The "courage" of the anonymous

Anonymous. Bravest commenter on the internets. He (she, it?) paid me a visit today in the comment section of an old throwaway post. He was pithier than usual leaving one word -- cunt. Now I'm seeing this new meme emerging among the Edwards' bashers that could similarly summed up in a single word -- pussy.

Chris Bowers catches today's full quote from an anonymous source in a piece from Slate.

[A] top adviser to a rival campaign took a shot [at Edwards]: "Apparently they're more afraid of the bloggers than they are the Catholics."

And earlier Tobacco Joe, (whom I often disagree with but nonetheless adore), also paints Edwards' choice to keep his bloggers as a sign of weakness, implying that he simply caved into the leftie bloggers instead of the rabid righties. But that's so wrong.

Edwards showed tremendous courage in this decision. In rejecting the calls from the wingnuts for the bloggers heads, he refused to give the smear machine, which enjoyed great success in taking down candidates in its heyday, the power to dictate his choices. He didn't show fear of Leftopia with this choice, rather he demonstrated a trust in, and a willingness to listen to, his constituency.

It's not that surprising his rivals are driven into taking cowardly and anonymous potshots at him now. If I were them, I'd be afraid of his bravery too. It could carry him a long way in this race.