Ed-Words Hurt

The blogosphere is abuzz with the brouhaha over two lefty bloggers that were hired and apparently fired by the John Edwards campaign for anti-Catholic remarks made on their blogs. It seems the bloggers in question, Amanda Marcotte of Pandagon and Melissa McEwan of Shakespear's Sister, have written some things that aren't very...shall we say...diplomatic. Here's Marcotte on the virgin birth:

Q: What if Mary had taken Plan B after the Lord filled her with his hot, white, sticky Holy Spirit?

A: You’d have to justify your misogyny with another ancient mythology.

Charming.

Look, I'm all for people spewing whatever vile hatred that resides in their hearts on their personal blogs. Whatever. That the Edwards campaign failed to vet their new-hires more closely before making them part of the team seems odd, particularly when considering that Catholic voters are a key audience to which Edwards is tageting his populist message. Then again, this is the same guy who had to interrupt his busy schedule in the midst of building his 28,000-SF mansion in order to kick off his presidential campaign from New Orleans. So much for symbolism, John.

Mary Katherine Ham @ Townhall has a few observations. Here's one:

At 28,000 square feet and 100 acres, if there are two Americas, I'm sure John can pony up and house at least one of them.

UPDATE: It looks as though Edwards is keeping the bloggers on the payroll, after getting assurances "that it was never their intention to malign anyone’s faith." I'm not buying it. Either is the religious left.

Kathryn Jean Lopez wonders how the Edwards campaign would’ve reacted if Marcotte had said something equally offensive about Mohammed.