... and so it begins!
Reading the Salon today I learned that the right-wing blogosphere has claimed its first scalps.
According to the Salon, John Edwards has fired the two controversial bloggers he recently hired to do liberal blogger outreach.
“The bloggers, Amanda Marcotte, formerly of Pandagon, and Melissa McEwan, of Shakespeare's Sister, had come under fire from right-wing bloggers for statements they had previously made on their respective blogs. A statement by the Catholic League's Bill Donohue, which called Marcotte and McEwan "anti-Catholic vulgar trash-talking bigots," and an accompanying article on the controversy in the New York Times this morning, put extra pressure on the campaign,” the Salon reports.
Digging a little deeper I learned from Tapped (via Personal Democracy Forum) that this might not be the fact.
“Salon is reporting that the John Edwards campaign has fired its two controversial new hires. I hear otherwise from grapevine sources, but don't know anything for sure,” Tapped’s reports.
So now I don’t know what to believe anymore. In fact it might not be that important for now anyways, what is more interesting to look at before the facts are confirmed is the debates that the matter has started. One example can be found in Chris Bowers’ post; Why The Edwards Situation Means So Much To Me.
Bowers notes that:
“If Amanda and Melissa are terminated from the Edwards campaign, there is no way I could respect either myself or the movement and support Edwards in the primary. His campaign will have contributed to the longstanding goals of the conservative movement and DLC-nexus alike to defund, marginalize, ostricize, and otherwise diminish the influence and credibility of the people-powered netroots and grassroots. Such a move would reinforce every elitist, ignorant, double-standard, disinformation campaign ever run against the netroots and the blogosphere.”
Another interesting point is made by Glenn Greenwald.
Greenwald's point is according to PDF's Sifry: Do we want a political process where anyone who has ever expressed themselves the way political people do--with strong, provocative opinions and language--is going to be drummed out of campaigns and we all act as if we don't have strong opinions?
Greenwald:
"if this is going to be the standard that is applied, I don't think there are many bloggers, if there are any, who will be able to be affiliated with political campaigns in the future. Whatever is the case, the standards should be applied equally, not driven by the hysterical lynch-mob behavior that is the fuel of the right-wing blogosphere." (as quoted by PDF’s Micha L. Sifry).
BlogCampaigning agrees!
Other useful links that might point you in the direction of an interesting debate:
Glenn Greenwald: A look at John McCain's blogger-consultant
Chris Bowers of Mydd: Does Anyone Fact Check Stories on Bloggers?
In the News: Washington Post (The Fix) on Edwards’s Blogger Problem