John Edwards Tolerates Anti-Catholic Bigotry and Vulgarity
John Edwards of North Carolina is a former United States Senator, the 2004 Democrat vice presidential candidate and a current first-tier Democrat presidential aspirant.
When it came to blogging and netroots coordinating, he hired two anti-Catholic bigots to promote his candidacy.
When their bigotry was called to his attention, he chose to stand by his anti-Catholic bigots.
To be sure, he said he would have used other words, but he kept Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan on his staff.
The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights had graciously given Mr. Edwards the benefit of any doubt in a February 6, 2007 press release calling for the two bigots to be fired.
The text of the press release, entitled "John Edwards Hires Two Anti-Catholics," explained the offensiveness of the two bigots, as follows:
"Catholic League president Bill Donohue is demanding that presidential hopeful John Edwards fire two recently hired anti-Catholics who have joined his team: Amanda Marcotte as Blogmaster and Melissa McEwan as the Netroots Coordinator. Here’s why:
“'Writing on the Pandagon blogsite, December 26, 2006, Amanda Marcotte wrote that "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." On October 9, 2006, she said that "the Pope’s gotta tell women who give birth to stillborns that their babies are cast into Satan’s maw." On the same day she wrote that "it’s going to be bad PR for the church, so you can sort of see why the Pope is dragging ass." And on June 14, 2006, she offered the following Q&A: "What if Mary had taken Plan B after the Lord filled her with his hot, white, sticky Holy Spirit," to which she replied, "You’d have to justify your misogyny with another ancient mythology."
“'On November 21, 2006, Melissa McEwan said on AlterNet that "some of Christianity’s most prominent leaders—including the Pope—regularly speak out against gay tolerance." On November 1, 2006, on her blogspot Shakespeare’s Sister, she referred to President Bush’s "wingnut Christofascist base" when lashing out against religious conservatives. On February 21, 2006, she attacked religious conservatives again, this time saying, "What don’t you lousy motherf---ers understand about keeping your noses out of our britches, our beds, and our families?’ Currently, the very first entry under "Greatest Hits" on her website [where she brags about being appointed to Edwards’ campaign] is titled, "On C---s". In her article she boasts that she is the "Queen C--- of F--k Mountain."
“'John Edwards is a decent man who has had his campaign tarnished by two anti-Catholic vulgar trash-talking bigots. He has no choice but to fire them immediately.'"
Alas, Mr. Donohue was mistaken in two respects: Mr. Edward proved he was not decent and that he did have a choice, by choosing NOT to fire them.
The Catholic League's February 8, 2007 press release, entitled "John Edwards Tolerates Anti-Catholicism," lambasted Mr. Edwards, as follows:
"Presidential hopeful John Edwards issued a statement today explaining why he is not firing Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan for making obscene and anti-Catholic remarks.
"Catholic League president Bill Donohue responds as follows:
“'John Edwards has apparently decided that there is more to be gained by aligning himself with the cultural left than by standing on principle and firing the Catholic bashers on his payroll. Had anyone on his staff used the "N-word," he or she would have been fired immediately. But his goal is to loot the pockets of the Soros/Hollywood gang, and they—like him—aren’t offended by anti-Catholicism. Indeed, they thrive on it.
“'When Mel Gibson got drunk and made anti-Semitic remarks, he paid a price for doing so. When Michael Richards got angry and made racist remarks, he paid a price for doing so. When Isaiah Washington got ticked off and made anti-gay remarks, he paid a price for doing so. But John Edwards thinks the same rules don’t apply to him, which is why he has chosen to embrace foul-mouthed anti-Catholic bigots on his payroll.
“'Edwards said today that "We’re beginning a great debate about the future of our country, and we can’t let it be hijacked." I have news for him—the Catholic League—not Edwards—will decide what the debate will be about, and it won’t be about the nation. It will be about the glaring double standard that colors the entire conversation about bigotry.
“'We will launch a nationwide public relations blitz that will be conducted on the pages of the New York Times, as well as in Catholic newspapers and periodicals. It will be on-going, breaking like a wave, starting next week and continuing through 2007. It will be an education campaign, informing the public of what he did today. We will also reach out to our allies in the Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist communities. They worked with us before on many issues, and are sure to do so again. What Edwards did today will not be forgotten.'"
Bravo for Bill Donohue and The Catholic League!
And a suggestion: please call upon other presidential candidates, Democrat and Republican, to condemn both the anti-Catholic bigotry of the two Edwards bloggers AND Mr. Edwards' decision to keep them on.
The next day (February 9, 2007), The Catholic League issued this follow up press release, entitled "Look What John Edwards Has Done":
"Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, issued the following statement today about John Edwards’ decision to retain two staff members who have a history of making obscene attacks on Christians:
“'Over the next week, we will contact hundreds of organizations throughout the nation informing them of the kind of people that John Edwards is proud to have on his payroll. We will give them the exact comments made by Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan—nothing will be censored. They will read for themselves the most hate-filled, blasphemous and obscene remarks—all of which were brought to the attention of Edwards—that have ever been written by any employee of a presidential candidate. The purpose of this communication is to ignite a national discussion on the incredible double standard that exists regarding bigotry in American life.
