Are we kicking their asses?

By Heraclitus

Joe Gandelman, at The Moderate Voice (I believe Michael may have some connection with that blog), points to a post by Taylor Marsh in which she reveals that some right-wing blogger named Debbie Schlussel (such an unlikely mish-mash of down-home femininity -- mmmm...Swiss Cake Rolls -- and scary Teuton purity...must...not...make...ad nazium...wisecrack) threatened to sue her for using a copyrighted picture of Schlussel in a critical post about her at (shudder) The Huffington Post. Here's a taste:

Debbie Schlussel (who was pictured at the top of this post, until she threatened to sue me for a photo I got off of Google) isn't Atlas Shrugged but she is equally unhinged, though she also is not "Christian," but "Jewish." Her attack on Obama is so prejudice and loaded that the implication and inherent danger of such accusations and assaults makes you wonder if Ms. Schlussel isn't trying to do more than ruin Obama's political career. At the very least it is scandalously un-American. However, it is also an aggressive assault out of fear of Senator Obama's power with the public.

[Long and tedious screed of wing-nuttery by Schlussel omitted because we want to help you.]

Over the years, the right-wing nut squad has co-opted God, guns, Jesus, the military, trucks, the flag and everything in between. What they have done with these symbols of "true Americanism" is divide and conquer by associating only Republicans with these brands, that is, until we crushed them this past November...

We've got the most overtly "Christian" president we have had in our lifetime who uses his presidential pulpit to preach preemption, advocate torture and the destruction of enemies both real and imagined, all in the name of God. A crusade is how Mr. Bush began his onslaught. All in the name of religion, faith and spreading democracy, while being the leader of a political party that maligns anyone of faith who doesn't hold to the standards of Republicans who believe they are qualified to judge. The record proves otherwise.

Nice. Anyways, this Schlussel person, who, let's face it, probably doesn't even really exist, threatened to sue Marsh for using an image of her, itself widely available on the internets, without her consent. (Actually, on Schlussel, see this earlier post by Michael.)

(By the way, and for purposes of full disclosure, I should admit that I like Marsh because she agrees with me on a crucial point -- "[Heraclitus] really is a bastard!" Where did I say I was a bastard? Well, by my actions, pretty much everywhere. But in so many words, here, among various and sundry other places).

This little threat, understandly, inspired a few comments by other bloggerinos, and this is the point I really wanted to get to here. Bob Geiger responds by arguing that the left blogosphere is kicking the once-dominant right blogosphere's flabby old ass:

[A] few weeks ago, she [Schlussel] dipped into the Republican slime bucket and tossed a big blob of it in Barack Obama's direction, trying to scare her troglodytic readers to death by making a big deal out of Obama's middle name, which is "Hussein."

Taylor Marsh is from the new school of Democratic operatives and writers -- those of us who make clear that it's a new day in political discourse, we don’t reach across the damn aisle and any attacks from Republicans will open an enormous can of Progressive whoop-ass on them.

I completely agree with this. When one side doesn't believe in global warming and evolution, winks at torture and illegal detentions, wants to outlaw contraception, thinks Barack Obama's middle name is significant and that the catastrophe in Iraq is a media conspiracy, only an idiot tries to compromise or "work with them." And don't bother telling me that not all conservatives believe these things -- I have yet to see any prominent conservative politician, pundit, or blogger have their own little "Sister Souljah moment."

Geiger continues:

But Little Debbie Schlussel is like so many on the right-wing side of the blog world. They're real tough when attacking someone else and launching any manner of lying, racist or McCarthyite attack but they suddenly turn into sniveling little weasels when anyone hits back.

I guess she fits right in with every other candy-ass Republican in this country right now. Congressional Republicans are whining because the Democratic Majority may treat them much like, well, they treated the Democrats all those years. Likewise, many conservatives got into blogging at a time when they thought they could kick sand in every liberal's face and get away with it -- and they're finding that's not really the case now.

So this is my question: is this true? Well, actually, my first question is, does it get any better than "candy-ass Republican"? But, after that, and seriously, are left-wing or liberal blogs somehow winning? I know it's probably impossible to give any kind of a quantitative answer, but I wonder how much good the leftish or progressive blogosphere is doing. I know that it's qualitatively better than the right. As if eager to prove my point for me, Pajamas Media shows up in the comment thread at TMV with a link to a post about the "catfight" between Marsh and Schlussel. I mean, it's what, ten years since Seinfeld mocked the idea that every conflict between two women is some kind of "catfight," and wing-nut bloggers still can't let it go? Seriously, reading most right-wing blogs is like hanging out with Biff Tannen. But, of course, and as so often, the sexist garbage serves a broader rhetorical purpose, in this case obscuring the fact that Schlussel is a scummy and unhinged hack, instead making this sound like a silly dispute between two equally irrational and wrong-headed broads.

So, given that almost all right-wing blogs with which I'm familiar (which, to be fair, is only a small percentage) are indescribably execrable in more ways than I care to count, are the left-wing blogs beating them and their influence back? Are we doing any good by so frequently pointing out that most right-wing bloggers are, to paraphrase David Brock, "a little bit nutty and extremely stupid and dishonest"? I ask this even though when I throw questions out to our readers I'm usually met with a mildly embarrassing silence. Part of this question, of course, is bound up with the question of whether the recent, historic Democratic win marked a historic turn to the left in American politics, or just the consequence of Americans finally grasping the full meaning of the promise of Bush's brave new world unfurling itself beneath the clear blue sky. Was it a vote for progressive politics, or just a vote for competent technocracy? So, if so inclinded, feel free to speculate in comments.

And now, for something completely different (as I think they used to say on some tv show), check out this video by Matisyahu that Kai Chang put up.