Malkin: A Shriveled Cunt! (Fluid Updates) By: Mark W Adams

You heard me.

All you need to know you can find right here.

Michele Malkin is only one of a long line of soulless, anorexic, attention-starved, proudly ignorant harpies from Wingnuttistan that creates controversy out of thin air; oblivious to the carnage left in her wake.

She has no integrity, zero credibility, and is in desperate need of a sandwich and makeover. Why, oh why then is her little crusade against John Edwards' two new bloggers getting national media attention.

When you actively disseminate lies and distortions which poisons the public discourse, I really don't care if you refrain from vulgar language -- your very message is vulgar.

Things move awfully fast in the net, and I decided to hesitated to post anything until I knew more -- although I'd made up my mind what I'd do should the axe fall.

I drafted, but didn't send, a couple of e-mails of support to Amanda and Shakes, I started, but didn't finish this post. As I came back to this in the afternoon, just as I was writing, I found out that the axe did fall. Edwards fired Amanda and Shakes before they even got started.

Right now, I'm waiting for offical word, but if they're fired, I'm out. I'm done with my work as an Edwards volunteer. I might vote for him, I might not. I won't be running the Ohio for Edwards Blog or coordinating the Ohio4Edwards Yahoo Group, contributing to his blog or helping with his netroots presence any longer. I take this as a slap in the face to the liberal blogosphere, and cannot support it.

You need balls to run for President, and John Edwards talks like he has them. But as a very wise man has told me on countless occasions -- Watch what a politician does, not what s/he says. If the Edwards campaign cannot stand up to a racist bitch like Malkin, professional lunatics like Bill Donohue, or bigots like Charles Johnson; and can act in a way that makes Balloon Juice's John Cole seem like a sage who understands the big picture, then I really have no place in such an organization.

While not nearly as dried out as Michele Malkin's genitalia, Edwards' balls look a little shriveled today as well.

Is this "war" over? Hardly. Now that they've set the standard on what can get a blogger disqualified from working for a political campaign, no one is safe.

The rightwing blogosphere has tried to set the bar for what disqualifies a blogger from working on political campaign so low that they've set themselves up to knock almost every single Republican staffer out of contention for their views. While attention is being brought on the Edwards campaign has started to gain traction, I have to wonder why Republicans are given such a free pass on their personnel decisions. As the likes of Michelle Malkin and Dan Riehl think that that low-mid level personne decisions that campaigns make are fair game for unfair public scrutiny, it's time that we gave a serious look at some of the key figures that are working for leading Republican presidential candidates

I'd vote for a ham sandwich before I'd support, if not actively fight anyone these people get behind. But I can't condone what just happened to Amanda and Shakes either, (if it did).


My letter to JRE's campaign staff.

I've been on board the Edwards Bandwagon for quite some time, took it upon myself to start the Ohio for Edwards blog, and gleaned through the Ohio based One Corps to increase the membership of the Ohio4Edwards Yahoo Group of which I gladdly volunteered as a co-chair.

I'm ready to jump ship, all but ready to push the button (literally, on posts and messages already written) due to what I've heard -- that you have unceremoniously fired Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan before they even got their feet wet -- before either they or the campaign even offered up a fight.

Us folks in the liberal blogosphere have been fighting this fight for years, and it will go on long after the campaign, win or lose, and long after the term of the next president expires.

If John Edwards is to be expected to stand up to islamic extremists, big pharmaceutical companies, Exxon, and the GOP (and I have faith, still, that he can) he should be able to withstand at least the first salvo of negative press his staff might receive.

Evidently not.

I await official news that these two extremely talented writers are, or are not working on your campaign anymore. Trust me, if you let them go, it's the campaign's loss. It's just a shame that their name was sullied by association with cowards.

So, anyone want to take over at Ohio For Edwards? Send me a note and I'll hand over the keys.

UPDATE: From the KOS Diaries -- The campaign is cautioning against the word, "fired" in the Salon piece. Resigned, paid off, whatever......it sucks. Anything short of "We proudly stand behind these two fantastic women" is a cop-out.

Oh, and what Steve says, and for this comment, "dittos."

UPDATE II: Fired then ReHired? Still waiting for official word. Carpetbagger has chimed in.

The message to Team Edwards should be clear. We can take care of ourselves, and will take care of you if you act like you speak, tough. Christ John, your wife can beat cancer, Amanda and Mellissa can't fend off this bar fight.

(Interesting enough, there was a real bar fight at my establishment last night -- which is why I was napping during the day, today instead of in the thick of this teapot tempest. My kid broke it up before I even got there to throw out the straglers, that's right, a kid can handle bullies. Do the right thing John.)

UPDATE III: Seriously, is the campaign really going to run from a fight with this simple bitch who just days before was attacking with lies and ridiculous inuendo about perfectly legitimate, above-board real estate decisions?

Learn from the failures of history.

UPDATE IV: HOTLINE correctly notes that the "open-sourced, non-traditional, non-consultant-driven populis campaign of Sen. John Edwards has walled themselves off from the rest of the world," while a TPM reader nails it:

If the Edwards campaign buckles under the "pressure" of some as petty as Michelle Malkin and Bill Donahue, then the meta-message is that he's even more of a wimp that John Kerry.

I really didn't want to say that myself, but I was thinking this almost immediately.

What is it with truly brave men like Kerry who think it's "politic" to be more circumspect regarding controversy avoidence, while proven chickenshits like VP Cheney can intimidate with a glance?

UPDATE V: Wow, nobody has put this in better perspective than the esteemed Sterling Newberry.

Many people have already written, better than I could, about what this means for the net roots - this has cost Edwards significant goodwill, but he can get it back by firing off that he is not going to bow down to corporate America game of swiftboating Democrats.

This is no more than the mercenaries comment fracas about Markos Moulitas, a tempest about nothing which ended up making Markos more, not less, important, because he didn't crack. Courage is a commodity.

And so is loyalty, Edwards needs loyalty, and to get it, he has to prove that he gives as well. Otherwise, he can look at the current occupant of the White House, alone, entrenched in his moat, surrounded by nothing but true believing Kool-aid drinkers - hoping to order the tide of catastrophe not to roll in.

Senator Edwards, this blogging burst is a symptom of message drift, and a failure to formulate clear positions in clear words that are directed at creating a clear consensus among Democrats that you should be the nominee. The choice here is to defend the bloggers, or find a way to make this a "Sistah Souljah" moment. The time for doing either is rapidly passing. It isn't hiring the bloggers that has gotten you into trouble, it is the deer in the headlights quality to the response.

UPDATE VI: Tapped offers lessons in deja vu, reminding us that the Kerry/Edwards '04 campaign knuckled under the the very same Catholic League Bigot last time around.

Cris Bowers explains exactly what this means. It is just about the primary. If Edwards does run the table (lord knows we could do worse) he, and I, will be there for him in full body armor. But the way this thing is going down, he can forget about any more help in the primaries because the Netroots will dry up for him.