Amanda Marcotte, a campaign blogger for presidential candidate and former Sen. John Edwards, quit the campaign Monday, although for the wrong reasons. She said that criticism of her language on her personal blog “was creating a situation where I felt that every time I coughed, I was risking the Edwards campaign.” What she did not acknowledge — and i would not expect her to acknowledge — is that her language, and, more than that, her beliefs, are deeply offensive to many for good reason.
Her distasteful comments seem to me to stem from several interconnected roots:
* Anti-Catholicism, almost always in season in America, since 1607, and particularly high among liberals.
* What might be called feminism-out-of-control, wherein feminists feel free to say anything, however stupid or derogatory, because they are unaccustomed to having anyone except the easily-dismissed right wing call them on their extremism.
* A materialist blindness that “just knows†that spiritual teachings – particularly in the form of myths – are superstition, and probably superstition deliberately fostered by shadowy figures (men!) with an agenda.
All three themes are easily illustrated.
1) Here she is on the “real reason” behind Catholic opposition to birth control:
“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.”
2) In a review of the film “Children of Men,” she wrote that the “Christian version of the virgin birth is generally interpreted as super-patriarchal, where God is viewed as so powerful he can impregnate without befouling himself by touching a woman, and women are nothing but vessels.”
3) Finally, notice the self-pitying tenor of her resignation. (My italics added.) She seems unable to recognize that her own extremism caused her downfall:
“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 cavalcade 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 like John Edwards.I like the fact that he initially decided to keep her on staff to give her a “fair shake” — and I like the fact that he publicly, and I think sincerely, repudiated their offensive postings. I know that if he had fired her, he would have paid dearly in liberal support he needs, but I hope that after the latest revelations of her incurable bigotry on several fronts, he would have fired her anyway. In any case he is better off without her.
(Needless to say, this does not imply any endorsement of Bill Donohue, whoever he is. Yes, I know that he is president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, but that doesn’t tell me who he is, and I am not much motivated to find out. He isn’t the issue here; her bigotry is.)