Bitter Fish in Crude Oil Sea

Heh. Michelle Malkin is fixin' to destroy Amanda Marcotte, 'cause Amanda uses naughty words.

Michelle Malkin wrote this book:

So Amanda wins.

And it ain't even close.

UPDATE: Auguste takes care of the other nonsense. Though you do have to love this little bit from Mallkin:

***Updated/Correction. Looks like Marcotte's Katrina post is actually still available to the public here under a different URL. My bad. Or rather, John Edwards' bad. Because it's even worse for the Edwards campaign that its blogmaster left crackpot posts like that one up and hired her anyway.

Uh-huh. "Fake but accurate": the self-policing, self-correcting wingnut-o-sphere strikes again!

The biggest twit in this whole sorry spectacle is however Danny Glover, whom we have met before, and for whom we have but little use. Glover believes that this is the "First Blog Scandal of Campaign 2008," which it just may be, in the sense that he's pretending it is.

But whether it should have or not, this story now seems to have generated the kind of feeding frenzy that ensued among liberal bloggers when conservative Ben Domenech of RedState was accused of, at first denied and later admitted to plagiarism, costing him a high-profile blogging job at The Washington Post. Marcotte eventually may face the same professional fate.

Except Domenech really was a plagiarist, and Marcotte hasn't done much more than get fed up with the Right Wankosphere acting like psychopaths. It's not entirely clear to me exactly why the Duke lacrosse case makes wingnuts go bananas, but it does -- though it does not follow that anyone but them cares all that much about its minutiae. Though they're welcome to turn this into a Terry Schiavo deal if they really want to, as it worked out so well for them the last time, bless their silly little hearts...

But here's where Glover loses his marbles altogether:

One other footnote: Marcotte's behavior the past couple of days reminded me of something I discovered at Pandagon late last year when researching my New York Times article on bloggers who had gone to work for campaigns. One of those bloggers, Jesse Taylor, got his start at Pandagon before joining the campaign of now-Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat.

I reported Taylor's move when it happened in October 2005 and linked to his announcement at Pandagon. When I clicked back to Taylor's post in November 2006, it was gone and there was no sign of it in Pandagon's archives. I had to search the Wayback Machine to find Taylor's post again.

Did Marcotte, who claimed ownership of Pandagon upon Taylor's departure, scrub the site of his disclosure, and if so, why? Those questions came to my mind last fall but didn't seem worth asking then. They were just a curiousity.

Now that Marcotte has shown a penchant for deleting Pandagon content that causes her grief, maybe the questions are worth asking -- though I gather that my "whiff of accusatory tone" would just land any query I sent to her in the electronic trash.

Whafuck? Jesse going to work for Strickland would cause Amanda to be embarrassed... how? Usually for a conspiracy theory to work there needs to be some sort of motive -- sex, power, world domination, bacon. Where's the maguffin, Danny?

There is a lesson here for every blogger in the world, though: be sure your archives are in perfect order at all times, or Fauntleroy Glover will be getting all Woodward and Bernstein on your ass. 

Excuse me while I blow my nose.

 

UPDATED to remove picture of Malkin's Internment book cover, which was hurting people's eyes. We here at Whiskey Fire have nothing but concern for our guests' comfort.  Also, yes, I knew Jesse worked for Jerry Springer, having, you know, read about it at the time. A shocking scandal indeed. That makes him worse than Stalin. Or maybe Hitler. Or K-Fed. Or something.

Comments

[flory]

That's not even fair.
You're putting a blogger up against an Asian vegetable....

[J]

Jesse's enough of an embarassment, having worked on the Jerry Springer for President campaign. No, I'm not kidding.

[Eli]

I like my egg maguffin with extra bacon.

[Atrios]

Jerry Springer ran for president?

Ah, no. Thanks for playing.

[RepubAnon]

Wasn't there a WaPo "scandal" about John Edwards actually selling his house in DC to someone? The headline classified the deal as "questionable" yet nowhere in the article was there an explanation. I believe the WaPo ombudsperson apologised for it.

it is an old trick: cry "scandal" on page 1, and let loose the dogs of the wingnutosphere. Nobody reads much past the first few paragraphs, anyway... so the charge sticks without facts. Sort of passive-aggressive libel by innuendo.

[masculine_monica_nyc]

Jesse's enough of an embarassment, having worked on the Jerry Springer for President campaign.

You're thinking of the Al Franken for preznit campaign, surely.

[Mithras]

Knockout punches for the freaks, happy little babies with red cheeks. You will rock them gently out of synch.

God, I miss them. Even though I still haven't listened to all the stuff they already recorded.

[Scott Lemieux]

Jeebus, I missed that Glover post. Teh stupid, it burns. The goggles, they do nothing.

[craig]

The formatting of this blog makes it hard to tell what you're saying and what you're quoting. Very confusing.

