloggers (including the two women let go by Edwards) make their own beds and thus must deal with the repercussions of their own actions. They are hardly helpless pawns devoid of their own agency and will.
There's the issue of Edwards' toughness and competence (I'm not convinced of either), but there's also the issue of the double standard that most Dems allow themselves to be subjected to on this kind of thing. The Carpetbagger Report has a great post re: that.
who's edwards?
It's not his "clean and articulate" moment, because no one knows or cares who these people are. He let go a couple of media staffers. Big deal.
Fnarf,
The point is that he folded faster than the Pine Street Laundry over some idiotic fake controversy from the wrong wing nuts.
If he doesn't have the balls to stand up for his own staff, then the rest of us shouldn't expect anything from him either.
The ridiculous thing is that Amanda's view of economics would potentially be more of a real liability to Edwards. If he's going to push his Two Americas program again, it's not going to look so good to have a socialist working on his campaign.
These right wingers sound like Ann Coulter wannabes. Edwards needs to get some balls.
Oh Errrrica:
Edwards hasn't fired either of them yet.
Edwards is an asshole. He should have done his research BEFORE hiring them and decided that he was going to stick by them. The hiring then firing move is sloppy. This reminds of Clinton (I HATE the motherfucker--AEDPA & DOMA) dropping Lani Guinier like a hot potato.
I forgot Ricky Ray Rector. May he rest in peace. Another reason to dispise Bill Clinton. Hopefully, Edwards will never have that much blood on his hands.
I can see why Edwards wouldn't want to hire Amanda - she has, in fact, said some things that would piss a lot of potentially Democrat-voting people off. Nonetheless, the fact that the Edwards would (1) hire Amanda without looking at her prior reputation and then (2) cave in and look like total wusses when a bunch of right-wing fuckwits (whose goal is to destroy Edwards anyway) scream about it ... it makes Team Edwards look quite pathetic, I'm afraid.
Besides, in a real campaign, would anyone other than shrieking subhumans like Malkin even pay any attention to what Amanda said in the past? Seriously? The overwhelming majority of the populace doesn't pay attention to blog wankery.
Dumb.
See, this kind of spinelessness is exactly why we can't have the Republican Party outlawed. Personal goals aside, this is sad on so many levels. John Edwards shouldn't even be elected to a school board, let alone to national office. Censorship on SOME levels, Cowardice on others.
Oh, Errrrrica:
He didn't fire them.
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