Something's Happening

With Update

I know you all have probably heard by now - but it seems that John Edwards either has or is considering firing Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan.  Talk about a stunning about face.  It takes my breath away, actually.  They haven't been in his employ but a week.  Now - to my knowledge this has yet to be confirmed; and normally I would never bring up such a rumor - but one of Edwards campaign staff, when questioned said that the issue had yet to be decided.  That ambivalence opened up a huge can of worms - and brings me to this post.

I am very disturbed about this.  There is much more here than meets the eye.  Let me give you a little background.  Catholic League in-house bigot and general factotum Bill Donohue accused both Amanda and Melissa of profanity (????) and anti-Catholic utterances (boy – talk about the pot calling the kettle black!).  Spurious, I know; but Murdock and his machine picked it up and off they ran. Now – everyone knows that Donohue only speaks to and for a small section of Catholicism - the ones who refuse to believe that there is an institutional problem involving pedophile priests.  Though I no longer consider myself Catholic - I still know a great deal about the current workings of that faith - including how American Catholics view Donohue and his ‘lets all go back to the Spanish Inquisition’ opinions.  I know that’s a lot of verbiage to dismiss the man - but that’s what I’m doing – dismissing his ass.  He doesn’t count.  What does count is what accompanied his announcement. Hoards of right-wing extremist bloggers immediately fanned out – making an appearance on almost every progressive blog I've visited tonight.  Check it out yourself.  Trolls are literally stepping over themselves to crawl out of the woodwork - at Shakes Sis, Crooks and Liars - even Blondsense.  All to denounce Melissa and Amanda. 

Are any of you familiar with a blog called ‘TownHall’?  It has stepped in to fill the void left by ‘Little Green Footballs’ demotion and recent discreditation.  Suddenly its administrators have tons of money; marshalling wingnut bloggers like troops - sending them out to seek and destroy.  And they are.  With a vengeance.  That's what’s disturbing me; the concentrated, coordinated nature of the attack.  Edwards supposed vacillation has been like blood in the water to these people.  True or not – when one of Edwards staffers backed off and insinuated that Edwards was considering doing as Donohue ordered – victory was declared in the first battle of the blogger wars.  TownHall now believes it has proof positive that its tactics are working.  Trust me - this is only the first salvo.  Wait and see.  There’s lots of money being poured into this.  We aren’t being paid to trash the opponent – but they are – lots and lots of cold hard cash. You mark my words.  Backgrounds are going to be examined, words sifted – and if dirt can’t be found, it will be created.  Fasten your seat belts my friends.  It’s gonna be a bumpy election!

Update: Amanda and Melissa have been 'handled' into apologizing for their opinions in order to retain their jobs.  Personally - I was offended by John Edwards very public scolding of both women.  It smacked of paternalism - not to mention disingenuousness.  Edwards states he was previously unaware of Melissa and Amanda's writing style and opinions.  Well.  Doesn't make him seem all that intelligent - does it?  Frankly - I think it’s a crock.  Either he's dumb as a box of rocks for not going over their résumés - or the phrase 'pants on fire' comes to mind.  Either way - it’s Edwards who comes off looking the fool - not Amanda and Melissa.  He says he was ‘personally offended’ by their previous remarks.  Says Melinda and Amanda don’t live up to his idea of ‘professionalism’.  However - he has, in the fullness of his heart, forgiven them (????); given them a 'second chance'.  How resoundingly Christian of the fellow.  And utter twaddle in my opinion.  John honey – I’m ‘personally offended’ by the way you treat your employees.  Second chance?  Don’t think so.  And you have lost much more than my respect, dearie.  You have also lost my vote.   

Comments

[SB_Gypsy]

I read this morning on Huffpo, that he'd fired them. I went straight to his "John Edwards for President" website and sent him a Dear John letter.

It pained me to do it, since I've been talking up his candidacy.

RATS!!

[Juliette Ruesz]

That's what happens when one panders instead of leads.

John Edwards didn't stand up as much as he first layed down and then got up to a crouch down position, while his staff flew in a panic read all of the blogs to get a clue as to how to handle this to minimize the damage to John Edwards.

Had he been standing up, he would first told Mr. Donohue to stay out of his internal affairs, and issued a statement that Bloggers hired don't have to hold his views. That he respects freedom of religion and freedom of expression.

But that's not how it was handled.

Thus far, my impression of Sen. Edwards has a down arrow next to it.

We need a true leader with good deliberate and sound judgment. I don't see that when I look at John Edwards to date.

[JimmyDean'sFuckedUpCousinClyde]

John,
We hardly knew ye.

Best of luck in '16.

