Bill Donohue wins again, as a Democrat blasts "liberal bloggers"...all of them.

[madfloridian]

I am sure some don't understand my passion on this issue, but it is quite real. Two bloggers who exercised their free speech about religion are still being attacked and remain undefended by a single major Democrat.

I said our Democrats allowed themselves to be painted into a corner by religious code words. None of this has anything to do with religion. It has to do with control and power. Howard Dean spoke out on this powerfully in his book in 2004, but no more. He is silent as well.

The Republicans used code words to back us into a corner on religion, faith, and values.

.."The theft of meaning...of truth and faith and the ability to believe....has been one of the worst things the Republicans have done to the American people. It is time for the Democrats to fight back. We've got to fight fire with fire. Not by cynically co-opting the language of religion for our own purposes, or by blurring the line between church and state, or by aping the self-righteousness of the right wing. But by challenging their charade of virtue with a real politics of meaning." Howard Dean in 2004.

So who is attacking all "liberal bloggers", calling them immature, making fun of them, of us, of everyone who thought the two bloggers had rights? Well, it is that nice guy, Dan Gerstein, Joe Lieberman's campaign manager.

Our Democrats think we need to be careful about hurting the feelings of religious people. Of course we should not do that. However this is not about religion. It is about certain religious political groups using their power, and it is about our Democrats whimpering in the corner while folks like Gerstein hit them again.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0207/2787.html

If the liberal blogs want to understand why so few people outside their narrow echo chamber take them seriously, and what it will take to gain the broader credibility they crave, they should look no further than their handling of the recent flap over John Edwards’ foul-mouthed blogger hires.

This ugly morality tale - which mercifully concluded Tuesday with the second of the two offending online staffers resigning from the Edwards campaign - revealed the Kossacks in all their angry adolescent glory: impudent, impotent, unreflective and unaccountable.

Throughout the course of the controversy, the left’s bigger digital diatribers never stopped to address the substance of what the Edwards bloggers actually wrote before joining the campaign. Had the bloggers done so, they might have found the postings were widely deemed by Democrats and Republicans alike as bigoted and patently offensive to many Christians, not just devout Catholics or evangelicals.

Nor did they ever stop to think how hollow and hypocritical it sounded for the same people who ravaged George Allen, for his “macaca” moment in last year’s Virginia Senate campaign to cry “free speech” when confronted with a far more nasty, vulgar, and hurtful display of prejudice from two of their own.

Way to go, Dan. Only in your mind would a racial slur be the same as expressing free speech about religion.

That's all of the column I will post...that's just the nice part.

I don't think our party has a clue how to deal with this. I really don't think they are paying attention. And just like they did in 02 and 03 and 04...they will go along in the guise of getting along until it comes back to bite them in the butt.

[librechik]

1. should we follow the Edwards example and all resign now?

IMO, Edwards actions led directly to this.

If you don't stand up to bullies, they push you more.

[madfloridian]

2. To be fair, no one stood with him. I don't think they know what they face.

I think they all pretended it was about religion, and it is not.

[Doctor_J]

3. I thought you said it was a Dem doing the blasting.

Then I read that it's Leiberman.

[librechik]

4. heh--good one

[Me.]

5. Politico.com

A hard swing to the right, watch all of them when they show up on talk shows, smug smiles smarming about those poor dems. It is a another attempt by those "centrists" who want to pull everything to the right, the corporate answer to those "dreadful" liberal bloggers.. I'd love to know where their start up money came from.

[madfloridian]

6. Looks like WP's John Harris is the editor.

He does not tend to be liberal. Look at the comments after Gerstein's post...many are furious.

The purpose is to keep the people of the party, blggers, whatever...in their place.

[Me.]

7. 'Nough Said

These guys are not on our side. Harris is hand in glove with the politcal guy at ABC, Mark Halperin. who also swings right. As I said, lately in the last couple of years they are center to right. "Halperin, along with John F. Harris, released their the book, The Way to Win: Clinton, Bush, Rove, and How to Take the White House in 2008."

"In October 2006, however, Halperin appeared on several conservative talk shows to claim that "Old Media" organizations like ABC News favor Democrats. He told conservative commentator Sean Hannity that the last two weeks before the November 2006 midterm elections provided ABC News with "a chance... to prove to conservatives that we understand their grievances." <4>

Many liberal groups interpreted this as a promise to deliberately skew content in an effort to appease conservative critics.“

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Halperin

[Me.]

8. PS

The comments are good. I especially liked how Politico was told it's new to blogging and should be careful about becoming irrelevant. They are, after all, the new kids on the block and aren't impressing anyone but themselves yet.

This strike me as more of the same, the same insiders cocktail party that has delivered so much distortion and lies over the last 6 years. Maybe they should ask Jay Carney about not getting the facts straight. The trouncing he received over printing incorrect facts was amazing. Either that or take out their comments section.

[KC21304]

9. Harris is a nincompoop.

You never know what he is going to say. Does anyone else think he looks like Frank Burns from MASH ? He has that same goofy look in his eyes when he speaks. No disrespect to the actor who played Frank Burns. I know he is deceased and I can't remember his name. He was a great actor.

[Catherine Vincent]

11. Vandehei of the WaPost is connected with politico.com

That would explain everything.

[Me.]

12. Zactly

Roger Simon, Cilizza...do they have evn one liberal?

[madfloridian]

10. Looks like the bloggers are taking care of themselves quite well.

and the Democrats can sit back and pretend it is all about religion and not about freedom of speech...even the freedom to sound a little profane as so many here at DU often do.

http://pandagon.net/2007/02/16/resigned-bloggers-media-blitz/

"Resigned bloggers vs. right wing noise machine media blitz
Published by Amanda Marcotte February 16th, 2007
Melissa has an article up at the Guardian now telling her side of the story of what led to her resignation.

I’ve been busy this morning booking interviews now that the Salon article is up. Tomorrow I’m going to be on MSNBC in the 12:30PM CST/1:30PM Eastern area. Monday morning at 10AM CST/11AM Eastern, I’ll be joining Melissa on Heading Left. I’ll also be interviewing for NPR’s “Day to Day” this week, though I don’t know when it airs.

In addition, I’m going to be joining TPMCafe starting Monday to discuss the culture clash between the more context-heavy, thoughtful blogging world and the soundbite culture of the mainstream media.

I also have a post up at Huffington Post with more information about the professional level right wing noise machine and what we can do to fight them."

Good for them. I seldom use some of the words they use, I grew up being a good girl in a church community that shunned me when I opposed the Iraq war.

So I wish them both well. I will defend their right to speak as they do. I wish our Democrats would, but then I dream a lot about stuff that won't happen.

At least one did speak out once, briefly, but not anymore.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1073

[mitchum]

13. That's the way the magic cookie crumbles