I regret to say that I have also resigned from the Edwards campaign. In spite of what was widely reported, I was not hired as a blogger, but a part-time technical advisor, which is the role I am vacating.
I would like to make very clear that the campaign did not push me out, nor was my resignation the back-end of some arrangement made last week. This was a decision I made, with the campaign's reluctant support, because my remaining the focus of sustained ideological attacks was inevitably making me a liability to the campaign, and making me increasingly uncomfortable with my and my family's level of exposure.
Either way, the damage to Edwards is done, the lack of judgment in the original decision to hire these two indicates the type of judgment he and the members of his team has.
[End Update]
There are quite a few posts that I am working on, but I figured I would start the days with the fluff piece....
The other day I wrote my obligatory Edwards/bloggers post, which was about John Edwards hiring a blog mistress for his campaign blog and his lack of judgment in picking one that practiced hate speech on a regular basis on her personal blog.
Read the previous post to catch up and see some of this womans previous works and why John Edwards showed an extreme lack of good judgment in hiring her, because I am not going to rehash it.
As I pointed out in that post, a personal blog is just that...personal.
With that said though, a presidential candidate must remember that who they "associate" with or hire to represent them, does just that.... represents them and right or wrong, if you lay down with a flea ridden dog, you will get fleas. That is a fact of life.
Now, I have only been blogging since Sept. 2006, so it is understandable that I had never heard of this Amanda Marcotte before the writing of that last post on this subject, and after this post, probably never will again...
Well today, this blogger announces that she resigned from the Edwards campaign blog.
Because I had the nerve to be critical of the Catholic church's stance on birth control and abortion---nevermind their political opposition to distributing condoms to fight HIV, a stance that has helped usher thousands and possibly millions to their untimely deaths---I've gotten a number of letters from people who call themselves "Christians", as Bill Donohue also calls himself. Chrisitians are people who are supposed to follow the behavior and teachings of Jesus Christ. I mention this, because it seems to me that therefore, when Christians are contemplating an action that is morally questionable, it appears they should consult the Bible before acting.
That is the starting paragraph of her "announcement".
Here is an example of what she categorizes as "critical of the Catholic Church's stance on birth control". From Terry Moran.
ON THE CATHOLIC TEACHINGS ON BIRTH CONTROL:
Last year, Marcotte blasted the Catholic Church's position on birth control: "Q: What if Mary had taken Plan B after the Lord filled her with his hot, white, sticky Holy Spirit? A: You’d have to justify your misogyny with another ancient mythology."
Critical huh? Understatement of the year award goes to........... Mandy girl.
From the Wapo article about this:
Every major presidential candidate has hired one or more bloggers as a way to tap into the network of online activists who can generate considerable buzz, and donations, in a campaign. But many of these bloggers have a long cybertrail that leaves them vulnerable to criticism in the more buttoned-down environment of national politics.
I would point out here that although many of might use a curse word now and then, and many of us are quite outspoken, the specific nature and amount of actual hate speech that could be found from Marcottes personal blog goes much farther than what I have seen on most sites, left or right leaning.
More from the Wapo piece:
Among other things, Marcotte had written: "The Catholic church is not about to let something like compassion for girls get in the way of using the state as an instrument to force women to bear more tithing Catholics." She also questioned, in explicit language, what would have happened if the Virgin Mary had taken the emergency contraceptive called Plan B.
Last month, Marcotte wrote of the Duke University rape case: "Can't a few white boys sexually assault a black woman anymore without people getting all wound up about it? So unfair."
McEwan, whose status with the Edwards campaign is apparently unchanged, has referred to President Bush's conservative Christian supporters as his "wingnut Christofascist base."
In a statement last week, Donohoe said: "John Edwards is a decent man who has had his campaign tarnished by two anti-Catholic vulgar trash-talking bigots."
So, for me, one who never heard of this woman before this firestorm and will probably never have a reason to read anything else from her, this was all about Edwards lack of judgment or to better state it... whoever was put in charge of hiring a blogger for his campaigns blogs, lack of judgment.
If a presidential candidate can screw up such a simple decision, can we really trust them to make decisions that affect our national security?
Not this kid.
Michelle Malkin has a great roundup on reactions from around the web as well as examples of liberal blogs that were also offended at the type of hate speech Marcotte practices.
More from Ace.
This has been the fluff piece of the day. Now on to writing about issues in todays news.......
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