UPDATE: The John Edwards presidential campaign has apparently chosen to deflect the inevitable firestorm of criticism headed their way by firing the foul-mouthed blogger Amanda Marcotte and another equally vile colleague, Melissa McEwan. This is not earning them points with the Democratic base who are evidently outraged (aren't they always) that Edwards would dismiss these exemplars of liberal values, but to have kept these two on would have been to subject the campaign to constant distractions and criticism to which it would have been difficult to effectively respond.
The question we have is why on earth did Edwards' people hire them in the first place? Is the Edwards campaign so tone-deaf to decency that they didn't see Marcotte and McEwan as a problem until people in the blogosphere started quoting them?
For an example of Marcotte's general disposition go here and scroll down. Caution: Not for children.
UPDATE on the UPDATE: It appears that reports that Mr. Edwards was going to relieve himself, so to speak, of the execrable blogger duo were a bit premature:
The [Edwards]campaign distributed written apologies from the two women, who stressed they were writing on personal blogs and not on behalf of the campaign. Edwards said he believes in giving everyone a "fair shake."
"I've talked to Amanda and Melissa; they have both assured me that it was never their intention to malign anyone's faith, and I take them at their word," Edwards said. Mr. Edwards is either incredibly gullible or incredibly stupid.
Here's a sample of what appears on Ms. Marcotte's blog, Pandagon in one of her screeds against pro-life Christians:
Q: What if Mary had taken Plan B [a contraceptive]after the Lord filled her with his hot, white, sticky Holy Spirit?
A: You'd have to justify your misogyny with another ancient mythology.
That Ms. Marcotte would claim to have not intended to offend anyone's religious faith with this remark tells us something about the sort of cesspools she likes to swim in, I suppose. That Mr. Edwards would take her at her word when she claims to have not intended to malign anyone's faith with remarks like this tells us that he is afraid to alienate the left-wing bloggers who find this sort of sleaze perfectly compatible with their own standards of decency, and who would have his political scalp were he to toss overboard two of their own.
HT: Captain's Quarters.
RLC