Tony Snow And Elizabeth Edwards: The Cancer Is Focusing On The Party
March 28th, 2007 by JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief
This has been a wrenching — and revealing — week for many Americans of both parties and no party.
First, Elizabeth Edwards’ cancer returns and she and her husband Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards decide that given the fact we all are not guaranteed more than the present and our yesterdays, they will continue his campaign for President.
Now, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, a star among conservatives and on Fox News for years before he took the stress-inducing job of White House press secretary (but seemed to enjoy the give and take most of the time) goes in for an operation and learns that his cancer has now spread to his liver.
On a more personal note, a very close relative of mine is now valiantly and uncomplainingly battling a particularly brutal form of cancer and it is one of several reasons why my posting output here fell off until recently (when I decided to follow HIS example and try to focus on the tasks at hand and making full use of the moment). I learned about this in late January when I cancelled all my shows for a weekend and went to visit him…but suspected the reason why he wanted me to visit ASAP.
The wonderful thing about the new Wild West of the 21st century called the Internet is that ideas, thoughts and arguments all move within a megasecond. And anyone hooked on reading websites (like yours truly) could see early on that the VAST majority of politicos, readers and weblog writers realized a truth:
When it comes to some things such as learning someone has a potentially terminal illness the REAL CANCER is to remain focused on their political party or ideology.
It’s not the time to try and use the news to score political points or either partially or openly root for that person’s physical deterioration or death…because you simply disagree with him, her or his or her husband or wife on political issues.
In fact, there were some on the right and some on the left who seemingly couldn’t put aside the angry passions of mega-polarized America. But most Americans we are sure (and would bet) didn’t do that at all. And, certainly, if you read weblogs you could see most weblog writers and commentors wished these people well.
Tony Snow and Elizabeth Edwards do not live in a vacuum and they’re not engaged in the political world 24 hours a day. They’ve touched many people in their non-political moments. They’ve laughed and cried over personal events in their challenging lives. They most certainly had positive non-political impacts on some young people. They have friends and relatives whose warm relationships and long friendships with them don’t hinge on their political positions. And if you hired a detective you could place money in Vegas that you’d find that they are well-liked by people who may bitterly disagree with them — who would even likely wish them failure in their political goals.
I did shows at a middle school last year where a student got in trouble because he brought a hat and just would not take off his hat in school. He didn’t care what happened, he didn’t care what school freedoms he lost, he simply would not take off his hat.
When things like this happen, it’s time to take off the political hats.
And although there are some who still won’t take off their hats, most Americans all over the country have been taking off their political hats and wishing two fellow flesh-and-blood human beings well.
And tonight they may say a prayer…or two.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 28th, 2007 at 4:30 am and is filed under Ideology, Elizabeth Edwards, Tony Snow, Medicine, Republicans, Politics, Health, Democrats, Blogging. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
March 28th, 2007 at 5:44 am
Your attempt to equate Limbaugh’s remarks concerning how Elizabeth Edwards illness affects the campaign with the vicious, hate-filled screed of Bouley is disingenuous to say the least.
Sometimes there is no balance.
Don’t diminish your credibility in a desperate attempt to find the middle ground.
March 28th, 2007 at 6:11 am
Maybe it’s a case of the glass half empty or half full, but I’m becoming more and more disturbed by the polarized visciousness; I can’t match your calm about it. I keep thinking of the children reading this garbage on the Internet and fear that the next generation will accept it as normal.
On this as on so many things, I hope I’m wrong.
All the best to your family.
March 28th, 2007 at 6:37 am
Well said. Sending this to many on the right and left.
March 28th, 2007 at 8:23 am
“Your attempt to equate Limbaugh’s remarks concerning how Elizabeth Edwards illness affects the campaign with the vicious, hate-filled screed of Bouley is disingenuous to say the least.” - jwest
What a mental case.
March 28th, 2007 at 8:43 am
Josh,
If you took the time to actually read the remarks linked by Joe, you might be able to understand why his article was so misleading.
Try to get the facts before voicing a knee-jerk reaction.
March 28th, 2007 at 10:48 am
Funny, without jwest’s ranting I would never have heard of of Bouley and I read the The Advocate.
