The bedwetting set can sure do the hysterics thing. They're hysterical over gays. They're hysterical over women's rights. And they're famously hysterical over barefoot gangbangers in rural Islamic countries.

Now they've been just beside themselves over two bloggers who were attacked by a hatemongering bigot, then fired by John Edwards campaign, then rehired by the John Edwards campaign.

They're also wonderful offering threats.

John Edwards ought to pray (softly, because you don't want your
staffers muttering about you being a "godbag" behind your back, right?)
that he doesn't get hit.

Hear me now, believe me later, Johnny E.: If you lay down with nutroots, it will be hard to get back up.

At MyDD, Chris Bowers writes:

William Donahue is scared to death of you. He just promised a
nationwide campaign to fight the success you have made possible. Ha!
Bring it on. It is about time this wingnut is exposed, and the media
shamed for treating him like a mainstream Catholic figure in the first
place.

Of course, this goes right to the heart of the radical right's claims that the rest of us must be tolerant of their hate.

Unfortunately, Edwards' public statement on his campaign's blog is rather middlin' and, to some extent, cowardly:

The tone and the sentiment of some of Amanda Marcotte's and Melissa
McEwan's posts personally offended me. It's not how I talk to people,
and it's not how I expect the people who work for me to talk to people.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but that kind of intolerant
language will not be permitted from anyone on my campaign, whether it's
intended as satire, humor, or anything else. But I also believe in
giving everyone a fair shake. I've talked to Amanda and Melissa; they
have both assured me that it was never their intention to malign
anyone's faith, and I take them at their word. We're beginning a great
debate about the future of our country, and we can't let it be
hijacked. It will take discipline, focus, and courage to build the
America we believe in.

Of course, he wouldn't mention the hateful anti-Semetic, anti-non-Catholic blatherings of William Donohue. (The malevolent Malkin mendacity, of course, wreaks of odors that require no signifying.)

David Goldstein has no such qualms:

Some seem disappointed by Edwards lack of forcefulness, but considering his political background and previous campaigns, I view Edwards defense of Marcotte and McEwan -- however tempered -- as a welcome departure from Democratic establishment business as usual. While not exactly courageous, it does show growth.

Furthermore, we cannot emphasize enough the significance of this incident in regards to what it portends for other campaigns and the blogosphere in general. Malkin/Donohue et al had intended to lower the bar on public discourse to the point where no liberal blogger who had ever put forth a controversial opinion or dabbled in the joys of foul and abusive language could seek gainful employment again. Had Edwards fired Marcotte and McEwan for language they had previously used on their own personal blogs, the far-righties and their media surrogates would have demanded that the other Democratic candidates fire their foul-mouthed bloggers too. The witch hunt would have been on, and once they had cleared the political establishment of us "hate-talking" lefties, the right's attention would surely turn towards the private sector.

Malkin herself is a bile-spewing fascist who defends the Japanese internment and lionizes Sen. Joe McCarthy and his anti-democratic blacklists. This was never about Marcotte and McEwan. It was about silencing her political enemies. For his part Donohue now promises a "nationwide public relations blitz" against Edwards, attacking him for his religious "bigotry"... this from a man who freely laces his own public statements with anti-semitic rhetoric.

More here.

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In the end, the strident voices of the right are really servants of their cause, which is for establishing a totalitarian government that tells people what to think, what God to worship, what websites we can read, what science is true, whom to elect, whom to marry, whom to fuck, whom to hate -- and hate with vengeance in our hearts, mind you -- and whom to obey (...them, of course).

They're part of an orchestrated show, all singing their parts. No wonder so many people with deep family roots in the Republican Party are fleeing in droves. Barry Goldwater must be spinning in his grave. Even kids can smell bullshit, and even someone totally congested politically could not help but notice the anti-libertarian odors of the New Right.

And so, in the interest of "fair and balanced" reporting, we get to listen to bed-wetting cries that homosexuals are more dangerous than terrorists, feminists are the the cause of hurricanes, and liberal bloggers working for liberal candidates are scions of anarchy. In other words: hate and fear your fellow Americans.

FDR, one of America's greatest liberals in history, famously said, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." The radical right preaches, "There's nothing to fear but not being afraid enough."

Thus the hysterics we see on Fox News and other voiceboxes of wingnuttia. Be afraid. Boogie boogie boogie! Boogie boogie boogie!

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Ironically, one of the wingnut choruses offered over past days has been the claim that Pandagon scrubbed Amanda's more hard-edged blog posts, scoffing at the notion that there could have been a technical glitch in upgrading the site to a new content management system. Then I follow this link from Technorati.

Sorry, no posts matched your criteria.

Yep. Technical problems never happen with computers. Let Alfred E. Neuman Diebold continue to run our election machines. What! Me worry about elections?

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media girl also blogs at other places.