The Bitch Queen of FireDogLake

Or why it ain't easy standing with the colored folks

Having waded head-on into the politics of race in this lovely country of ours by taking a rather active role in New York's Eleventh District Democratic Primary, I really am ready to leave that entire discussion behind and move on to greener pastures. There is, after all, a midterm election coming up, and there are republicans awaiting our unkind attention.

That sentiment dried up, however, when people began tossing about rather unsubtle variants of "uppity nigger". Witness this:

So, Liza, dear, before you go assailing your betters [...], maybe you should head back to eighth grade English and, you know, learn to spell and to write in a linear fashion. Although judging from your other posts that I read, mediocrity may be a chronic condition for you.

This anguished screed (missing a how or two) is a response, of sorts, to two endeavors by our worthy Liza: one, calling Jane Hamscher an idiot over a caricature of Lieberman in blackface she published on FireDogLake – I should add that this evaluation of Jane is reasonably widely shared among political professionals – and two, the recent fracas over a group of bloggers invited to lunch with President Clinton in Harlem. That lunch, as Liza pointed out, did not include any people of color despite being held in Harlem, where the former President maintains his offices.

I'd say that is cause for some reflection; not least because I'm in a good position, owing to the recent primary, to tell you that there are significant cleavages between the races even in our enlightened Progressive blogtopia. Take it from someone who's been called a fag race-traitor: we have some work left to do on these shining shores of freedom. So perhaps an attack on Liza, for bringing up a question of race, that primarily focuses on class isn't necessarily the most promising response. Some might go so far as to call that particular avenue of attack jawdroppingly asinine, given that it reinforces the original criticism, but who am I to argue with my betters?

The larger issue I see in this dispute is this: bloggers are being invited into the corridors of power, and this is a perilous development in some ways. Personally, since I'm a part of the political class here in the Imperial City, I tend (or hope I tend, but the flesh is weak) not to be too awe-struck in the presence of electeds and candidates; but I understand when someone who has never experienced the proximity of power would view that closeness as more intoxicating than it should be. Just a hint: anyone who wants to meet Bill and Hillary should buy a ticket to Charlie Rangel's annual birthday bash, where you can rub elbows all night long with the powerful. Plus, you can do so while sipping cocktails. One of these years, I do plan to go.

Long story short: Liza raises issues having to do with class, race and exclusion. It behooves us, as Democrats, to listen to the points being made. As far as mocking her grammar is concerned, really, the poster on FDL ain't no Dostoyevsky, either. Certainly, I'd expect a bit more of substance from someone who writes for a site most recently in the news for a racist caricature; but again, who am I to argue with my betters? Or to hope that all of us - betters or not - can get out of our sandbox and turn our attention to where it belongs, on the other side?

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