This letter is associated with the following article:
Letters
Friday, February 16, 2007 12:00 AM

Why I had to quit the John Edwards campaign

During my brief tenure as blogmaster for a Democratic presidential contender, I experienced the right-wing smear machine firsthand

Read other letters about this article

  • Friday, February 16, 2007 03:15 AM

    Blogging and Slogging

    I guess the Edwards campaign was trying to score some hip, swinging cred by adding some bloggers to their campaign of walking stiffs. But to profess dismay about content is kind of silly -- what makes blogs interesting is that they're unpredictable and not sanitized and scrubbed and safe.

    Why Edwards added bloggers makes sense: he needs the cred; Why the bloggers took it also makes sense: it was a great opportunity; Why the Catholic wingnuts went after the bloggers doesn't make sense to me.

    Perhaps they wanted to "make an example" out of somebody to discourage establishment types from mingling with bloggers.

    Maybe their tempest in a teapot really was gender-based (I'd have to see if other campaigns with female bloggers had them get similarly slagged, or whether it was Pandagon and Shakespeare's Sister who were specifically targeted).

    Or perhaps it was simply a target of opportunity -- the wingdings saw it in the news and went after them because they weren't powerful enough to protect themselves from attack. Certainly if it happens again, then we'll know that there's a systematic effort to derail prog-bloggers from getting involved with mainstream pols.

    The whole thing is odd and perplexing. What does the Right gain from this? That's what we have to figure out.

Most Active Letters Threads

426

A key British official reminds us of the forgotten anthrax attack

A vast array of establishment and expert sources do not believe this episode was really resolved.
273

The crazy, irrational beliefs of Muslims

Tom Friedman explains the real problem: stupid Muslims think the U.S. is about war and aggression.
210

Is Obama's civil liberties record understandable?

Was it unreasonable to expect him to adhere to his commitments regarding the Constitution?
111

How dare you criticize wasteful defense spending!

So you think it's only terrorist-appeasing lefties who are down on Pentagon profligacy? Think again
57

Police to talk to Woods

Early morning crash raises questions, and revives tabloid speculation

View all »

Letters Help

Currently in Salon