March 28th, 2007 at 10:49 am
Rush Limbaugh, OTOH, is quite well known and has a history of obnoxious rants.
March 28th, 2007 at 11:19 am
Holly,
Bouley’s rant was published on the Huffington Post though, which has quite a large audience. Interestingly though, he has removed the offensive part of it and in the comments he takes the victim role, claiming to have striken the comments due to death threats he received.
I agree with you on Limbaugh’s history though. I think in this one case, his offense wasn’t as bad as the other guys but his career average isn’t insignificant.
March 28th, 2007 at 11:36 am
I think arguing “He’s 110% as bad as I am,” or “that was only 75% as bad as the other” guy is silly. What’s the point? What do you win?
There is no scoreboard.
Additionally, use perspective. If my brother’s ranting in the street to kill Snow (and he isn’t, but just if he is), it’s definitely a harshar statement than Limbaugh’s. But I bet Limbaugh’s is the more significant one that has a larger effect.
March 28th, 2007 at 11:40 am
I agree with you on Limbaugh’s history though. I think in this one case, his offense wasn’t as bad as the other guys but his career average isn’t insignificant.
Well he does have stature within the conservative community , probably because he’s is fearless of being politically incorrect. Usually he goes off on one of his offensive rants, and waits. I notice he always says “If I’m wrong, then I’ll apologize”
If it elicits too much outrage, he apologizes, but that never stops him from trying to push the envelope of good taste at the very next opportunity. Probably because he knows that, even with the apology, his message got out.
I never heard of this blogger either, but I’m glad they removed their offensive comments. The internet has unlimited freedom of expression, but also unlimited opportunities to bring out the very worst of some people, who usually do not have to bear the consequence of a ruined career—-As in Limbaugh’s situation, they do it because they can get away with it. Maybe its just emotional immaturity.
March 28th, 2007 at 11:55 am
C. Stanley,
I hope your intellectual honesty is an inspiration to Joe.
His subtext for this article should have been: “Why does the left attract such hateful people?� While the news of Elizabeth Edwards evoked nothing but sympathy and best wishes from the right, Tony Snow’s condition released the ugliness so prevalent on the left.
To add insult to injury, the story of liberal on-line talk host Eliot Stein’s sick antics against Cathy Seipp (as she lay dying of cancer) underscores the extent of this primarily one-sided derangement.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,261916,00.html
March 28th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
[…] Joe posted earlier about bloggers and other media figures being nasty to Tony Snow and Elizabeth Edwards about their recurrences of cancer. […]
March 28th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
For one brief shining moment there was harmony on this site yesterday, as there was general consensus that vicious attacks are bad, whether they come from the Left or the Right.
It was a lovely moment that, of course. could not be allowed to last.
Now the voices keeping score and nitpicking about the relative weight of one sorry scum vs another are back. IMO that kind of attitude is very much part of the problem.
March 28th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
I’ll try to continue that harmony and agree with you, domajot because I don’t think it’s helpful to keep score either. What I think is important though, if for neither side to act as though the hate and vitriole isn’t significant on their own side. As long as both sides admit that there are haters on their side and are willing to condemn that, I don’t really care if it happens more on the right or left and I think that this is one of the reasons that it’s not helpful to compare: you end up making the folks in the middle feel defensive and start taking sides, which just fuels the extremists even more.
I hope that some of the left leaning commenters can understand that sometimes when we ‘rightwingers’ bring up the left haters, it isn’t to say that your side is worse or that the fact that both sides do it excuses it. It’s because we don’t hear a whole lot of people from the left or the middle making unequivocal statements against that kind of stuff; instead there’s either no response at all or an excusatory one (as in, “well, I think that people said those things about Cheney because they are worked up about their opposition to the war and they really think that if Cheney died then more lives would be spared”, which is the same excuse that the abortion clinic bombers used.)
Jwest, I understand your feelings on this but I still don’t agree that it’s so important to rank the various grievances and I think that can do more harm than good.
March 28th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
JWEST: Here’s a surprise for you. I stand by what I wrote. I happen to believe what I wrote. You don’t. But I wasn’t attempting to strike any balance. I mean every word I have written on this topic.
