Like a 1950s rocket on its launching pad, the John Edwards campaign imploded yesterday before anyone got aboard.
This happened because Edwards "accepted the resignation" of Amanda Marcotte, one of two bloggers whom Catholic League head Bill Donohue had demonized. (Inquisition League would be more like it, honestly.)
Some in the Netroots are trying to spin this as something other than what it is — a capitulation — but over the long run that won’t wash.
Donohue and all the Far Right’s other goons now know they have a veto over the Edwards campaign’s message. They can be racists, they can be bigots, they can call people names on TV but if anyone working for Edwards ever responded to their bullying in kind they’re out.
This might have made some sense when the Political Thesis of the Right, its myths and values, were commonly accepted by the people. But in a time of transformation, with the President’s war at 35% approval and the President’s even lower, giving such a veto to goons like Donohue is unacceptable.
If Amanda is too far-left to work on a campaign, why isn’t Glenn Beck
too far right for ABC? Why are Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly still on
the air, able to rant at will, if people like Amanda are kept from
making a living? It’s Cheney and his politics that should be
unacceptable in 2007, beyond the pale, not the politics of his critics.
It’s patently ridiculous. Anyone who writes that the work of Amanda at
Pandagon is somehow further to the left than Fox News is to the right
is politically deluded. If you think Fox News is "fair and balanced"
you’re unbalanced. They are propaganda. And so are all the people who
feed them their talking points.
For Democrats to create new myths and values, they badly need to have their own propagandists, on-call. And those propagandists need to be free to speak their mind, uncensored. Otherwise it’s not an argument, just abuse.
You couldn’t say this sort of thing 10 years ago or 5 years ago but now
it has to be said. The Thesis has fallen, and we need a new Thesis. We
need transformation. And since John Edwards is unwilling to go there,
and to defend the people who seek to take us there, he needs to go away.
In fact, Edwards has always been a half-beat off for me. He started
echoing Dean’s themes only after Dean had proven they had resonance,
and in the end only paved the way for the disaster that was John Kerry.
He hired Marcotte and Internet outreach director Melissa McEwan to run
what looked like a 2003-era site, and let Marcotte walk at the first
sign of trouble. His rhetoric and his program has more in common with
the Industrial Labor movement than it does with the Information
Society. He’s yesterday’s man.
He’s no great loss. Maybe, if American Express brings back the old "do
you know me?" ads, in a dozen or so years, he’ll dye his hair and do
one, as William Miller, Barry Goldwater’s running mate, did in the
1970s.
But I’m through with him. And in the end so are most Netroots
activists. Because we have other choices, better choices. We don’t need
John Edwards.
It’s About That Time…Snowday Blogroll! (Part I)
It’s snowing yet again in mid-Missouri (this crap’s getting really old), and since I’m taking the day off, I thought it was time for that age-old tradition…the Blogroll. It’s been a while, but as Susie discusses the current state of blogroll flux, …
Actually, the Edwards campaign just got a boost and Amanda Marcotte did them a favor by resigning.
Her comments regarding the Catholic church (an “ancient mythology”) or saying “What if Mary had taken Plan B after the Lord filled her with his hot, white, sticky Holy Spirit?” are what many would consider to be offensive. Considering that there’s something like 76,000,000 Catholics in this country and many live in swing states, it’s probably something the Edwards campaign doesn’t want to be associated with.
The ‘netroots’ will be pissed off at first, but they’ll end up seeing the big picture and then continue to enjoy Amanda’s posts on Pandagon.
In fact, on that note, maybe she’ll head over to the airwaves and be a left wing version of Rush or O’Reilly – two guys that I can’t stand.
Actually, the Edwards campaign just got a boost and Amanda Marcotte did them a favor by resigning.
Her comments regarding the Catholic church (an “ancient mythology”) or saying “What if Mary had taken Plan B after the Lord filled her with his hot, white, sticky Holy Spirit?” are what many would consider to be offensive. Considering that there’s something like 76,000,000 Catholics in this country and many live in swing states, it’s probably something the Edwards campaign doesn’t want to be associated with.
The ‘netroots’ will be pissed off at first, but they’ll end up seeing the big picture and then continue to enjoy Amanda’s posts on Pandagon.
In fact, on that note, maybe she’ll head over to the airwaves and be a left wing version of Rush or O’Reilly – two guys that I can’t stand.
“….since John Edwards is unwilling to go there, and to defend the people who seek to take us there, he needs to go away.”
Perfectly said. Thank you.
“….since John Edwards is unwilling to go there, and to defend the people who seek to take us there, he needs to go away.”
Perfectly said. Thank you.
What Amanda said, and who might be offended by it, were never relevant at all. The critical dialog was the one between the Edwards campaign and the Right Wing Noise Machine, and Edwards f’ed it up.
I’m pretty disappointed, because I liked Edwards (more than Obama) and thought he was off to a good start but even given that, I find this hard to forgive. Not because I demand loyalty to the netroots, but because for reasons greater than a presidential election, the spell of the Noise Machine needs to be broken. This was a pretty easy test and the Edwards campaign blew it.
What Amanda said, and who might be offended by it, were never relevant at all. The critical dialog was the one between the Edwards campaign and the Right Wing Noise Machine, and Edwards f’ed it up.
I’m pretty disappointed, because I liked Edwards (more than Obama) and thought he was off to a good start but even given that, I find this hard to forgive. Not because I demand loyalty to the netroots, but because for reasons greater than a presidential election, the spell of the Noise Machine needs to be broken. This was a pretty easy test and the Edwards campaign blew it.