[J]

Jesse made sure his embarrassing blog posts disappeared when he sold Pandagon, but there are still plenty of external traces of his work for Jerry Springer:

http://www.museworld.com/archives/001384.html

[masculine_monica_nyc]

Patrick Ruffini, now the e-campaign director for Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, said Marcotte crossed a "bright red line" into bad taste.

Those women and their bright red lines. So, Giuliani is a candidate for preznit, eh?

[SteveAudio]

Malkin's just jealous she hasn't been asked to run George Allen's blog, http://macaca.com

[julia]

Patrick Ruffini, now the e-campaign director for the Republican presidential candidate who went to court in an effort to force his latest mistress, who was also married, into the family home with his wife and two minor children, said Marcotte crossed a "bright red line" into bad taste.

Reads better.

Ruffini was also behind the ginned-up Froomkin kerfuffle at the WaPo. They love them some Ruffini, the usual suspects do.

[Interrobang]

In the comments to that Pandagon thread, I believe, Amanda Marcotte mentions that an entire month's worth of stuff got lost because of a server malfunction, right around the time they redesigned and migrated the blog.

Does the initialism "TSTL" mean anything to Malkin?

[Jeff Fecke]

Uh, Springer boy: Jesse worked for Springer's blog when Springer was a radio host, and contemplaing (and deciding against) a run for Governor in Ohio.

You know, some of us have these things called "memories" that actually work...

[Rmj, Curiously Refreshing]

The formatting of this blog makes it hard to tell when you're ranting, and when you're serving bacon. Very confusing.

[Tim Finnegan]

Atrios doesn't comment on my blog. I wish I could quit him.

[Rich]

Biggest blog scandal? That, to my mind, would be our own darling Michelle Malkin, she who plays the gruppenfuhrer to Ann Coulter's obergruppenfuhrer in the right wing's propaganda machine. Malkin strongly supported the theory that AP used a "fake source" in Jamil Hussein, who reported that several Sunnis had been burned alive, Jamil turned out to be a real person.
The credibility of the right-wing blogosphere didn't just take a hit, their ship had holes below the waterline, it was dead in the water and was listing heavily to one side.

[kent]

It's not entirely clear to me exactly why the Duke lacrosse case makes wingnuts go bananas, but it does --

It's the bigotry.

God forbid a fallen black women accuse upstanding sons of dignitude (read white sons of priviledge) of doing what they were born, bread, and *entitled* to do.

60 years ago, anyway.
.

[Dorothy]

Because it's even worse for the Edwards campaign that its blogmaster left crackpot posts like that one up

Let me see if I get this right:
1) It's bad for Edwards becuase Amanda deleted a post that made her look bad. This is DISHONEST!
2) That she didn't actually delete the post is EVEN WORSE for Edwards, because the post shows Amanda is nuts!

So there is no possible piece of information that will ever make things less bad for Edwards or in any way lessen Malkin's criticism of Amanda. Gotcha.

New tag line for Michelle:
Wingnuts(TM). Even when we're wrong, we're Right!

[ronin]

So the wingers hope to foment a fake scandal so as to destroy Amanda professionally, while hypocritically huffing about blogger ethics. It's what they do best after all, but Glover, the 'professional' aids and abets them. Perhaps he should get a job at the National Enquirer- no,the Enquirer wouldn't stoop that low.

[bbbustard]

La Miche is just jealous that Marcotte is actually creative in her swearing - it's not like anything she wrote was more obscene than telling someone to go fuck himself on the floor of the senate

[masculine_monica_nyc]

So the wingers hope to foment a fake scandal so as to destroy Amanda professionally, while hypocritically huffing about blogger ethics. It's what they do best after all, but Glover, the 'professional' aids and abets them.

Glover wants to be the go-to guy. In a previous post about Biden's aide's e-mail to Kos, he wrote:

Note To Capitol Flacks: Don't Gripe To Bloggers
You're much better off griping to me about bloggers on background than you are going on the record and taking your complaints directly to the source. Odds are good that the blogger you criticize is going to react just as Kos did -- by mocking you and attacking your boss with even more ferocity.

[Bruce/Crablaw]

The philosophical question of the day: if it's only one right-wing flack flailing over meaningless garbage, is it still a circle jerk?

[mrs. ibrahim al-jafaari]

Jerry Springer's Stalinism makes me unfit for elective office, and anyone who knowingly gives aid and comfort to Jerry Spriner is clearly an enemy combatant.

funny how Glover seems very uniterested in Jamil-gate. maybe the kewl kids over at SadlyNo can hep him to the jive?