Warmest regards,
The Blogging Public.
---------------------------------

(He's still head and shoulders better than almost all of the Senators and Representatives, and still has a viable political future if he continues to commit to honesty without equivocation)

[Kevin Wolf]

Lots of good posts around on this (I did one), including Lance Mannion and Kung Fu Monkey.

As I commented elsewhere, I was disappointed by Edwards's statement but, since it's early in the campaign, I assume he's choosing his battles. But this does not bode well. Very soon, he's going to have to pick an issue that the wingnut right is pushing and push back. Hard.

I'll wait a little while to see if that happens. But if it isn't soon, he'll have no chance of being elected anyway. We can all then move on, well before Election Day.

(BTW: I'm not really a fan of any declared candidate so far. They're all going to have to work pretty damn hard for my vote.)

[Lily]

Right-He could have said simply that the personal views of employees are THEIR OWN and left it at that.

I think this whole thing is messed up. I think we must own up to our words and stand by them, and unfortunately if people segway into employment this will become a common practice. I know political staffers that google the hell out of people now, not to see so much as to be prepared and know what the "enemy" will find...and use. Its all fodder now, FLS. Employers do it, its either a different identity from real life or one's blogging life is fair game it seems.

[The Fat Lady Sings]

And on it still goes. I just listened to Chris Mathews on Hardball label Amanda and Melissa anti-Catholic bigots without having read one line they had actually written. He even admitted to being totally unfamiliar with their work; and then dismissed that work as fringe, or loony. After making sure that bloggers in general were seen as isolated idiots - he then directed his audience to Donohue's Catholic League hate site so they could learn 'the truth' for themselves. It seems the MSM is so afraid of us bloggers - they will do anything - including lie - to make sure none of us compromise their hegemony. We had all better start pushing back – hard; and then make sure Congress doesn’t jump on the MSM bandwagon and make laws to shut us down. Honey - if that happens - I will be on the road to Canada in a heart beat.

As for Edwards - how much you wanna bet he fires them anyway? Had he just ignored Donohue to begin with.....but no - he has to give credence to the bullshit Donohue spun. Edwards sank his own boat by doing so. He's now given the MSM tools to do the rest.

[mandt]

Dear John just lost our vote

[The Fat Lady Sings]

He says he hadn't even spoken to either of them before this incident; that they were hired by his staff. You know - I'd buy that - if a KOS front pager hadn't done an interview with his wife who said she blogs regularly. She mentioned a number of the blogs she reads and blogs at herself. She even said he blogs with her. So don't tell me her hubby was ignorant. My husband doesn't blog and he knows exactly what I write and who I read. I think Edwards is being disingenuous. Again. So yeah - he's lost my vote too. I want someone who's truthful. I don't have to agree with their every position - as long as I trust their judgment. Edwards? Not as far as I can throw him.

[The CultureGhost]

Other than my post about being a blogger for "The Dead Gus Hall Campaign", I've mostly laid off this one. If one wanted a current example of a "tempest in a teapot", I think this qualifies. So some self-important Catholic decided he hadn't had enough air time recently, so what...he's an old man adhering to an archaic tradition racked by scandals and serious money problems. Not to mention they're having one helluva time adjusting to the 21st century. I'm not a Democrat (third party thing for me) so this intesne jockeying for position this early on strikes me as rather premature. If Democrats and progressives are already calling Edwards to account on his handling of this, then you all better hope either Christ himself or one of the saints returns and runs for President, because no candidate is going to be perfect. Let's review that: no one candidate is going to be perfect. This is going to be one of the longest campaigns in history, so everyone, every single candidate is going to make a mistake of some sort. They will no doubt re-make themselves several times over. So if the party faithful are going to be disillusioned over the blogger crisis of Feb 07, they might want to stock up on Prozac.

Congress wouldn't dare to touch the blogosphere, better to crawl into a sleeping bag full of cobras.

Why, but why, does anyone take Chris Mathews seriously? He's a hyper-active hack with ratings envy? Some day his head will explode while he is taping his show; I just hope it gets on YouTube.

[Cyn_NY]

Oh, fuck! This really pains me as I signed up to help his campaign. Shit, shit, shit. I am afraid my very high standards for supporting candidates I believe in have been breached. He is clearly wrong. He should stand his ground and tell the right wingnuts to go pound salt. Or, each other.

[The Fat Lady Sings]

I think Edwards made a mistake in not: a. Ignoring Donohue completely or b. Turning the whole situation around by pointing out Donohue’s own intolerance. I mean the man’s a certified racist and hate-monger who harbors a jones against Jewish and gay people (not to mention anyone even associated with entertainment!). By taking Melissa and Amanda publicly to task - John Edwards allowed the right wing nutcase brigade to gain purchase. That makes him criminally stupid - and I don't want a stupid president.