Do Jane Hamsher and Christy Hardin Smith have conservative operatives in their midst? Has FireDogLake - arguably a top five liberal group blog - been infiltrated by dirty tricks squads of the right? More directly, does FDL blogger Pachacutec work for Karl Rove?
I ask because of the reckless, misogynist post that appeared this morning in my regular blogroll (I'm a big FDL fan, most of the time) about Democratic Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher of California. Tauscher is a so-called Blue Dog Democrat, a centrist type who has often voted with the Republicans on military issues. She may well be due a primary from the left in her district in San Francisco's progressive suburbs. But she is certainly not due a vicious attack on her gender, dressed up as "snark" by a leading liberal blog. Here's the slime, headlined " FDL Late Nite: Whore, n., 1. A prostitute. . ."
You know, sometimes I'm an old fashioned sort. I can appreciate tradition. I certainly believe in hard work, and positively adore the craft of genuine professionalism.
In that spirit, I bring you an underappreciated practitioner of the world's oldest profession, a woman in
congressCongress, Ellen Tauscher. She can slurp the gnarly nub of power with the very best, gamely grinning to the gushing finish: a working girl's working girl. Howie calls her, "a bribe-taking corporate whore and shit eater who has guaranteed herself a nasty primary in 2008."
I hope Peter Daou is reading this, because his boss may well have to face this kind of sexist attack beginning next year. It's so bad, so poorly executed, that it really does appear to be a clumsy Republican efforts to pollute a top Democratic blog. These posts are permanent, folks. They give aid and comfort to the other side. They make our side look surly, sexist, hypocritical.
To put is another way: are you stupid? Or just insane?
There's a better than 50-50 chance that the broad center-left coalition in this country, organized as the Democratic Party, will be running a woman for President in less than 20 months. The leading Democratic elected official in the land is a woman - and we need her.
This is the third post in an unfortunate series (parts one and two) and you know, I'm going to continue; people are of course free to write and blog how they wish.
But in a world where a hero like Mukhtar Mai of Pakistan overcomes court-ordered gang rape and a corrupt regime to help educate the children of her attackers, we kid ourselves that we're advanced enough, cool enough, hip enough, or evolved enough to throw around this low-brow gender-based garbage and think it won't stick - to us, to the left, to the Democrats, to our candidates, to our movement.
UPDATE: FDL blogger TRex used the C-word this morning to describe a conservative pundit (in an otherwise excellent post on the hopelessness in Iraq), and one commenter called him on it:
Makes me stop, too. And angry. I left a comment, also protesting the word. They chose not to approve it in moderation. Very FreeRepublic-like. No answer at FireDogLake.
UPDATE II: The grown-ups at FDL have been busy. The C-word has been edited out of the post. And James Wolcott comments: "Sexism is second nature to so many on the right, which is why those on the left have to ensure that their antennae are acutely tuned to the misogynistic jibes thrown at Nancy Pelosi from everyone from Maureen Dowd to Dennis Miller." Exactly.
UPDATE III: TRex corrects the record on the late editing on his post, and calls me the C-word in comments. As in "miserable, little..." Then he calls me Ned Flanders. Clever that.
UPDATE IV: The action is all in comments folks, with Jane Hamsher, Christy Hardin Smith, and Pachacutec all weighing in with strongly-held opinions.
UPDATE V: Final update folks. Jane Hamsher has opened up a post over at FireDogLake based on this one. I've put some comments there and would invite those here to do the same. Also, a wonderful post by Shakespeare's Sister with another great set of comments is here. And Neddie Jingo has great one too.