One Edwards blogger resigns

Regarding Amanda Marcotte, one of the two Edwards bloggers who came under attack by alleged Catholic leader Bill Donohue: Last week she was staying but now has announced she's leaving. From Pandagon:

I was hired by the Edwards campaign for the skills and talents I bring to the table, and my willingness to work hard for what’s right. Unfortunately, Bill Donohue and his calvacade of right wing shills don’t respect that a mere woman like me could be hired for my skills, and pretended that John Edwards had to be held accountable for some of my personal, non-mainstream views on religious influence on politics (I’m anti-theocracy, for those who were keeping track). Bill Donohue—anti-Semite, right wing lackey whose entire job is to create non-controversies in order to derail liberal politics—has been running a scorched earth campaign to get me fired for my personal beliefs and my writings on this blog.

In fact, he’s made no bones about the fact that his intent is to “silence” me, as if he—a perfect stranger—should have a right to curtail my freedom of speech. Why? Because I’m a woman? Because I’m pro-choice? Because I’m not religious? All of the above, it seems.

Regardless, it was creating a situation where I felt that every time I coughed, I was risking the Edwards campaign. No matter what you think about the campaign, I signed on to be a supporter and a tireless employee for them, and if I can’t do the job I was hired to do because Bill Donohue doesn’t have anything better to do with his time than harass me, then I won’t do it. I resigned my position today and they accepted.

While it's a shame that Marcotte was slimed not only by alleged Catholic leader Donohue but that portions of the media blithely played along, in the end this might be best.

Like it or not, the instant one starts taking a paycheck from a campaign the rules change, at least for now. As many have noted, political blog readers are the most motivated and highly interested readers out there. They understand that terms like "Christo-fascist" are a sardonic retort to the idiotic right wing term "Islamofascists." Taken out of context and tossed around by a reporter from a national media outlet, "Christo-fascist" does seem offensive.

We have a peculiar and sometimes uncertain relationship with the party and its candidates. Generally, Democratic officials and activists are supportive of blogs and from what I understand sometimes love it that we can say things they can't. But like anything, it can be a double-edged sword. You can't possibly write tens of thousands of words over the course of years without saying something edgy or outrageous, unless you are the most boring blogger in history.

Marcotte is a talented, witty writer in a field that needs far more female writers. Edward's loss is our gain as readers. And as Marcotte points out in her post, the netroots stood up big time to Donohue. He's on notice, and this isn't over, not by a long shot. Anything that a Democrat can legally do to sink Donohue should be done. The so-called Catholic League needs to be exposed for the extremist, partisan group that it is.

(Props to Eric C. Barnett, who noticed the item first and said plainly, "This sucks.")