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You are here: Home / Humorous / I Will Try to Behave

I Will Try to Behave

by John Cole|  February 2, 20078:04 pm| 47 Comments

This post is in: Humorous, Blogospheric Navel-Gazing

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And not take too much pleasure out of this.

It will not be easy.

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Reader Interactions

47Comments

  1. 1.

    demimondian

    February 2, 2007 at 8:16 pm

    Hmm. So, does that one rate a “Democratic stupidity” tag, John? C’mon, you *know* you want to use it.

  2. 2.

    Andrei

    February 2, 2007 at 8:18 pm

    Agree with Demi… I’m ready and waiting to commence the bashing of Democrats that deserve it! Lordie knows doing the same to GOPers these past six years has become like shooting fish in a barrel. It’s long past boring.

  3. 3.

    Pb

    February 2, 2007 at 8:30 pm

    Oh man, I couldn’t care less about this one–but maybe that’s just because I’ve been sick of hearing about the Duke rape case BS practically since before it began.

  4. 4.

    Andrew

    February 2, 2007 at 8:34 pm

    More importantly, Duke lost to UVA in OT last night.

    Evil is vanquished!

  5. 5.

    yet another jeff

    February 2, 2007 at 8:35 pm

    BTW, Rush has been nominated for the Nobel Peace prize…apparently someone is petty and jealous…. I guess it’ll just prove that the peaceniks on the Nobel Committee have a liberal bias…

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20070201/pl_usnw/landmark_legal_foundation_nominates_rush_limbaugh_for2007_nobel_peace_prize

  6. 6.

    TenguPhule

    February 2, 2007 at 8:50 pm

    BTW, Rush has been nominated for the Nobel Peace prize…apparently someone is petty and jealous…. I guess it’ll just prove that the peaceniks on the Nobel Committee have a liberal bias…

    Old News. And not worth noting really, since the real nominations are by secret selection and not by Conservative Goobers.

  7. 7.

    Bubblegum Tate

    February 2, 2007 at 8:51 pm

    Amanda Marcotte is, to my knowledge, the first person to call me a right-wing knuckle-dragger by virtue of the fact that she called the entire balloon-juice commentariat that. I thought that was pretty funny.

  8. 8.

    Pb

    February 2, 2007 at 8:54 pm

    yet another jeff,

    That’s their press release. Of course, they have no more authority to actually nominate anyone for that than my cat does. And my cat has better taste, besides.

  9. 9.

    Barrasso

    February 2, 2007 at 9:15 pm

    I really don’t get the importance of this case, is it a southern thing or what. Here in Idaho I couldn’t find anyone who could even tell you the name of anyone involved. Is the interest because white people are finally making some inroads into being wrongly prosecuted for gang rape? Soon we can expect a Bush in high office to sign off on a load of executions he hasn’t read a review of.

  10. 10.

    yet another jeff

    February 2, 2007 at 9:16 pm

    Yeah, but still there’s an 8th grade prickishness to it.

  11. 11.

    Barrasso

    February 2, 2007 at 9:17 pm

    of course I could probably find about ten people in town who have ever seen a lacrosse game.

  12. 12.

    Paul L.

    February 2, 2007 at 9:20 pm

    When someone says “Feminist”, Amanda Marcotte is exactly the type of person I thinking of.

  13. 13.

    Elvis Elvisberg

    February 2, 2007 at 9:44 pm

    This is why it’s far from clear to me that hiring bloggers is going to be a winning strategy for candidates.

    Blogging is a quick-reaction endeavor. Any interesting blogger is going to say stuff that will later look stupid. So of course this Amanda Marcotte has some wrongheaded, foul-mouthed posts in her background.

    Imagine if some Republican candidate hired Taranto? There’s a lot of gay-bashing and torture support and ill-founded war cheerleading that, regardless of his writing talents and soapbox, would bring shame on a candidate.

    That is, if Republicans were capable of feeling shame.

  14. 14.

    Pb

    February 2, 2007 at 9:59 pm

    Imagine if some Republican candidate hired Taranto? There’s a lot of gay-bashing and torture support and ill-founded war cheerleading that, regardless of his writing talents and soapbox, would bring shame on a candidate.

    That is, if Republicans were capable of feeling shame.

    Yeah, the candidate who hired him would definitely score some points with the base–gay bashing, torture support, and ill-founded war cheerleading? That’s a Republican trifecta!

  15. 15.

    Steve

    February 2, 2007 at 10:00 pm

    I think it’s going to be quite difficult to make any kind of serious issue out of who a candidate’s “lead blogger” is.

