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RSSAlthough the Democratic candidate for president declined to fire her last week, Catholic League President Bill Donohue was determined to keep the matter alive, scrutinizing Marcotte's every word and then using her writings against Edwards.
The post that finally led to her resignation was a review of the movie "Children of Men" on her personal blog, Pandagon. "The Christian version of the virgin birth is generally interpreted as super-patriarchal, where God is viewed as so powerful he can impregnate without befouling himself by touching a woman, and women are nothing but vessels," she wrote, according to press accounts (the site was down this morning).
Donohue responded with a statement reiterating his complaints about Marcotte. She resigned before Edwards officially responded.
Last week, the former North Carolina senator said that some of the writing on Marcotte's blog -- as well as that of a second blogger hired by the campaign, Melissa McEwan -- "personally offended me." But, he said, he wasn't forcing them out because he believes "in giving everyone a fair shake."
But it was only a matter of time until Marcotte left; it seems highly unlikely that McEwan will last long either.
The reality is, bloggers and politicos aren't a natural fit. Politicians go out of their way to avoid offending anyone, so much so that it's hard for many voters to know what the candidates' positions even are. Many bloggers -- especially ones with large followings -- are aggressively opinionated. Rather than watering down their views, they tend towards overstatement, presenting their arguments in a style more inflammatory than is politic.
RSS FEEDS
I don't think I missed the point at all:
"She’s got every right in the world to do so. And those that are offended have a right to argue back."
And that's what I said:
"If Bill Donohue has a problem with someone’s blog, comment on their blog with concise, intelligent rebuttals."
I never said Catholics should shut-up and not be offended. But to involve her employer into the argument is not called for. She may represent a political campaign but she is not the politician. What you are trying to say is that everyone working for John Edwards should have the same opinion set as that of 76,000,000 Americans. What matters is that John Edwards share the opinion set of 76,000,000 Americans, at least if he's looking to get elected.
I would think 76,000,000 Americans would be more concerned with how EDWARDS is going to run the country and not the ideas of the person who leases him his campaign headquarters (and this is about what this amounts to).
Why can't you see that?
Of course, in those cases I would hope the equivalent of Donohue would (as Jason suggests above) respond by commenting, or perhaps by setting up their own blog supporting an opposing view--or, hmmm, how about turning the other cheek? Or some other equally Christian action?
This does look like an attempt to encourage suspicion of bloggers' credibility, especially as the blogosphere is going to be increasingly important in this election.
Um, why can't you see that?
Come on, that's a sloppy, unprofessional throw-away line that served no purpose in this piece.
Why can't you see that?
She also represents a political campaign, one that doesn't need to offend the sensibilities of potentially a large amount of 76,000,000 Americans.
Why can't you see that?
The key word to pull from the above quote is "personal blog". Whatever happened to freedom of speech? Regardless of whether or not you agree with it, it's Amanda Marcotte's right to post it and had I been John Edwards, I wouldn't have accepted her resignation and would have gone to the mat to protect her right to post what she did. And as long as she's not yelling "Fire" in a crowded theater Amanda still has a right to free speech.
If Bill Donohue has a problem with someone's blog, comment on their blog with concise, intelligent rebuttals. Don't go "run and tell teacher".
Equating the Holy Spirit to a penis (" What if Mary had taken Plan B after the Lord filled her with his hot, white, sticky Holy Spirit?") and calling Catholicism an "ancient mythology" is bound to ruffle a few feathers amongst the country's 70,000,000 Catholics. One doesn't have be a pal with Bill Donohue to think that statements like that are over the line.