The two controversial bloggers hired by the presidential campaign of John Edwards have quit after people complained that they had written some things that were anti-Catholic. No, they weren't fired. They went on their own accord:
A second controversial blogger resigned yesterday from John Edwards's presidential campaign, a day after Amanda Marcotte quit amid criticism that her writings were anti-Catholic.
Melissa McEwan wrote that she made the decision, 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."
Edwards had decided last week to retain Marcotte and McEwan even while saying he found some of their writing offensive. McEwan, who had called President Bush's conservative Christian supporters his "wingnut Christofascist base," apologized for "letting down my peers" in the liberal community but said she had been the target of a campaign of "frightening ugliness."
As Mollie pointed out last week, this story goes to the heart of the debate among Democrats over what they are to do about religious Americans. What type of signal did Edwards send by keeping these employees even though their writings deeply offended many in America?
The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz, writing about the departure of the Marcotte on Tuesday, focused on the media aspect of the story. To Kurtz, who reports brilliantly on all things media, it's a story about bloggers with a tail of information that was dug up and used to change the political storyline. It's a legitimate side of the story, but I was hoping to see Alan Cooperman share the byline for this story because it is as much about religion as about new media.
The aspect of the story that has been missing from mainstream media coverage is the voice of the religious left, or the lack thereof. I haven't had the time yet to read the opinions of the religious left thoroughly (Religious Left Online had a thoughtful post here), so I won't make a judgement on their reaction. Let's just say it's one thing for Kurtz to quote the predictable Michelle Malkin or the folks over at MyDD.com, but why not find a few members of the famous religious left and see what they have to say?