  16. 16.

    demimondian

    February 2, 2007 at 10:52 pm

    I odn’t think that any of us will vote for or against Edwards because whats-her-name is his lead blogger. The fact remains that John was right, she was wrong, and she was a jerk about it.

  17. 17.

    Richard 23

    February 3, 2007 at 12:21 am

    Well, moonbats. You lay down with dogs and you get up with fleas. Amanda Marcotte is the ideal spokesperson for liberal “ideals.”

  18. 18.

    BadTux

    February 3, 2007 at 12:41 am

    I don’t get it. First, John Edwards is a civil lawyer, not a defense lawyer. He doesn’t prosecute anything, so he has nothing to do with the Duke lacrosse case. Secondly, whats-her-name is not a decision maker for the campaign. She is a mouthpiece. She is basically the Internet version of Tony Snow. Yes, the same Tony Snow who is the press dude for Dear Leader. Yes, the same Tony Snow who, prior to becoming press dude for Dear Leader, said “George Bush has become something of an embarrassment.” Oops!

    In short, being a paid mouthpiece means properly pimping your candidate, and despite anything that Tony Snow said in the past, he’s done as good a job as possible given the divergence between what Dear Leader wants the press to believe and objective reality. Heck, unlike Scottie, he doesn’t even sweat when he’s lying! The stuff Tony Snow said before he started fronting Bush hasn’t affected his performance, and somehow I suspect that whatever whats-her-name said before she went to work to pimp Edwards has anything to do with how good a job she’ll do as Edwards’s Internet mouthpiece. More important will be her experience as a paid propagandist/marketing type. Which I don’t know, so I have no predictions yay or nay as to whether Edwards is out of his freakin’ mind or not.

  19. 19.

    moonbiter

    February 3, 2007 at 5:50 am

    IMHO, Amanda is deeply, deeply disturbed. I don’t know why, and don’t really care all that much, but it shows in her writing on several subjects. To me, that would be a good reason not to hire her as a campaign spokesperson.

    Edwards used to be my preferred candidate, but he is starting to lose his shine for me for this and a couple of other reasons. To most normal people (those not involved in the blogcest of the politics-oriented sites) this is not going to be an issue, but this is just one of a series of recent bad decisions on his campaigns’ part that make me question how fit he is to repair the damage the Administration and it’s supporters have done to the Republic in the last seven years.

  20. 20.

    carpeicthus

    February 3, 2007 at 6:02 am

    She was a bad choice for Pandagon, and a bad choice for Edwards. I’m not sure most campaigns have the frame of reference to pick out the good bloggers from the popular ones. Perhaps that will change.

  21. 21.

    Jonathan

    February 3, 2007 at 7:14 am

    Well, moonbats. You lay down with dogs and you get up with fleas. Amanda Marcotte is the ideal spokesperson for liberal “ideals.”

    And Rush Limbaugh is the ideal spokesperson for conservative “ideals”.

    http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,982270,00.html

    “I tell people don’t kill all the liberals, leave enough around so we can have two on every campus; living fossils, so we will never forget what these people stood for.”

  22. 22.

    Krista

    February 3, 2007 at 8:36 am

    When someone says “Feminist”, Amanda Marcotte is exactly the type of person I thinking of.

    If that’s what you think a feminist is, then no wonder you’ve got such a beef with them.

    Here’s a little thought exercise.

    Amanda is a feminist.
    Amanda is nasty and quick to leap to conclusion.
    Therefore, all feminists are nasty and quick to leap to conclusions.

    Need a bit of a hint as to what’s wrong with your assumption?

  23. 23.

    Paddy O'Shea

    February 3, 2007 at 9:43 am

    The John Cole “Conservative Coming Back Out Of The Closet” clock has just moved a few minutes forward.

  24. 24.

    Tim F.

    February 3, 2007 at 11:05 am

    The part where she erases her dumber comments is what gets me here. Hell, I’ve said plenty of stupid things. The only thing worse for my credibility than leaving them out there for everybody to see would be erasing them and getting caught at it.

  25. 25.

    cleek

    February 3, 2007 at 11:20 am

    well duh. of course you’re gonna find a hundred offensive, unhinged, ridiculous things from Marcotte’s blogging – she’s barking mad.

    Edwards needs to fire her, and whoever chose her.

  26. 26.

    Justin Slotman

    February 3, 2007 at 12:32 pm

    By the way–all the old links to Pandagon and the Cole-Marcotte feud lead to 404 errors. I think they changed their archiving over there at some point. (That was a great feud, by the way, I laughed out loud all over again rereading the “back hair” exchange.)

  27. 27.

    Richard Bottoms

    February 3, 2007 at 1:34 pm

    >Amanda

    Amanda who?

