BlogHer - Marcottegate - Comments

I am extremely

cooper — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 22:21:01 -0600

I am extremely liberal/progressive and 21 years old.

Some time back I stopped reading most of those blogs because they were written by folks acting like middle schoolers.

How many John Stewart and Colbert videos do I need to see anyway?

I do believe they have an inflated sense of self importance.
I wrote on my blog some time ago that this whole thing made Edwards appear quite stupid.

Stupid decision by a man obviously not smart enough to be president.

There is something to be said for inclusive debates when it comes to choosing a leader of the country and politics in general even when you are extremely left of the lines in your ideology.

It's too bad, but I agree to a degree that they will disappear up their own ass. I hope they come out better after the enema.

rofl! Do we have emergency

nelle2nelle — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 18:49:09 -0600

rofl!

Do we have emergency extraction equipment at the ready?

It's gotten little attention on the places I play, but then, that is not exactly a representative sampling of anything.

I'm not an Edwards fan, not sure who pushes my buttons for round '08. Carole Mosely Braun got my last NH primary vote, even after she dropped out a week or so before. Edwards strikes me as bringing still more of the run from issues like same sex marriage,instead of taking it head on from a rights pov.

Anyway, the answer here does not lie in removing the bloggers from campaign participation, it lies in addressing issues they and those who oppose speak of... head on.

nelle

Granted, I read about this

Kuri — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 18:00:28 -0600

Granted, I read about this from north of the 49th, where we don't have to be so wimpy on the left, but to be honest this looks pretty damn silly. I mean, the other element that seems to be missing in the coverage for non-bloggers is just how much of a nutter Bill Donahue is. Do we really have to take seriously someone who raves against "Hollywood Jews" on television? Really?

While perhaps I wouldn't phrase it as strongly as I did on the comments of this excellent post, I have to wonder why there's this seeming reluctance amongst American liberals to defend the principles in which they claim to believe?

Marcottegate

Melinda Casino — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 10:50:28 -0600

It's been called Marcottegate, L'Affaire Marcotte, and the Pandagonization of John Edwards, and it has bloggers talking -- left, right, feminist, non-feminist, and everything in between. And because this story involves U.S. national politics, it got mainstream media talking, too.

Here's a brief overview of events. Senator John Edwards recently hired two bloggers as staffers for his presidential campaign: Amanda Marcotte (Pandagon) and Melissa McEwan (Shakespeare's Sister).

The public figurehead of a conservative religious group then demanded that Edwards fire his bloggers, using charges of anti-Catholicism and foul language, quoting previous posts from their blogs.

These events, and Edwards' delayed reaction in responding, got bloggers whipped into a frenzy. For a left feminist blogger's perspective, see Egalia's brief rundown at Tennessee Guerilla Women.

"The kid's starting to come around"

Politics brings out the funny bone in people, and this latest controversy gave rise to a number of writings, ranging from gentle ribbing to the blogging equivalent of poking someone with a sharp stick.

Ann Althouse invoked The Nasty with Nixon's famous Checkers speech, which one commenter called "incredibly meanspirited, even for Ann."

There's the My Fair Lady parody which, ironically, I need to warn readers contains strong language.

And you have bloggers inviting John Edwards over for cookies, lemonade and a chat to set him straight.

Then there's the satirical piece "Bloggers For Rent" by Dennis Perrin, which is a sort of imaginary job interview. It's chilling in that it cuts too close to the bone to be funny.

My own feeling from reading some left blogs is that they are out of touch with mainstream politics, and have an over-inflated sense of their own importance.

The average Jane in the street either doesn't know about blogs or, if she does, doesn't care about any distinction bloggers make between personal and professional writing.

All the average Jane knows is that someone wrote something inflammatory and insulting to Catholics and put it online, and that person is now working for the Edwards Campaign. I didn't get the sense from the left that they were able to put themselves in other people's shoes when analyzing this controversy.

So let's not lose perspective here. Blogging is still a niche, and the rules of engagement that you and I understand are lost on the average American.

The left blogosphere is in danger of disappearing up its own ass. And you can quote me on that.

Hat-tip: Bitch | Lab

Melinda Casino's personal blog is Sour Duck.

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