William Beutler’s post yesterday evening caught my attention: But as the headline above has already given away, we may have blogged too soon — after all, there is someone else at the campaign who is a longtime member of the……

Guess nothings changed.

Kemp

No, this was a “gotcha.” But a mild one, because while in the short run it hurt Edwards, it did not appear to help any other candidate. Obama and Clinton have been dealing with their own controversies during the exact same period, and thus were unable to capitalize, not even with a ‘look ma, no hands’ approach. The GOP benefit from this is nonexistent.

Donohue strikes me as a zealous defender of a beleaguered community, sort of like Al Sharpton, not a bigot. Anyway, he did Edwards an enormous favor by exposing his campaign’s mistake now. This will be a very old story long before it would have the chance to matter to anyone.

The Swift Boat situation was the reverse. By ignoring it, and by encouraging the media to ignore it, whatever the Swiftboaters said gained tremendous currency and emotional appeal among the right-wing blogosphere. When it finally exploded into full public view, the timing could not have been worse, and no amount of campaign or liberal media spin could contain it because the authors of the smear had a much better grasp of the relevant information and were far more practiced in articulating it.

I realize by now that “swiftboating” has taken on a kind of Orwellian meaning that doesn’t fit the actual facts of the episode. It would make more sense if “swiftboating” were defined instead as a self-inflicted candidate error that is the result of wishful thinking or arrogance in the face of potentially damaging charges. Kerry was a first-rate swiftboater. Edwards, thankfully, is not.

On 2/16/07, Scott Smith wrote:
> Amanda,
> So, it seems that your whining has yielded a sort of publicity bonanza of
> sorts. All these intervews provide wondeful forums to blather on and on
> about the right-wing _______________(fill in the blank).
>
> It sucks when you get torched, to wit: the right-wing noise machine had
> noticed me and was looking for something with which to hurt me and my new
> employers.
>
> But to claim victimhood is pathetic and laughable, especially since the
> liberals’ playbook of dirty politics has used this tactic numerous times
> against various peoples: Bush, Lott, Thurmond et al.
>
> Let the games begin!
> Cheers

Her reply:
On 2/16/07, Amanda Marcotte wrote:
Truly, sincerely, fuck off.

To which I replied:
Sweet. I love that 20-something feminist edginess…Truly and sincerely.

I’ve also gotten this same response from other notable left-wingers, so you’re in the esteemed company of Paul Begala, Chris Heinz, Eric Alterman and others.

Inhale through your nose, exhale through your mouth…repeat. Seriously, it will make you feel better.

You’re kidding, right? If that was a “hit job” then they must have been playing T-ball. It doesn’t take a Babe Ruth or Hank Aaron to hit the kind of crap those two spewed out of the park.

Good luck, I hope this helps.