March 28th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
Joe,
I believe that you believe every word you wrote.
Trouble is, you can only back up half of it. You want desperately to believe the hate is roughly equally divided so that your position of equal repulsion is justified. That would be an admirable position, if it were only true.
If you want to cite specific instances of right wing talk hosts or blog writers actively wishing for the death of someone, please do so we can join hands and condemn them together. But when the hate crime is solely one-sided as it is here, don’t drag the non-offending side in to make yourself feel better about being a democrat.
March 28th, 2007 at 4:55 pm
CS-
There is something you should understand about those who are not strictly on the Right. They encompass a vast array of people. of different political shades, most of whom have never heard of nor visit the sites called out here.
Although I had heard of Wonkette, after looking at that site once or twice a long time ago, I realized it had nothing to offer me.
The other sites I’ve never looked at, nor do I plan to.
And I want to emphasize that you should not make the mistake of labeling me an exception.
I am as ordinary as ordinary can be.
Ordinary people do not get their news from the Enquirer, and when we cruise the Internet, we are looking for information, not a hate club. So, when I don’t immediately denounce what some loony has said on a blog, it’s probably because I, like all my friends and acquaintances, don’t know it’s there.
March 28th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
I have to agree with doma- I never go to Wonkette and have never heard of any of these bloggers. But, it does make me defensive when commenters like jwest try to make points like the one he is trying to make now.
I’ve seen a lot of ugliness on both sides- no I don’t know if it is exactly equal, but its out there. Rush may not wish for anyone’s death, but he does go too far as does Ann Coulter, who does make those kind of comments. I certainly condemn it if I see it, but like Doma, I don’t go to those sites or know anyone who is that much of an extremist, so its a little remote for me.
March 28th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
I really don’t have time to remake the wheel. I LOVE it when people read into what I wrote what THEY want to read into it because of their own clear (when you read the comment you know) political agendas. Unless I’m mistaken, I used specific words in this post in refering to those two people on the left and the right. Where did I take a scale and say each one is exactly the same? And, frankly, both of these examples show people who need to take yoga or re-examine their values. After reading your post, I made an appointment with my eye doctor because I simply can’t see in there where I stated that cases they cases are totally the same. But the people I linked to on the left and the right in fact could NOT put their political biases aside and see these two people as human beings. I have to choose between doing posts right now with some emergencies going on and answering comments from some folks who insist that I wrote things that I never wrote. So I’ll let you run your comments saying I said the two cases were totally the same, or that I insulted both of their mothers, or made comments about their pets, taste in furniture, etc. I’ll also see a hynpotist because maybe I’m looking at what I wrote and how I linked them and cannot just see where I said anywhere that the two were totally the same. Also, if I do a post and you feel I haven’t backed it up sufficiently, again, sorry. I move on to other posts when I write a post. If you’re upset due to your own political preferences (you can tell Rush fans) I can’t do anything at all about that. I would again, though, thank people who find all of these profound meanings and words I never used put into my posts. And here, all along, I always felt that when I write something what I write is actually in the POST, but there are apparently these invisible words.
My post was NOT about which side had MORE — and each side will differ. The fact is: no matter who does “more’ it is truly contemptable on both sides. And, yes, I DO believe it and if you think that’s terrible, I guess it’s a burden I will have to live with. I really could care less if one side is more detestable and extreme. The fact is neither The Edwards’ nor Snow deserved the unfeeling, politically-based comments written and spoken about them. PERIOD.
March 28th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
Jwest- Does it have to be exactly equal on both sides for you to condemn the mean-spiritedness of both sides? I can understand if you are partisan, wanting to believe that your side would never say or wish these things- but its not realistic. Also its natural to notice it more when hatefulness comes from the right if you are a liberal, and from the left if you are conservative. Why not condemn both extremes?
March 28th, 2007 at 10:24 pm
Joe,
It’s a beautiful post, and just what everyone needed.
Forget about the rest.