[Jason]

I generally like Amanda but I do have to say that Amanda (and feministe for that matter) ran way too far with the Duke case. I am a tried and true progressive but I just don't understand the utter inability to farily judge the facts of the case. I really questioned her judgment when she put ideology above facts and seemed to be cheering on a wrongful prosecution. Even feminists should accept that men (even reprehensible men) deserve to be treated fairly by the criminal justice system. And to say that she (and feministe) weren't involved in the minutae is wrong. They were both involved in the minutae it was simply that there was no fact that could convince them that rich white boys shouldn't be prosecuted. Jeralyn at Talk Left exhibited the cool-headed progressive take on the facts that I value. Amanda didn't, at least in the Duke case.

[pseudonymous in nc]

Jeralyn at Talk Left exhibited the cool-headed progressive take

ITYM 'the defense attorney's take'. Jeralyn really doesn't like proclaiming anyone guilty, because that suggests the defense can't get them acquitted.

[Blue Gal]

Pardon me while I blow my nose.

If you blow out a big chunk, that's known as a "Malkin."

Just saying.

[virgotex]

Edwards has made clear he takes the netroots seriously, or at least is trying to cover his bases- that's why he's picking the players he's picked.

If he shitcans Amanda over this, he sabotages what he's started.

[Thers]

Jason, I can understand that, but the issue is whether or not what Amanda wrote should be a "scandal" that Edwards should fire her over. I didn't say she or anyone at Feministe weren't interested in the minutiae, just that most people in the world aren't insanely obsessed with the case like the wingnut-o-sphere is, to the extent that what Amanda said is a "scandal."

Disagreeing with or even flat-out hating Amanda's take on the Duke case is one thing, demanding that she be fired over it, making up stuff about "deleted posts," and grabbing screen caps of every single time she said "fuck"... well, that's just plain nuts.

[I swear I am not a Reasonable Liberal]

...but I've never been a huge Amanda fan (although I'm second to no one in my contempt for Malkin and Riehl), in part because I sort of feared this day would come.

Glover is dumb, Malkin is dumber, and Riehl is dumbest, and the post-deletion non-scandal is a pathetic waste of everyone's time. But...

A lot of Amanda's writing is the definition of impolitic. I've probably used ten times the profanity in private discussions with my friends over the past six years, and Lord knows it's been warranted. I've dropped plenty of f-, s-, c-, and n-bombs in conversation and on comment threads like this one (the last two were always used ironically in parodies of wingnut inner monologues - I swear!).

Do I find Amanda's language offensive? Of course not; on the contrary, to me the brazen racism and borderline fascism of Malkin et al. is a thousand times more disturbing (and I'm thinking most visitors here would agree). But when you take a relatively high-profile position with a mainstream campaign, the rules change and your paper trail is closely scrutinized. I'm with Jason, and I'd take it a step further - I wouldn't blame the Edwards campaign if they threw her under the bus. Some of her posts are indefensible from the perspective of a mainstream campaign, and I think Left Blogistan makes itself look bad by going out of our way to defend her.*

*This does not make Malkin, Riehl or Glover any less stupid or annoying.

[William K. Wolfrum]

It's not entirely clear to me exactly why the Duke lacrosse case makes wingnuts go bananas

The accuser is black, right? The accused white?

They don't like black people.

Glad I could help.

--WKW

[I swear I am not a Reasonable Liberal]

P.S. To clarify - when referring to my own use of profanity above, I of course meant "private political discussions with my friends".

[winner]

The whole thing is sad. Malkin and Glover moron types aside, Pandagon under Marcotte became little but polemic screeds peppered with f-bombs. It's boring, and the language gives people an excuse not to pay attention to you (cf Vonnegut).

Duncan and certain other bloggers seem to have an obsession with nailing people who complain about bloggers using 'uncivil' language. I think people like Josh Marshall and digby have shown that one can be very effective at dismantaling GOP baloney without giving small minded people openings for cheap shots.

Ultimately, this is not a bar or coffee shop, and the world is listening.

[Righteous Bubba]

*This does not make Malkin, Riehl or Glover any less stupid or annoying.

So why are you taking them seriously?

[pseudonymous in nc]

My guess is that Edwards knows what he's getting with Amanda; and that Amanda made it clear to the Edwards team that the usual crowd of zero-accountability wingnuts -- and the unusual crowd of stalkers that are enraged by her in particular -- would be out to get her from Day One.

Amanda's had to deal with some of the biggest kooks, douches and psychotics in Wingnutsville. (Three guesses who 'J' might be?) That's bad enough. But La Malk and the Perfesser join in, knowing that nothing they say or do will ever deprive them of a paycheck. People like Glover simply don't have the smarts and experience to know this.

Oh, and Patrick Ruffini is not a 'blogger'; he's a fucking operative.

[Patrick]

You Don't Have to Bother Me

[pseudonymous in nc]

I think people like Josh Marshall and digby have shown that one can be very effective at dismantaling GOP baloney without giving small minded people openings for cheap shots.

