It's time for Howling Latina to go back on Lefty Blogs.
Now, some of you might not like this idea. And some of you may think that, since I only comment here and there, and don't really take that much time to be active in the blogs, that my opinion shouldn't count for much. But just hear me out on this.
First, I can't condone the attacks on Barack Obama. But I do understand, to an extent, why thet were made. Anger can make a person do a LOT of crazy things. Trust me, anger is responsible for at least 50% of the stupid crap I've done in my life, and that's being generous. And this primary season? Made a LOT of people angry. I'll admit, I was pissed. I wrote some harsh crap about PUMAs early on, and I still think that the whole concept is pointless and self-destructive. But we shouldn't censor somebody because they have differing views. I mean, it's not like she became a radical righty after all this. She's still to the left, which I think qualifies one to write on "Lefty Blogs."
Now, I know the official response was that "it had to do because the blog focused entirely on the Presidential race, and not on local politics." With all due respect, Horse sh*t. I just took a look at the Virginia Blogroll, and I just can't swallow that explanation. My old blog, which hasn't been updated in almost a year, is still on there. Can't say I've focused on local issues much recently. As a matter of fact, there are plenty of blogs on there that haven't been updated in... forever. Let's be honest, there are more than just a few blogs that, frankly, shouldn't be there. I'm not gonna point and call out names, but they're either way outdated to the point where said candidate of support isn't even a candidate anymore, or they too break the rules the Mimi was supposedly removed for, yet they haven't savaged Obama as loudly, thus suggesting the reasons provided for removing HL were either dishonest or half-assed.
Look, I can't, in good conscience, say I was ok with everything that was posted on that site. There was one... comic, I guess you could call it... or cartoon, if you will... that may have been the most offensive thing I've ever seen by either side amongst these blogs. But I've calmed down a bit. I'm focused on McCain, and I've turned my pistol outword instead of inward. I'm ready to use my ammunition on the other side instead of wasting it on my own that I just happen to disagree with.
Yes, some of you may still be angry at what Mimi said or posted on her blog. My point is that she should still have the right too. No, LeftyBlogs had no obligation to keep her on the list. But I do think, especially after letting emotions die down a bit, that they made the wrong decision.
I think we should leave this to a vote. Maybe if we can get enough support here, the managers will consider re-establishing the blog. This is a matter of saying no to censorship. This is a matter of saying "enough is enough", let's work together. This is about finally letting go of that damned primary, and finishing this last month strong for all Democrats. So cast your vote below, and I hope we can get an overwhelming enough response to return Howling Latina to the blogrolls.
That is all. Please return to you regular scheduled programming.
Also, if we pointed out blogs like yours that don't follow the guidelines, they probably would be taken off. Long before HL was removed from Lefty Blogs, I asked Kari Chisholm about booting her because of the whole PUMA/anti-Obama thing....he said no, she's still technically 'lefty'. It's not horse sh*t.
She wants people to think she's being persecuted for her views, let her. Everybody wins.
This time I happen to disagree. But you are in good company. Vivian Paige also has argued that Lefty Blogs should not have delisted Mimi Schaeffer. And I have all the respect in the world for Vivian.
To me it's a complicated issue. On the one hand, I don't believe in censorship. And I certainly have a lot of folks listed on my blogroll with whom I don't agree, and I'm proud to list them. But none of them are progressives working at cross purposes with their own values because of a temper tantrum. It's because she's ostensibly a progressive that makes her attacks on Obama that much more damaging.
But let me first answer the censorship issue and then come back to that point.
Delisting her is not censorship. Nobody is preventing her from writing her opinions. Indeed, if somebody did that, I'd defend her right to say and write whatever she wished. Nobody is denying her a platform; she has a successful blog. And although Lefty Blogs has delisted her, there is nothing that prevents Mimi from being picked up by BNN and other aggregators. In fact, I would think some conservatives would be gleefully carrying her and linking to her because of the damage she is doing to the liberal cause right now. So you can hardly argue she is being silenced.
More important, no liberal aggegator is under any obligation to carry a blogger who is working at cross purposes with our larger goal at a particular moment in time. And this is a crucial and dire time.
We are in a race that we can't afford to lose. It will be very close and the fate of our nation truly hangs in the balance. There are lives that are being lost every day in Iraq, dreams going up in smoke at home because of the economic collapse. And John McCain would further wreck our economy, continue a disastrous war policy, destroy what's left of our government as we know it and replace it with a private government owned by the wealthy and existing solely for their benefit.
Five weeks ago, Mimi might have been able to delude herself that McCain was still the moderate, independent maverick who took on the worst ideologues of his own party and fought "the agents of intolerance" as he once called them. But given McCain's increasingly erratic and incoherent behavior and the hard right bubble headed running mate he has chosen, Mimi can no longer have the luxury of harboring any illusions about the candidate her anger is helping.
She is having a sustained temper tantrum, which is her right. But it is not her right to have a platform among committed progressives who realize we are in a fight for the life of the middle class of our country.
This is our best shot at reclaiming our government and showing America what true progressivism looks like. We finally have a shot at demonstrating to America how our ideals will benefit everybody in the country, not just the privileged few. We have a chance of replacing the discredited and failed policies of the Reagan Revolution with a new liberal ideal that truly brings America together and heals our wounds. We can provide health care, pensions, job security and freedom to all Americans not just a few at the top. That's too much to abdicate out of some misplaced notion that Mimi has the right to spew her vitriol against a good and decent candidate on a leftwing aggregator. She just doesn't have that right.
Look, I wanted Hillary to win too. But there is far less difference between Hillary and Obama than between Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton. In fact, aiding McCain and Palin and attacking Obama is a betrayal of every ideal Hillary and Bill Clinton ever fought for in their lives. And that's more important than the hurt feelings and personal melodramas of any PUMA.
BTW, once the election is over and we've had a chance to heal and move past this, then I will probably change my mind about it. At that point, if Mimi returns to supporting progressive candidates and progressive ideas, I'll agree that she should return to Lefty Blogs and even my own blogroll. Or if she switches and becomes an honest Republican because she agrees with them, I'd put her back on my blogroll - but not now. Not as a so called anti-Obama Democrat. There's a difference between a worthy opponent and a treacherous traitor.