[UPDATE: Guess I'm too late ... Salon says that Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan have been fired by the Edwards campaign. If that's true, John Edwards doesn't get my vote after all. If he can't stand up to this, he's not presidential material.]
It's getting pretty bad when the right wing starts Swiftboating minor players in a presidential campaign, junior members of the team with little power.
Rightwing bloggers' whipping up of a controversy where none actually exists is a well-known phenomenon in these times, one that wouldn't be possible without the eager acquiescence of, and magnification by, the all-too-compliant mainstream media.
The latest example is, of course, the concerted effort by Michelle Malkin and the usual supporting cast to get Amanda Marcotte (of Pandagon) and Melissa McEwan (Shakespeare's Sister) fired from the John Edwards campaign, which hired them for its blog. For a summary of all the ugliness (not to mention hypocrisy, inappropriate and childish right-wing reactions to passionate posts by Amanda and Melissa, etc.), you can't beat Pam Spaulding.
From manufactured horrified pearl-clutching at profanity to misrepresentation of the lefty bloggers' views, we've seen it all. And we've also seen the mainstream media's delight to let itself be used as a bullhorn for the dissemination of the vitriolic, hate-filled, distorted accusations of the Shriekers of the Right. Not only does the MSM give these people a prominent stage on which to parade their spurious examples of leftwing "bigotry" and "extremism," it rarely if ever counters such with examples of the truly appalling bigotry and extremism of the right wing. (See Pam Spaulding, above link, or Glenn Greenwald on this.)
The plain fact is--and it's one that the media, the pundit class, and the politicians just cannot seem to get through their heads--that these rightwing extremists will always find something to blow up into a "controversy," and that playing along only encourages them in their endeavors to smear, slam, slander, and libel any and all liberals. It also means even less substance than currently exists in what passes today for political analysis and discussion as the focus is diverted not to policy but to matters completely irrelevant to choosing a candidate. They seek to intimidate, to create fear on the part of political candidates, to spread the idea that they are a powerful group that a candidate must pay attention to, a group that draws lines that must not be crossed.
In truth, they are not powerful. The people who will vote for John Edwards couldn't give a damn about profanity in a blog post. Many of them don't even know what a blog is. To go after a blogmaster and netroots coordinator would be silly--if others refused to play. For voters, these campaign slots are inside baseball. Paying attention to Michelle Malkin and Dan Riehl and their ilk is futile.
The Edwards campaign should have come out swinging right away. They should have backed their choices and called bullshit on Malkin and the Malkinettes. They should have pointed out how extreme these people are, how vicious and bigoted they are, and how full of holes their accusations are. And while they were at it, they should have aimed a few shots at the media for its one-sidedness and its willingness to go where there's really no story at all.
Please write to the Edwards campaign and ask them to support Amanda and Melissa. There is also a blogswarm going on, which you can read about here. This blog (tiny as it is) is part of it, and if you have a blog, please join in. It's way past time that we stopped letting the right wing rule the roost and decide the agenda and the framing. Don't let them get away with this. If the Edwards campaign caves, it will stand as a signal to all the other Dem candidates, and we will have nothing but yet more spineless people afraid to stand up for anything in the face of a group of cowardly but nasty and tenacious hatemongers.