Sen. John Edwards’ wife, Elizabeth, is a frequent commenter in the far-left fever swamps of the Democratic Underground discussion forum (see, for example, here and here).

Yesterday, Mrs. Edwards surfaced on a DU thread about conservative radio talk show hostess extraordinaire Laura Ingraham, who underwent surgery yesterday for breast cancer. (Hat tip: Reader Eddie.) When the DUers started spewing their usual bile and wishing ill on Ingraham, Mrs. Edwards (a breast cancer survivor herself) tried to intervene:

I have been a Democrat for a long time, and part of the Democratic principles that attracted me as a young person and kept me a Democrat all these years is our compassion. Democrats are simply good and decent people. And good and decent people want everyone to do well — those who agree with them and those who do not. We fight for the right of voices with which we disagree to speak out, for the right of people to say things we don’t believe to be true, even for the right to be malicious and mean-spirited. If we fight for the right for LI to say what she says, how in the world can we use our disagreement with those words as an excuse not to be compassionate in her fight with cancer. Being willing to have her voice muted by illness is the same thing as not wanting her voice to be heard. It is not Democratic or democratic.

It was an admirable attempt by Mrs. Edwards to stop the ugliness–though she then goes on to criticize conservatives for their lack of compassion. A few commenters applauded Mrs. Edwards. And then it was back to spewing as usual:

She probably gave it to herself…

I don’t pray for Nazis or other Totalitarian Scum

I hope she goes into remission and fucking chokes to death.

And those were the ones that didn’t get deleted.

Update: Wickedly funny as ever, Laura’s website has a new post following her surgery yesterday…

Laura’s breast cancer surgery yesterday “couldn’t have gone better,” in the words of her surgeon Dr. Katherine Alley. Initial sentinel node testing done during surgery showed no signs of cancer involvement in the lymph nodes, and we all hope that this good news is confirmed by more in-depth tissue testing done over the next 48 hours. “The outpouring of love and concern coast-to-coast in prayer, emails, telephone calls has left me feeling more blessed than I can possibly convey,” said Laura Thursday morning from home. “I really don’t know what I did to deserve such kindness but I will gladly wrap myself in it,” she chuckled. “It’s weird but getting cancer has made me feel more blessed than I ever felt before, and I will do everything I can to return the generosity 100-fold when I am feeling a bit better.” According to Laura and her friends who were there throughout, the entire staff at the Surburban Hospital Outpatient Medical Center in Bethesda, MD was amazing. Absolutely top-notch! According to one of Laura’s friends, as she was being taken into surgery, she joked about whether the hospital was running a “two-for-one” surgery special–”a lumpectomy and a lift together–20 percent off!”