1) So is it over? Has the Edwards campaign fired her and her companion in potty-mouthed blogging , what’s-her-name?

Nobody knows for sure. Salon wrote that the campaign had fired them yesterday, but the campaign is still officially agnostic on whether their past-blogging antics are a hanging offense. Chances are the candidate is trying to think of some clever way to exploit this opportunity.

2) Opportunity? Are you nuts? This is a tragic misstep!

Kay, now who’s being naïve? I’ve long maintained that the 2008 Democratic presidential candidates will have a series of Sister Souljah moments at the Nutroots’ expense. They will embrace civility and traditional values while tossing the Nutroots under the proverbial campaign bus. Each such incident will give right wing bloggers incalculable pleasure. But this is probably several months before Edwards planned to have his first such moment. Anyway, picture if you will a solemn Edwards speech that includes something like,

“There is no place in respectable public discourse for these kinds of sentiments. We have to do better. I want to be clear – the greatness of American politics is that we can disagree with each other while always being respectful of our differences. That’s the kind of campaign I’m going to run.”

3) But won’t it be a great tragedy for Edwards if he loses the support of the Nutroots? After all, Chris Bowers of MyDD has pounded his virtual shoe on a virtual table threatening, “We will bury you!” if Edwards goes through with firing the angry blogresses.

There’s a lot that the Nutroots and the blogosphere don’t get, but this is the most important: In 2004, Howard Dean enjoyed the unified support of the Nutroots and angry “progressives” everywhere. What did it get him? A fourth place finish in Iowa. If a candidate is going to play to the blogosphere as his or her main constituency, that’s the ceiling on how well he or she will perform. Let’s not forget that Dean finished behind an unimpressive roster of Dick Gephardt, John Kerry and John Edwards. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are both a lot more formidable than any of those guys.

4) But won’t it look really bad if Edwards caves to the demands of knuckle-dragging wingnuts like you and cans Marcotte and what’s-her-name?

Oh lord. This is the biggest myth of this whole melodrama. I can’t think of a single right-wing blogger who has called for Marcotte’s termination. Read my commentary, read Allah’s, read Ace’s, read Glenn’s, read MKH’s – we don’t care whether Marcotte stays or goes. Really, take the challenge – find me a single prominent blogger who has said, “I demand Amanda Marcotte be fired.”

We do, however, care that Edwards be judged by the company he keeps. If a campaign hired Ann Coulter as a message massager or speech writer, no one on the left would be sympathetic to the defense that Ann’s incendiary past-writings have nothing to do with her ability to perform the functions that the campaign hired her to do. And make no mistake – while I have often found Ann’s writings to be needlessly juvenile and offensive, compared to Amanda Marcotte she is a national treasure.

5) But isn’t it unfair for Ann that she can’t work for a campaign?

No. Ann, like Amanda, has chosen to be a public figure. She’s accountable for what she has written. And I assume Ann knows that no politician in his right mind will publicly embrace her.

6) So if that’s the case and no one except Bill Donohue is calling for her resignation, why doesn’t Edwards just keep her around until the end of the campaign?

Because Edwards’ political enemies will have great fun with his association with these loons. Really, as I’ve said before, Amanda Marcotte is among the most offensive, least reasonable and tiresomely angry voices in all of Blogistan. When the Edwards campaign announced her hiring, I almost feel off my barcalounger. Intelligent people know that campaigns that seek widespread approval can’t openly and notoriously embrace people who most of society will find repugnant.

In this regard, and take my word for it, Marcotte is an incredibly extreme case. Much more moderate and sane bloggers know they can’t seek a career in politics. Bill Treacher commented at Allah’s place that if a campaign offered him the job of webmaster, after he brought his convulsive laughter under control he would politely decline. Honestly, this stuff is just common sense.

7) So will this episode make angry progressive bloggers more aware of how they’re coming across and perhaps cause them to tone it down a notch?

Ha! Good one. Look – a lot of bloggers want to monetize their blogging success. Some have been successful at doing this. Most haven’t. The one thing that this episode reveals is that sucking at the teet of the political establishment is not an avenue available for the desired monetization. It would be a pretty brain-dead presidential candidate that hires a prominent blogger after this.

8) So what hope is there for the angry political blogger who wants to make a buck?

I think all bloggers, both left and right, should use Bill Simmons, ESPN’s Sportsguy, as their lodestar. Back in the late 1990’s, Simmons was a proto-blogger who wrote a few articles a week for an outfit called Digital City Boston. He was also tending bar because Digital City Boston paid him something like $50 a column. Believe it or not, that’s a typical payday for freelance writers. I was one of his 5,000 or so readers back then and he was amazing, even more so than he is today.

Bill monetized his proto-blogging by getting noticed and getting hired by a proper paying outfit like ESPN. His talent and the quality of his work made this possible. If you’ve got the chops, eventually you’ll break through. The problem is not many people have the chops, or at least a lot of people who think they have the chops don’t. Many blogosphere denizens are downright “American Idol” delusional.

9) But shouldn’t a campaign when hiring a blogger hire someone who knows how to blog and has had proven success as a blogger?

No! Are you nuts? If the Ace of Spades, to take an obvious example, were blogging for a campaign, he would write dull-as-dishwater stuff about how great his candidate’s appearance at a Des Moines-area strip mall went. Ace is popular and has been a successful blogger because he’s funny, original and insightful. The campaign that hired him wouldn’t be tapping any of these talents. Indeed, it wouldn’t even be trying to harness these talents – it would be trying to eliminate them.

10) So campaigns can’t have lively blogs?

Sure they can. John Edwards has a very lively blog. As we speak, he’s being ripped on his own website. On JohnEdwards.com, a “diary” proclaims,

Senator, Silence IS betrayal. What fate awaits Amanda and Mellissa?

As I've written here, and here, your handling of this situation is not your most decisive moment. Not good.

I'm starting to dread the inevitable spin this will take.

Shrewd!

11) Exit question: Does he fire them or not?

He waits. He has his Sister Souljah moment several months from now, only after more completely exploiting the Nutroots. For the moment, his finger is in the air. He knows this controversy will swirl back at him when the primaries come closer. He was blindsided this time. He won’t be next time. Mother Edwards didn’t raise no dummies.

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