Westboro Baptist Church members protest at Elizabeth Edwards funeral

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Would it be rude of me to write that the members of the Westboro Baptist Church, including those few who showed up to protest at Elizabeth Edwards's funeral on Saturday, can go fuck themselves?

No? Alright then.

They have every right to speak their minds, however small and bigoted, but they can still go fuck themselves.

I'm sorry, or not, but I just don't think there's a more appropriate way to put it.

Rest in peace, Elizabeth Edwards

By Edward Copeland

Elizabeth Edwards lost her battle with cancer at 10:15 a.m. Eastern time this morning. She was 61.

Here is The New York Times obituary.

Low, low Limbaugh

By Capt. Fogg

I was going to begin by asking what it might take to finally discredit Rush Limbaugh, but perhaps that's not a question any sane person could answer. His personal life is so full of reprehensible behavior, his professional life is so full of reprehensible and irresponsible slurs, misrepresentations and fabrications that nobody not predisposed to irrational hatred could possible see him as a reliable commentator -- and yet he remains wildly popular and highly paid. The answer, I'm afraid, is that nothing can discredit a liar amongst a population of liars, bigots, fools, idiots, and madmen. That's a rather large population, it would seem.

Nonetheless, the statements he makes as he bounces up and down on his prodigious rump would stun anyone with a minimum of decency and honesty. He latest, as you may have heard is to defame Elizabeth Edwards for causing her husband to cheat on her. Who, he implies, would want an intelligent woman who is capable of expressing her opinion?

It just seems to me that Edwards might be attracted to a woman whose mouth did something other than talk,

giggles the gelatinous Limbaugh. But it just seems to me that's exactly what Rush's mouth does as he fellates the limp wits at the bottom of America's barrel. It seems that way to Keith Olbermann, too. Of course, the Republican Right dislikes Olbermann and would portray him as some sort of irresponsible radical, but so far I haven't seen one of them risk seeming to back Limbaugh by criticizing his indefensible and disgusting performance.

What about it Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin -- are you listening?



(Cross-posted from Human Voices.)

The grace and dignity of Elizabeth Edwards

By Michael J.W. Stickings

From a diary post at Kos: "Our family has been through a lot. Some caused by nature, some caused by human weakness, and some – most recently – caused by the desire for sensationalism and profit without any regard for the human consequences. None of these has been easy. But we have stood with one another through them all. Although John believes he should stand alone and take the consequences of his action now, when the door closes behind him, he has his family waiting for him." (Read the whole thing.)

Elizabeth will no doubt be criticized, as she is being criticized already, for doing the wrong thing and saying the wrong things in response to what her husband did. But what is the right thing to do, the right thing to say? There are moralizers all over the place who claim to know what is right and who heap criticism on those who do not agree, but in this case, as in so many others, there is no such right and wrong, and Elizabeth has responded with her characteristic generosity, maturity, and courage.

And as I put it yesterday, this is now a matter for John, Elizabeth, and their family to deal with. It seems to me that they are well on their way to recovery.

Obama-Edwards 2008-????

By Michael J.W. Stickings

No, not that Edwards. And, no, not as a running mate. But it's a potentially significant partnership nontheless. Here's what Obama said in Raleigh today about health-care reform:

By the way, I'm going to be partnering with Elizabeth Edwards, we're going to be figuring all this out.

As TPM's Greg Sargent notes, that wasn't in Obama's prepared remarks. And it's an intriguing development, given Elizabeth's past criticism of Obama's health-care reform plan. Sargent: "For an idea of just how effective Elizabeth Edwards might be as a surrogate on health care for Obama and against McCain, take a look at this take-down by Elizabeth of McCain's plan." Indeed. She's extremely impressive.

And I think she's be a fantastic addition to the Obama campaign.