“'We have a core list of approximately 150 Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu organizations that we have previously allied with on several issues. We are now in the process of expanding this list by adding at least another 600 organizations, many of which are non-sectarian; we feel certain that they will be as outraged as we are about this mind-boggling development. In fact we know so: We have already received support from such groups as The Blue Dog Democrats, Family Research Council, Fidelis, the National Democratic Ethnic Leadership Council, as well as from individuals like Howard Teich, former official with the American Jewish Congress. This is just the beginning.
“'We either have one shoe that fits all when it comes to fighting bigotry, or we have a phony, politically correct approach to the subject. That is the ultimate issue, not John Edwards.
“'Contacting our allies is only one part of our strategy. As I said yesterday, I have developed a game plan that will keep this issue afloat for the remainder of the year.'"
President aspirants should be addressing what Mr. Donohue described as "the incredible double standard that exists regarding bigotry in American life."
Unsurprisingly (to me, at least), Ms. Marcotte is an ardent (and vulgar) supporter of the Duke rape hoax.
Amanda Marcotte on the Duke case (Pandagon, her website, January 21, 2007):
"Naturally, my flight out of Atlanta has been delayed. Let’s hope it takes off when they say it will so I don’t miss my connecting flight home.
"In the meantime, I’ve been sort of casually listening to CNN blaring throughout the waiting area and good fucking god is that channel pure evil. For awhile, I had to listen to how the poor dear lacrosse players at Duke are being persecuted just because they held someone down and fucked her against her will—not rape, of course, because the charges have been thrown out. Can’t a few white boys sexually assault a black woman anymore without people getting all wound up about it? So unfair."
Keeping Ms. Marcotte on board obviously is more important to Mr. Edwards than having a respectable blog mistress.
Amanda Marcotte on herself and Mr. Edwards:
"This is both my first post to the Edwards blog and my announcement that I'm joining the presidential campaign for John Edwards for 2008. I'll be taking over the job of Blogmaster (mistress?) over the course of the month of February.
"The main two questions this brings up are: Why me? And why John Edwards?
"As for me, I run and write for a blog called Pandagon, which is one of the top liberal political blogs on the internet and known mostly for insightful and often humorous political blogging. We pride ourselves on being an issues-oriented blog, instead of a blog that mimics the 'horse race' coverage of politics that dominates so much of the mainstream media. Prior to my stint at Pandagon, I was the sole blogger at a blog called Mouse Words, which won the 2004 Koufax award for Best New Blog. My obsessions in politics include women's rights, ending the war in Iraq, environmentalism, and restoring the American dream where climbing out of poverty and having a middle class lifestyle is an option available to everyone.
"Why John Edwards? Well, look again at that list of political obsessions and you have your answer. John Edwards is the only Democrat in the field of potential nominees who is interested in pursuing the right policies in all these areas. Especially important to me is that he is interested in fighting poverty in America and putting that middle class dream in the hands of all Americans."
So Ms. Marcotte fancies herself "insightful," "humorous" and "Issues-oriented"!
Michael J. Gaynor has been practicing law in New York since 1973. A former partner at Fulton, Duncombe & Rowe and Gaynor & Bass, he is a solo practitioner admitted to practice in New York state and federal courts and an Association of the Bar of the City of New York member.
Gaynor graduated magna cum laude, with Honors in Social Science, from Hofstra University's New College, and received his J.D. degree from St. John's Law School, where he won the American Jurisprudence Award in Evidence and served as an editor of the Law Review and the St. Thomas More Institute for Legal Research. He wrote on the Pentagon Papers case for the Review and obscenity law for The Catholic Lawyer and edited the Law Review's commentary on significant developments in New York law.
The day after graduating, Gaynor joined the Fulton firm, where he focused on litigation and corporate law. In 1997 Gaynor and Emily Bass formed Gaynor & Bass and then conducted a general legal practice, emphasizing litigation, and represented corporations, individuals and a New York City labor union. Notably, Gaynor & Bass prevailed in the Second Circuit in a seminal copyright infringement case, Tasini v. New York Times, against newspaper and magazine publishers and Lexis-Nexis. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed, 7 to 2, holding that the copyrights of freelance writers had been infringed when their work was put online without permission or compensation.
Gaynor currently contributes regularly to www.MichNews.com, www.RenewAmerica.com, www.WebCommentary.com, www.PostChronicle.com and www.therealitycheck.org and has contributed to many other websites. He has written extensively on political and religious issues, notably the Terry Schiavo case, the Duke "no rape" case, ACORN and canon law, and appeared as a guest on television and radio. He was acknowledged in Until Proven Innocent, by Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson, and Culture of Corruption, by Michelle Malkin. He appeared on "Your World With Cavuto" to promote an eBay boycott that he initiated and "The World Over With Raymond Arroyo" (EWTN) to discuss the legal implications of the Schiavo case. On October 22, 2008, Gaynor was the first to report that The New York Times had killed an Obama/ACORN expose on which a Times reporter had been working with ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief.
Cover
•
Commentary
•
Books & Reviews
•
Climate Change
•
Site Links
•
Feedback
