Mapes: 'Ha-Ha: Right-Wing Bloggers Don't Matter Any More'

Mary Mapes is in gloat over-drive.  Dan Rather's erstwhile producer, the woman behind Memogate, is beside herself with joy at what she sees as the impending death of the conservative blogosphere.  

It's her expectation that Barack Obama will win the presidency that has Mapes so hopeful.  Annotated excerpts from her HuffPo column, The Monster is Dying [emphasis added]:

• This whole thing is starting to feel a lot like the climactic death scene at the end of a 1950s monster movie.
• Palin actually resembles that old monster movie staple -- the beautiful-but-bookish brunette working as a lab assistant for the older scientist whose irresponsible experiments lead to tragedy.

Gee, with one or two emendations, couldn't that be a description of . . . Mapes herself?

• Americans aren't responding to the old plays -- the fake fears, the faux outrage, the conservatives who yell "Communist" at the news cameras, the pompous right-wing bloggers who once held such sway. I know all too well how scary and effective these old tactics were in 2004. Today, they are toothless. Ha, ha. Nothing makes me happier than seeing once swaggering players like Powerline, Free Republic and Little Green Footballs forced onto the sidelines, left to limply watch this campaign pass by like a parade in which they play no meaningful part. They just don't matter anymore.

Not that any more proof was needed, but this latest hyper-partisan rant leaves no doubt as to Mapes's motives in Memogate.

In any case, what does it say about someone that "nothing" makes her happier than witnessing the supposed destruction of others?  Moreover, I simply don't see the logic behind Mapes's merriment.  Did the election of George Bush in 2000 and 2004 doom the left-wing blogosphere and its MSM affiliates like Olbermann?  Of course not. A hated Republican in the White House was the best thing ever to happen to the Kos-'n-Olby crowd.  It could be a lot less fun for them if-and-when their guys wield all the levers of power.

In contrast, no right-thinking right-winger welcomes the prospect of a President Obama.  But for the conservative blogosphere and opinion-makers like Rush, an Obama presidency would surely be manna from heaven: a guaranteed, sure-fire, endless supply of grist for our mills. As we begin the task of pushing that pendulum, we'll be more relevant than ever . Mary might beware premature schadenfreude.

Note: Ed Driscoll astutely observes that Mapes pays an unintentional compliment to the conservative blogosphere in calling it a "monster."  When Memogate broke, she claimed never to have heard of the sites that were on her case.  Now, they're monsters: albeit ones with a short shelf-life, in Mary's mistaken view.