It's the story that just won't go away, despite the highest hopes of the moderate democrats.
John Edwards Blogger-gate was, indeed, an extreme embarassment for him and his campaign for President. It was a blunder of enormous proportions that allowed such unhinged, bigoted and intolerant persons to be given such important positions within his campaign. Yet, it was only a blunder and should not have escalated to anything more. The two bloggers should have been dealt with swiftly. They should have immediately been given their walking papers.
But that's not what happened. Instead, we were treated to an example of doublespeak in which we saw Edwards attempt to rationalize the actions of his blogmasters in the vain hopes of placating the pent-up rage of the netroots faction they represent. In accomodating his blogmasters he attempted (and is still attempting) to shift blame, for the fracas, by accusing the right of trying to hijack debate. And we were told that the critics were misinterpreting as literal the satire and humor that came off his blogmasters' keyboards.
Take note of what happened with this incident. Take note, because I believe it demonstrates how out of touch many democrats are. Not only are they out of touch with the fanatical faction of their party, they are out of touch with the moderates as well - the people of faith who just might take offense to the bigoted satire and humor from the unhinged left.
For instance, view the response of Young Democrats of America's Jane Fleming when, on O'Reilly, was asked her opinion of Edwards' Blogger-gate.
O'Reilly: If you were in charge of the Edwards' campaign, would you have fired them?... [referring to Marcotte & McEwan]
Fleming: No, I would have stood by them.
O'Reilly: Would you have fired someone who said anti-black things in the past?
Fleming: Yes.
O'Reilly: Would you have fired someone who said anti-gay things in the past?
Fleming: (pause) You know, this is the thing with bloggers-
O'Reilly: Yes or no!?
Fleming: ...Let's have a dialogue about this...
She. Doesn't. Have. A. Clue.
Democrats? You may win in '08, but will it be a case of battle vs. war?
Here's a bit of advice for Democrats: Listen to the likes of Kirsten Powers who, while on O'Reilly, said,
O'Reilly: Is there any explanation on this earth, for Edwards' behavior?
Powers: Well, I think you could probably come up with some explanations - none of them would be any good. Most people that I know, and I certainly feel like, these women should have been fired, or they shouldn't have been hired in the first place.
Or Brian O'Dwyer, chariman of the National Democratic Leadership Council, who said (per Ben Smith),
"We have gone so far to rebuild that coalition [between Democrats and religious Christians] and something like this sets it back," said Brian O'Dwyer, a New York lawyer and Irish-American leader who chairs the National Democratic Ethnic Leadership Council, a Democratic Party group. O'Dwyer said Edwards should have fired the bloggers. "It's not only wrong morally – it's stupid politically."
Also, from Smith's article,
The campaign also sent out semi-apologetic statements from each blogger saying she was sorry if anyone was offended.
And so religious liberals find themselves in a quandary. They have no interest in associating with the likes of William Donohue, the Catholic League president who is closely aligned with the GOP and led the charge against Edwards' aides. Donohue said Thursday he would take out newspaper advertisements attacking Edwards as anti-Catholic. But religious liberals also think Edwards' aides merit more than a slap on the wrist.
“I thought his explanation was not satisfying," said Cornell's Penalver. "It's obvious that they did mean to give offense."
"You imagine a similar kind of comment directed at the Jewish community or at the gay community – something at this level of intentional offensiveness -- and I have a hard time believing it gets resolved in the same way," he said.
Or Dan Gerstein,
In the long run, the only way to prevent embarrassments like this from escalating and causing greater damage – and more importantly, to fulfill the rich potential of the blogosphere as a persuasion and organizing tool – is for the voices of reason within the Netroots to stand up to the smack down artists and prod their peers to trade their juvenile accusations for mature arguments.
...
In the meantime, it wouldn’t hurt if the party’s top leaders step in and provide some adult supervision. If the bloggers are going to behave like spoiled children, then maybe it’s time to punish them accordingly.
Shut the line-crossers out of press briefings. Deny them jobs that confer party approval. And for god’s sake, please quit kissing Kos’s ring at his convention until he and his acolytes grow out of their high-tech tantrum tactics.
Check the Ace of Spades for a run-down on the non-apology apology from Marcotte, for it appears that high-tech tantrum tactics are not going away any time soon. And THAT, is something which mainline democrats should be concerned about.
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