Apples and oranges: Marshall's subject matter is the Beltway game, a very different world. And Digby is quite prepared to 'go there' on feminist issues.

I'm not always comfortable with Amanda's in-yer-face approach. But I also recognise that she's confronting a debate where misogynist bullshit wears a cloak of civility. American politics would be a lot healthier if it were possible to respond, say, to opponents of the HPV vaccine with 'you just don't like women fucking, do you?'

[Thers]

Ultimately, this is not a bar or coffee shop, and the world is listening.

And they're hearing lots of different voices. The world maybe needs to get over itself, especially if it wants to decide who the president should be based on an exhaustive reading of their blog coordinator's past blog posts.

[masculine_monica_nyc]

Even feminists should accept that men (even reprehensible men) deserve to be treated fairly by the criminal justice system.

Even feminists, huh?

[winner]

The world maybe needs to get over itself, especially if it wants to decide who the president should be based on an exhaustive reading of their blog coordinator's past blog posts.

I guess you're not into realpolitik, huh? Well, I guess I see more value in someone like Markos getting invited on CNN than someone like Amanda who probably never will because she can't make a point without saying "fucking" half the time.

American politics would be a lot healthier if it were possible to respond, say, to opponents of the HPV vaccine with 'you just don't like women fucking, do you?'

I guess you don't have kids? Or grandparents? Or host parties where people who just might not want to hear that? What's wrong with saying "You just don't like women choosing who to have sex with, do you?"

No, not as much 'punch', but more people will eventually read it. Again, I refer to Vonnegut. He seems to have been able to write or say very incisive critical comments without resorting to sailor-talk.

[Righteous Bubba]

When Dwayne Hoover and Kilgore Trout met each other, their country was by far the richest and most powerful country on the planet. It had most of the food and minerals and machinery, and it disciplined other countries by threatening to shoot big rockets at them or to destroy things on them for airplanes.

Most other countries didn't have doodley-squat. Many of them weren't inhabitable anymore. They had too many people and not enough space. They had sold everything that was any good, and there wasn't anything to eat anymore, and still the people went on fucking all the time.

Fucking was how babies were made.

[Thers]

I guess you're not into realpolitik, huh? Well, I guess I see more value in someone like Markos getting invited on CNN than someone like Amanda who probably never will because she can't make a point without saying "fucking" half the time.

I sure fucking am into realpolitik!

Kos has been known to curse, you know. And I've seen him on the teevee. Amanda Cox has been known to discuss anal sex. And she's at Time Magazine!

Not every online conversation or blog post needs to be conducted as if it's in the presence of 3-year-olds and Aunt Tilly. And I'm almost positive it won't destroy the Progressive Cause.

[charley]

i think the really interesting question is,-- why do all the wingnuts go crazy over the duke lacrosse player case?

oh, and michelle malkin is an idiot, there's even a blog about it, and everything.

[gateman's nametag]

Hi, just wanted to give a shout out and say I love the Guided By Voices homage in the title of your post. That's one of my favorite songs.

Also - great post!

[Greg]

Appropos of nothing, I just happened to be listening to Guided By Voices when I clicked over to this thread, whose title is, I believe, the opening line of GBV's "The Official Iron Man Rally Song."

[winner]

"Has been known to" is not the same thing as "basically every day". And ultimately I'm not talking about cursing, the f-word, whatever. It's about tone. When you throw rhetoric around, even if its meant sarcastically, not everyone 'gets' it that way.

I think we both know why Ana Marie Cox is at Time. Her position doesn't require any more credibility than any of the other Swamplanders.

No, not every post needs to be written G-rated. PG would be fine, and only the posts that you might want be proud of an want to appear on the front pages of Google News or the like. I often see right wing bullshit on such pages. I wonder why that is......?

[SSquirrel]

parents of two team members are powerful repug lobbyists whose PR firms are feeding stories to the right wing media.

[Righteous Bubba]

No, not every post needs to be written G-rated. PG would be fine

Where would "lick my vomit off the floor" come in? There aren't really any verboten words in there, but I do think you should perform some unnatural and degrading act and I wanted to express that in a polite way.

[Thers]

I often see right wing bullshit on such pages. I wonder why that is......?

Because they really want it to be there, and whine like hell when it isn't. Google News is a wingnut obsession in a way that it simply is not for the left.

Look, there are lots of left voices now. We don't have to agree with or even like all of them or even most of them. Amanda, and Kos, and Atrios, and Josh, and Drum, and whoever, even little old me, have their traffic legitimately -- people want to hear what they have to say. That doesn't mean that I or you or anyone has to feel responsible for what they say.

There are many possible audiences for blogs. I should hope we're all old enough to understand that, even if the wingnuts pretend to be obtuse about it.