March 24, 2007
Elizabeth Edwards
I have always been a big Elizabeth Edwards fan, and I am so sorry that her cancer has returned. I am inspired by her determination to continue to campaign with her husband, to reframe her condition as chronic, and to stay engaged with life in the face of fear.
Jane Hamsher, who last month had surgery for a third recurrence of breast cancer, the day before she was to cover the Scooter Libby trial for her blog Firedoglake, had a few things to say in response to Jay Carney's commentary on Elizabeth's decision. She can say them with authority.
Yes, because Elizabeth Edwards is now a cripple. Handicapped, a withering violet who must be banished from public life, consigned to the fainting couch. Quick, somebody fetch the laudanum and lace hankies.For the good of the nation (and presumably white males everywhere, who need to have a champion in the race according to white male Carney), Elizabeth Edwards is no longer entitled to free will, self determination, and certainly not capable of making decisions about her own life. Nor is she entitled to respect for her choices which we think are honorable but are really just selfish. No, she and her husband owe it to white males everywhere to do the brave thing. Edwards must forthwith kneel by her bedside, teardrops falling on her porcelain hand as he scribbles love sonnets with parchment and quill. Because let's face it, she's got one foot in the grave.
Who the fuck does he think she is, Elizabeth Barrett Browning? What patronizing drivel. How thoroughly offensive.
Jane Hamsher and Elizabeth Edwards are cyberbuddies..... Elizabeth is no stranger to the internet. From an interview with Campus Progress in 2005:
CP: I hear you are an internet news junkie. What’s in your media diet?EE: After the recent election I’ve been spending a lot of time on channels that have to do with garden landscaping because it was just easier for me, less heartburn. I just get very frustrated listening to mainstream media, like they will report that the new budget increases money for Pell Grants. I just want to say, I beg your pardon? They’re cutting off 90,000 people from those grants, and it isn’t even part of the discussion.
I do listen to CSPAN in the car and Air American and Talk Left radio. I read the Washington Post and the New York Times. But I go to a lot of websites, I spend a lot of time on the internet. I get a lot of information from blogs, I have a whole list including Talking Points, Daily Kos, Democratic Underground and more. Sometimes I check out the right wing sites to see what they are talking about. I have a whole folder of sites and I open them all up every day and see what catches my eye.
CP: Any interest in being the next Wonkette?
EE: No. I don’t think I could do a blog everyday. You can’t just put up something every few days, you have to be really attentive to it and I don’t have that sort of time or energy. But that doesn’t mean I don’t participate. Sometimes I would post on blogs not under my real name.
CP: So you’re a secret blogger?
EE: Well, I used to do that. And no, I won’t tell you what sites I did it on. But I had to stop doing that after John started running. Now I sometimes participate under my own name. I participate in blogs and newsgroups – not just political ones but other issues too. I initially went to graduate school for English, so I am part of some newsgroups on the use of the English language, like alt.englishusage, people just love to argue about everything on that one!
In an NPR interview with Michelle Norris , where her warmth drapes around us like a cashmere afghan, Elizabeth talks about using
communities on the internet for solace while grieving for the death of her son and facing breast cancer. She's very authentic.
Recently, she almost found herself in a little hot water because of her internet saavy. There are some who suspect that she had a hand in hiring the feisty Amanda Marcotte from the blog Pandagon for blogmaster on her husband's website. If you scroll down on this clickie you can watch the right wing hatchet job.
Just in case you were wondering, Elizabeth Edwards is NOT Dakota ---but all of us here at Dakota admire her greatly and send her light.
Photo note: Orchids from the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens half way up the outdoor escalator that runs through the city.
Addendum: Jay Carney eats a little crow
Posted by Dakota at March 24, 2007 02:25 PM