[...] he is much better fit to this role of spanking Ethereum with a vulnerability and shorting than I am. I am not set up for that sort of effort.
If Vitalik fights back with blacklisting, then MP will have to elevate this to another level because that is destroying the fungibility of crypto-currency, which is something MP is adamantly against. And MP has very significant resources at his disposal. I estimate in the 100,000s of BTC, but I wrote 50,000 to be conservative in my guess.
If he has enough scratch to throw at this, he could probably kill Ether. Just as someone with enough motivation and resources can kill BTC. Because money is magic.
And no, I don't think that "Ego is for little people," but pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
In other words, I have no idea what sort of people Vitalik hangs with, so talking shit on the interweb prob'ly ain't the smartest thing ever.