    This is like fuss Hannity makes about some obscure professor that we all must denounce or be branded as kooks.

    John Edwards doesn’t have a chance in hell to start with, but importantly, who the fuck is Amanda whatshername that he can’t replace her and forget she ever existed.

    This is an argument that few people outside of spaces like this even know about, much less care.

    It’s like Serenity. We know it should have made more than $50 million dollars and not cost Josh his slot on Wonder Woman, but what can you do.

    This flap is just about as important.

  28. 28.

    demimondian

    February 3, 2007 at 1:45 pm

    The part where she erases her dumber comments is what gets me here. Hell, I’ve said plenty of stupid things. The only thing worse for my credibility than leaving them out there for everybody to see would be erasing them and getting caught at it.

    Not only is it bad form, it’s both stupid and useless. After all, teh G00gul hes a *long* memory.

  29. 29.

    Otto Man

    February 3, 2007 at 2:34 pm

    This is so insignificant it doesn’t even merit the tag of “navel-gazing.”

    I know you hate Marcotte, John, but Jesus, let it go.

  30. 30.

    Bob In Pacifica

    February 3, 2007 at 3:00 pm

    Having spent a good chunk of my last year following the Duke case closely, and being a liberal who actually believes in the presumption of innocence for people who are charged with crimes, I have been profoundly disturbed by people who presume the guilt of other people based on theories of their sex, race and class. The presumption of innocence used to be a standard belief among people who called themselves liberals. I was over there at Pandagon yesterday to respond to a couple of really stupid, ignorant comments about the facts of the case and Marcotte immediately deleted them, mine and another poster’s. She also announced that she was refusing to read any emails that seemed to support the Duke defendants. I’m not sure what’s still up at her site, apparently there’s been a big housecleaning, but it’s clear that she’s keeping a sharp lookout on who gets into her playhouse.

    That’s not a good thing for anyone in the spokesperson/bloggerperson business. In the real world Edwards may not have even known that Marcotte was hired onto his campaign, but no matter how busy his schedule he must be hearing the rumblings by now. The first rule in politics is don’t screw it up for the guy you work for. Someone in Edwards’ campaign should supply her with a sword to fall on.

  31. 31.

    Pb

    February 3, 2007 at 3:08 pm

    Bob In Pacifica,

    The presumption of innocence used to be a standard belief among people who called themselves liberals.

    Indeed–I can’t stand the Nancy Graces of the world. If you think you’ve got a case, then take it to trial, and we’ll see what happens. I often have opinions about court cases, but I don’t feel the need to play-act judge, jury, and executioner (aka decider).

  32. 32.

    Sirkowski

    February 3, 2007 at 3:09 pm

    Duke happend last year. Old news is old, nobody cares.

  33. 33.

    Zifnab

    February 3, 2007 at 3:25 pm

    The part where she erases her dumber comments is what gets me here. Hell, I’ve said plenty of stupid things. The only thing worse for my credibility than leaving them out there for everybody to see would be erasing them and getting caught at it.

    I don’t entirely see what all the noise is about. John Edwards hires a speech-writter who jumped the gun on the Duke Lacross case. Yeah? And? Tell it to Newsweek, Time Magazine, People, CNN/FOX/MSNBC, the National Enquirer, and Women’s Home Weekly Journal. This was John Bene Redux – cops pull a Nancy Grace and the whole media world piles on.

    I don’t see how Marcotte shooting her mouth off somehow damns the entire Edwards campaign. This sounds alot like a giant GOP Swift-Boat whine-fest. “Whaaaaaaa! How can you trust John Edwards when he hires someone who said negative things about rich white men in a racially charged rape case?! Whaaaaa!”

  34. 34.

    Pb

    February 3, 2007 at 3:37 pm

    Zifnab,

    I wonder what she had to say about John Mark Karr!*

    * no, I really don’t…

  35. 35.

    Pooh

    February 3, 2007 at 5:44 pm

    The part where she erases her dumber comments is what gets me here. Hell, I’ve said plenty of stupid things. The only thing worse for my credibility than leaving them out there for everybody to see would be erasing them and getting caught at it.

    My best guess is that a higher up in Edwards HQ suggested the deletion.

    FWIW, I don’t find her Duke post all that bad. Given what we thought we knew from Nifong (who turns about to be an incredible douchebag. Seriously, here, he’s the real villain, not Amanda, not the kids, not the alleged victim)…Isn’t Taranto all about us believing the veracity of authority figures anyway?

    Honestly, though, I have no dog in this fight, as I’m not sure I’ve read a single thing by Marcotte (Bitch PhD and Lindsay Bayerstein being my preferred feminist bloggers should one be needed…)

  36. 36.