March 29th, 2007 at 4:48 am
I think one problem here is that in this particular instance, I really do believe that the reaction from the left to Tony Snow’s cancer included more examples of hate speech than did the reaction from the right to Elizabeth Edwards’ cancer and the Edwards’ decision to remain in the campaign. I haven’t heard or read exactly what Rush said, but my understanding of it was that it was along the lines of accusation of political opportunism about the decision to continue campaigning, not anything to do with wishing ill will or deterioration of her health. That really does present a contrast in terms of the sliminess of the statements, even though I still of course disagree with Rush making any negative statement at all (after all, assuming he did as I think he did, then he was also an opportunist to capitalize on their misfortune).
My point is, that I can see why jwest would take exception to these two things being spoken about in a way that implied “both sides doing this”. I can also see Joe’s point (and I’ve had the same reaction to some things I’ve said, because by bringing up a negative about a Democrat I’ve been accused of excusing the behavior of Republicans when I did not state or even imply that at all). But consider this: if someone were to make a statement condemning terrorism, and then gave examples of al Qaeda/Hezbollah/PLO actions and then also gave examples of US/Israeli actions, most of us would balk at that. Most of us also agree that the US and Israel aren’t completely innocent, but we’d consider it inappropriate to even imply an equivalency by listing those things side by side.
So while I sympathize with Joe’s exasperation at something being inferred that he didn’t mean to imply, I can also understand jwest’s inferrence (and agree in principle that the two acts were of different calibers in this instance).
But Kim shows my point, that as soon as we get into a contest of which side is worse, people get defensive of their own “team” which is counterproductive. If we want people to begin recognizing this stuff more on their own side and rooting it out, we have to stop rubbing the noses of the innocent people in it (and BTW, domajot, I understand completely what you are saying and of course I believe you that you simply don’t see much of this stuff on the sites you visit- likewise for me on the right side).
Kim, I do believe that you want to condemn this stuff on both sides but I have to be honest that sometimes your comments indicate that you aren’t completely willing to do so without offering some excuse (even though you probably don’t mean it that way). The other day, for example, you made a comment saying that people who wished ill on Cheney were doing so because they were angry about his policies; well, we really can’t use that as an excuse for personal hatred or this will never stop. Rush and Coulter say the hateful things that they say because they’re angry at liberal policies too, but that doesn’t make it OK. I think in the past, I’ve had a tendency to do the same thing when discussing inflammatory/hateful comments from the right because I can see why the people made the comments, but I’ve recognized that sometimes it comes across as though I’m excusing rather than just explaining and so I’ve tried to be more clear in condemning things.
Joe, if your still reading this thread, I just wanted to take an opportunity to say thanks for all that you do. I can’t imagine how you keep up with it all.
March 29th, 2007 at 6:47 am
I think everyone no matter which side, right or left, should be embarrassed for even having this discussion. Why can’t we just respect their privacy and leave them alone. Jesus!!
March 29th, 2007 at 6:58 am
Joe,
Thanks for putting the comments back up.
CS,
Thanks for understanding what I was trying to convey. You should start a website dedicated to translating Conservative English into Liberal English.
Kritter,
“Why not condemn both extremes?�
I do. But in this case it didn’t happen.
March 29th, 2007 at 6:10 pm
March 31st, 2007 at 5:36 am
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,Could you kindly pass this information to Mr.Tony Snow.
I am aware that he suffers from cancer.
I can heal your employee to improve his health without operation, and also cure his C hepatitis. We' ve had a lot of positive experience in treatment cancer without operation to people on high positions as well.
With 100% guarantee.
I am ready to help him.
My contacts in Moscow are:
Please contact me by email: firsov@mail.ru
+ 7(495)3205850
+ 7(915)3388377
Firsov Vasily
“Intellect” Co.
March 31st, 2007 at 5:37 am
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
Could you kindly pass this information to Mr.Tony Snow.
I am aware that he suffers from cancer.
I can heal your employee to improve his health without operation, and also cure his C hepatitis. We’ ve had a lot of positive experience in treatment cancer without operation to people on high positions as well.
With 100% guarantee.
I am ready to help him.
My contacts in Moscow are:
Please contact me by email: firsov@mail.ru
+ 7(495)3205850
+ 7(915)3388377
Firsov Vasily
“Intellect” Co.