I'm on some email lists for mailings from some of the Presidential candidates. I usually don't even read them, just delete them unread. I signed up for them because I don't really mind getting a bunch of crap email on a regular basis.
Last night I got one from the Edward's campaign with the Subject line
Why I called Ann Coulter
and a From line of
"Elizabeth Edwards"
Right off the bat we have something less than complete candidness with attaching the name Elizabeth Edwards with that generic campaign email address.
But I can't help myself. I read it.
She didn't explain anything, she didn't give a reason for the call, she just related what happened and told us who the good guy is and who the bad buy is. Can you guess which is which?
Here's how the email letter starts
Last night I had an important talk with Ann Coulter and I want to tell you what happened.
I'm not inspired by this start. I watched that part of Hardball last night. I might call it a dramatic exchange, but it was not an important talk. There was nothing important about it and I don't think I'd characterize the exchange as a talk. Both were speaking to the audience, neither was talking to the other. Dramatic confrontation is probably the best label.
I guess the next sentence is supposed to pass an an explanation promised in the subject line. But, it's not an explanation.
Where I am from, when someone does something that displeases you, you politely ask them to stop. So when I heard Ann was going to be on "Hardball" last night, I decided to call in and ask her to engage on the issues and stop the personal attacks. I told her these kinds of personal attacks lower our political dialogue at precisely the time when we need to raise it, and set a bad example for our children.
It's not an explanation because it miss-characterizes both Southern Culture and what actually happened.
Where she comes from the idea of "politely ask them to stop" means do so privately. It really means that, the privacy part is a very important part of the polite idea. No confrontation, no public postering. A simple, private and personal request is what people "where she comes from" do when trying to stop unwanted personal attacks. Allowing the offending party an out that saves face is very important in a culture that gave us personal duels.
In Southern Culture a public confrontation is an invitation to fight, no matter what the words actually spoken are.
Elizabeth Edwards knows that full well and she's bullshitting us to pretend otherwise.
You can really just stop reading right there, she's given you all the information you need to figure out what kind crap is going on here. Besides, the rest of the email is just an appeal for money. Just for completeness, here it is.
How did she respond? Sadly, perhaps predictably, with more personal attacks.
John's campaign is about the issues—but pundits like Ann Coulter are trying to shout him down. If they will not stop, it is up to us cut through the noise. Help us fight back—please give what you can today.
www.johnedwards.com/rightwing
There are just over 3 days left to hit our $9 million goal for the end of the quarter. If we make it, we can directly reach voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, and all over the country with our detailed plans on the issues that matter. Please give what you can right now to help raise the dialogue and show that Ann Coulter-style politics will never carry the day.
www.johnedwards.com/rightwing
Why do Ann Coulter and other right-wing pundits keep attacking John? Because John's bold, specific plans hit them where it hurts: solving global warming, ending the war, building a fair economy—John's agenda threatens everything these talking heads and their corporate cronies stand for.
And they know John can win—just last week a new poll showed that John is the only Democratic candidate who beats all the possible Republican challengers—by an average of 13 points. So they are trying to take John down early. Their strategy is to sling mud and manufacture scandals—about houses, haircuts and anything else they can think of—to discredit John and take down our movement for change.
The best way to beat them is also the right way—take our message of substance straight to the voters. And that is exactly what this campaign is all about.
But we need your help to hit our goal. Please give what you can today.
www.johnedwards.com/rightwing
And thank you for all that you do to support this cause.
Sincerely,
- Elizabeth Edwards
Wednesday June 27, 2007
There is nothing sincere about her at all if you can use this letter to make a judgment. I have no respect for Ann Coulter but Ann's right about one thing, both sides of the Ann/Elizabeth confrontation are simply creating political theater to entertain the masses for profit.
You can tell that Ann has no class by looking at the way she dresses. She just doesn't have enough sense of style to know what appropriate dress is. She wore on the Today show. Some "little black cocktail dress". Hardball is a political
commentary show -- it's not Entertainment Tonite. Business dress would be appropriate for that show. But to her it's much more important to appear provocative than to be socially appropriate. I just find that classless.
But Elizabeth is just as bad with her pretense of Southern Culture that's nothing of the sort. They deserve each other.
If Chris Matthews had any class he wouldn't have either one of them on his show.
Labels: ann coulter, culture, elizabeth edwards, Presidential elections