    David

    February 3, 2007 at 6:27 pm

    John Edwards hires a speech-writter who jumped the gun on the Duke Lacross case. Yeah? And?

    Well, the thing there is that she wrote the post in question two weeks ago. It’s not like all the evidence of Nifong’s incredible asshattery came out yesterday.

  37. 37.

    Nikki

    February 3, 2007 at 6:35 pm

    It’s like Serenity. We know it should have made more than $50 million dollars and not cost Josh his slot on Wonder Woman, but what can you do.

    IMDB says that, as of 12/6/2006, Joss Whedon is writing the script for Wonder Woman.

  38. 38.

    Pelikan

    February 3, 2007 at 6:50 pm

    While Nifong is the the main villian, I’d like to nominate Marcotte for spear-carrier. I used to read Pandagon, then she came along with her fans. It was like being back in the dorms listening to self-righteous freshmen just quivering to spill the “facts” from the latest tract they’ve read.
    Luckily, I’m old enough not to give a shit whether or not it’s sexist to think a woman is a bitch. Amanda Marcotte is a crazy bitch, and not in the watered down rapper sense either.

    Now I read Balloon-Juice, and I thank you for not allowing the wacky freshmen in, except of course for Darrell.

    -Yers
    Pelikan

  39. 39.

    tBone

    February 3, 2007 at 7:05 pm

    IMDB says that, as of 12/6/2006, Joss Whedon is writing the script for Wonder Woman.

    Not anymore.

  40. 40.

    The Other Steve

    February 3, 2007 at 10:48 pm

    Now I read Balloon-Juice, and I thank you for not allowing the wacky freshmen in, except of course for Darrell.

    Oh come on. Nuclear war isn’t all that bad.

  41. 41.

    Zifnab

    February 3, 2007 at 10:54 pm

    Now I read Balloon-Juice, and I thank you for not allowing the wacky freshmen in, except of course for Darrell.

    Darrell’s more like that annoying drop-out kid who bitches about how his Professors made him fail. Or the Harvard buy-in who’ll graduate with whatever average his parents can afford to pay for.

  42. 42.

    Bob In Pacifica

    February 4, 2007 at 10:42 pm

    Sirkowski: Duke happend last year. Old news is old, nobody cares

    Except that at least some of the charges are still pending. The prosecutor has recused himself and is now facing charges by the State Bar (the amended charge letter has close to 300 examples of violations). There will be civil cases that should deplete Durham of millions of dollars, and the DA and several of Durham’s finest will face criminal charges too. The North Carolina NAACP has abandoned its pretense of justice and now finds itself disgraced and discredited by its unwillingness to follow the facts of the case. And now Amanda Marcotte, showing herself to be ignorant of the facts of the case and prejudicial against the defendants based on race, sex and class, has brought a bit of embarrassment on the Edwards campaign.

    I care about injustice, Sirkowski.

    What did Faulkner say? “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”

  43. 43.

    dreggas

    February 5, 2007 at 11:52 am

    Duke Case = Tawana Brauly (or however it’s spelled) redux.

    Those who want a war-pony to attack with and need something to get self-righteous about found it and facts be damned they fell for it hook line and sinker only to be proven wrong and disgraced as a result.

    I was a kid but even I remember the whole Brauly case and how there was “outrage” the end result of it being Al Sharpton becoming the butt of many jokes.

    As for Edwards and who he hires, really I could care less. As it is things are shaping up to where this race is going to come down to Obama and Shillary unless gore jumps in. I still say it’s far too early to start predicting these things.

  44. 44.

    Jimmmm

    February 5, 2007 at 12:23 pm

    I had no idea this many of my fellow liberals hated Marcotte as much as I do.

  45. 45.

    dreggas

    February 5, 2007 at 1:26 pm

    I had no idea this many of my fellow liberals hated Marcotte as much as I do

    What I still don’t get is why we have to support every single liberal in the blogosphere or in office. Some of them are just as worthy of getting torn apart as those on the right for various reasons.

    It’s like you have to pass a litmus test of liking X, Y, and Z liberal or X, Y, and Z cause to be in the “big tent” of course the same can now be said of the Right but I guess the tree-house “No [Insert group here] allowed mentality can, in many cases, get worse with age.

  46. 46.

    Nikki

    February 5, 2007 at 2:19 pm

    Really old news, but Ezra Klein claims that the disappearing comments is a bug that has always been at Pandagon.

  47. 47.

    Bob In Pacifica

    February 5, 2007 at 5:34 pm

    Jimmmm, I didn’t hate her until I discovered her.

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