I don't know what the protocol on linking to AP stories is, but this one is so ridiculous that you must read it for yourself:
"Edwards' Wife Blasted by Democrats"
That's headlining AOL.com right now. Not Teddy Kennedy or Michelle Obama's amazing convention appearances. Not the Georgian leader's new accusations against Russia. But a story about supposed bickering between Daily Kos and Elizabeth Edwards. Both Foxnews and CNN are carrying the "story" on their front pages. I don't see it on MSNBC.
That's right folks, comments to a blog post are now being treated as national news and evidence of a major rift in the party. And who's the bad guy in all of this, according to the AP: the insensitive hacks at Daily Kos.
Two real names are mentioned as evidence of such a momentous news story, both of them minor and neither directly related to the incident or the party.
"I think she's complicit," said Brad Crone, a Raleigh-based Democratic consultant. "Obviously, she knew. While she's the victim, she clearly didn't stand in the way of the cover-up."
and
"It's a setback for both of them," said Chris Lehane, a Democratic consultant who helped President Clinton through his cheating scandal. "The question for her — as well as for him — is what is their foundation? What gives them a platform to engage in public issues?
Crone is the only direct voice of antagonism in the piece, aside from the few anonymous commenters. Lehane just seems to be playing the part of a consultant which, shockingly, is his job title.
But watch how the AP unfolds its story:
Two weeks after a devastating revelation sent her husband into political exile, Elizabeth Edwards isn't getting the steady sympathy usually afforded to a woman scorned. . . .
It seems an odd way to treat a woman with incurable cancer wronged by a cheating husband, the latest in a series of deep hardships in life that includes the death of a teenage son.
"It seems an odd way." No one is quoted as to whom this all seems so very odd and wrong. Mike Baker's hitpiece is a morality tale disguised as a real news story. And who is the villain?
We are, apparently.
In a post on the liberal blog Daily Kos, where Edwards has her own diary, she pleaded for privacy and later seemed to explain why she stuck by her spouse and his presidential ambitions.
Some responded to the affair with words of kindness, while others angrily suggested that keeping the secret was no less a sin that the one committed by her philandering husband.
Since then, her life has been completely shattered according to the AP. By a few commenters on an enormous website that overwhelmingly supported her during her toughest moments.
Elizabeth Edwards is famously a denizen of the Internet. But she has not posted under her own name at Daily Kos since that day, nor has she posted anything on the Web site of the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank in Washington where she writes about health care.
A quick search reveals that Elizabeth Edwards has only posted one other diary besides the one asking for the media's (THAT'S YOU, AP!) distance [edit: Edwards has posted under a few other names three other diaries from the summer of 2007. Still not the deluge the AP makes it seem. See bottom for links]. If this is incorrect, please let me know. For a person that's only written a few diaries, not writing any more shouldn't really be very surprising, especially when media outlets, the real people to blame for the Edwards' seclusion, keep on hounding them.
And just to cement the fact that this is AP concern trolling to try and discredit Daily Kos as a bunch of cold-hearted wackos, nothing actually has happened to Elizabeth Edwards except her becoming a bit more camera shy:
A spokeswoman for the center [for American Progress], Andrea Purse, said Elizabeth Edwards still has a job there, but declined to comment further about her future role.
Another disgusting AP bit of "journalism," but this takes it way too far. This has become personal now. This has become a disgrace. Mike Baker and the AP should be ashamed.
Thank G-d for people like droogie.
edit: Some people in the comments are noting the positive aspect of this: DKos is getting on the nerves of AP. DKos is making something like progress, then.
edit x2: Hey, first time on the rec list! Thanks to everyone for supporting this story and not the AP's!
edit x3: CityLightsLover diaried the story earlier today, nominating Brad Cone for Worst Person in the World.
edit x4: ksh01 points out another diary by Elizabeth Edwards, and demotarian adds two. These diaries are all from Summer of 2007.