My Life as a Rightwing Target

I've got a new piece at The Guardian's Comment is Free here.

Predictably, the early comments appear to be of the "you can take it, but you can't dish it out" variety, in spite of the fact that I haven't, actually, ever dished out a death threat, or the "you caved" variety.

And, though I left it in comments, I'd like to repost a thought here, too: What those who believe I (or Amanda) 'caved' don't seem to understand is that from Day One, this situation just kept escalating. When Donohue went after me, I didn't quit. When Malkin went after me, I didn't quit. When the rightwing blogosphere went after me, I didn't quit. When the mainstream media went after me, I didn't quit. When someone from another Democratic campaign went after me, I didn't quit. When Bill O'Reilly went after me, I didn't quit. And after all that hadn't made me quit, the threats poured in.

No one can seriously believe it would have just ended there. This was not a game I ever could have won. Amanda said, sadly, she quit with the hope that with her "scalp tacked to his wall," Donohue would leave me alone. He didn't. Neither did O'Reilly, nor Malkin.

And the more attention the story got, the fuller my inbox became with contemptible, threatening shit.

If you think I 'caved,' you just don't get it. They weren't going to quit until I did—and the next step was my address getting published. It's happened before, and I've no reason to believe it wouldn't have happened to me.

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