I am Spartacus

[BobcatJH]

Admittedly, it has been a rough couple of weeks for the progressive blogosphere. What started as great news from the John Edwards presidential campaign - the hiring of two insightful, respected bloggers in high-level positions - quickly deteriorated in the face of the right wing's last effective ways of doing business, mock, hypocritical outrage and disgusting threats. Despite Edwards's initial defense of bloggers Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan, the climate of hate fostered, in part, by the bigoted Bill Donohue and, to a lesser extent, the bigoted Michelle Malkin led to the pair's resignation. In the midst of the controversy, I suggested the benefits of pursuing clenched-fist progressive politics. Upon further review, and armed with the fact that the right won't stop attacking no matter how far backward the Democrats retreat, it has become clear that a no-holds-barred approach is the only way to go. What's also clear is this: We're in this fight together.

In announcing their resignations and in subsequent posts, Marcotte and McEwan both pointed to the vile threats no doubt brought about by those blindly following Malkin and Donohue. Wrote McEwan, "There will be some who clamor to claim victory for my resignation, but I caution them that in doing so, they are tacitly accepting responsibility for those who have deluged my blog and my inbox with vitriol and veiled threats. It is not right-wing bloggers, nor people like Bill Donohue or Bill O'Reilly, who prompted nor deserve credit for my resignation, no matter how much they want it, but individuals who used public criticisms of me as an excuse to unleash frightening ugliness, the likes of which anyone with a modicum of respect for responsible discourse would denounce without hesitation." Marcotte put the "frightening ugliness" McEwan mentioned in sharp relief, posting some of the more tame messages flooding her in-box. What follows is only a sampling:

"Problem with women like you, you just need a good fucking from a real man! Living in Texas myself, I know you haven't found that real Texan yet. But once your liberal pro feminist ass gets a real good fucking, you might see the light. Until then, enjoy your battery operated toys b/c most real men wouldn't want to give you the fucking you deserve b/c the shit that would come out of you ears."

"It's just too bad your mother didn't abort you. You are nothing more than a filthy mouth slut. I bet a couple of years in Iraq being raped and beaten daily would help you appreciate America a little. Need a plane ticket ?"

"YOU RACIST WHORE. FAT UGLY BITCH. SUCK MY LONG COCK ASSHOLE I HOPE YOU KIDS NEVER LIVE AND YOUR PARENTS DIE A TRAGIC DEATH YOU ASSHOLE BITCH! I HOPE YOUR WOMB IS BARREN AND YOUR CAREER PLUMMETS TO HELL YOU BITCH"

Nice, huh? And from so-called faith-based, compassionate conservatives, no less. There's more there and, sadly, much more (and much worse) that we're not seeing. Because this - and not the coordinated, public campaigns waged by Donohue and Malkin - is what worked best against Marcotte and McEwan. Despite Donohue and Malkin's tiresome rhetoric, what they wanted (Edwards to fire the bloggers) didn't happen. What did happen - and what the Donohues and Malkins of the world would neither never denounce nor claim responsibility for - was a more quiet campaign by those blindly following these fringe right demagogues and fearmongers. A campaign that, make no mistake, followed in the disgraceful footsteps of the veiled threats and physical violence long employed (with great success, sadly) against progressives.

This is how the right works. Wage mock outrage campaigns that rarely work outside the media while, at the same time, (at least tacitly) encouraging their loyal audience to wage a quiet campaign that, needless to say, brims with a level of rage and profanity not only never to be found among their targets, but also never to be discussed by those "journalists" covering the initial campaign. What Marcotte and McEwan wrote that prompted the initial uproar does not and will never compare with what has been hurled back at them in response, both by the high-profile Republicans and their adherents. Nowhere in the media coverage of this controversy is mention of the right-wing rhetoric that, if uttered by a prominent progressive, would brand that progressive unfit for campaign work and unfit for polite society. Also nowhere to be found is the defense of the bloggers levied by some quarters of the religious left. The servile media, as they long have, buys into the right's frame and never shifts its focus. The right is never wrong. The left is always forced to accommodate them.

We've seen this quite a bit, recently, when Democrats like John Kerry and Barack Obama chose, in the face of right-wing consternation and misguided media scrutiny, to walk backward from statements they have utterly no need or duty to walk backward from. Each successive apology impedes our progress. So, too, do the often-subtle efforts by our fellow so-called progressives to undermine their colleagues' efforts by often-anonymous comments to the press, comments that question motives, challenge decisions and reinforce Republican frames. Our own actions, tragically, both give cover to vile people like Donohue, Malkin and their followers and allow the media to continue to paint us as outside the mainstream of American society, when the opposite is true. But what many Democrats have failed to realize is that, no matter how much backtracking we do, the right doesn't stop. Bullies never do. Until and unless they start getting bullied back, that is. And never, remember, have we been in a better position to fight back, both in the halls of Congress and in the hearts and minds of the vast majority of Americans. We're back in power. Let's act like it.

How long will it take the more timid elements of the Democratic Party to realize what the progressive netroots has long known, that the desperate, fringe right won't stop? And how long will it them to recognize that, without the progressive netroots, there is no resurgent Democratic Party? No Democratic wave last November. No successful Democratic agenda implementation. No potential for a ticket-wide successful Democratic 2008. Only once they realize that the party's base is far more important than a fringe Republican bloc that would never cast a Democratic vote can we, as a focused group, work together to fight back. No rapprochement. No backtracking. No apologies. While no one wins when such a climate exists that the exercise of free speech is cause for harassment and persecution, we all win when we work to disable the efforts of those responsible for fostering such a climate. For what the right is doing isn't representative of freedom; it's representative of fear. And I, for one, refuse to be afraid.

And never forget: We're in this together. When good things happen to good progressives, they happen to all of us. And when bad things happen to good progressives, they happen to all of us, too. We are all Marcotte and McEwan. Our futures - and the future of the progressive movement - are tied together. What has happened to Marcotte and McEwan has, can and will happen to each and every one of us. I've been the target of a Malkin smear. I've received angry e-mails. I've been challenged, repeatedly, by the extreme religious right. And I'm sure you, too, have encountered much the same vitriol in your dealings with the other side. The blows dealt Marcotte and McEwan left bruises on each and every one of us. Our response, therefore, must share our collective fingerprints. Because this fight and this victory - and we will win - must and will be ours to share.

I'm following Driftglass's lead and am standing with Amanda and Melissa. For more, go here and here.