One anti-Catholic Edwards campaigner quits, Donohue calls for termination of second

Feb 13, 2007 / 09:25 am

Following the first day of a “public relations blitz” on the part of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, one of the chief campaign bloggers for Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards quit Monday evening.  The resignation of Amanda Marcotte came on the same day that the Catholic League publicized a new post she made regarding the Virgin Birth of Jesus.

Marcotte posted on her personal blog that the criticism "was creating a situation where I felt that every time I coughed, I was risking the Edwards campaign." Marcotte said she resigned from her position Monday, and that her resignation was accepted by the campaign.

Immediately after Edwards announced that he would hire Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan, two well-known liberal bloggers, to run his on-line campaign, Catholic League President Bill Donohue uncovered a long history of anti-Catholic and anti-Christian blogging by the two.  Donohue immediately called for Edwards to fire the two “foul-mouthed bigots.”

On Feb. 8 Edwards released a statement, stating that he had spoken with the two women and would not fire them.  He also said: “that kind of intolerant language will not be permitted from anyone on my campaign, whether it’s intended as satire, humor, or anything else.”

However, on Monday Marcotte’s reviewed the film “Children of Men” on the blogsite Pandagon, and included in her review an attack on the Christian belief in the Virginal Birth of Jesus.
 
“The Christian version of the virgin birth is generally interpreted as super-patriarchal,” she wrote, “where god is viewed as so powerful he can impregnate without befouling himself by touching a woman, and women are nothing but vessels.”

Following Monday’s comments, Donohue, who had pledged a “public relations blitz” to attack “the glaring double standard that colors the entire conversation about bigotry,” called again for Marcotte and McEwan’s firing.

With her resignation on Monday night, Marcotte took a parting shot at Donohue and credited him with influencing her decision to quit. "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."

The Catholic League President, however, has said Marcotte’s resignation is not enough.
“It is not enough that one foul-mouthed anti-Christian bigot, Amanda Marcotte, has quit. Melissa McEwan must go as well. Either Edwards shows her the door or she bolts on her own. There is no third choice—the Catholic League will see to it that this issue won’t go away.”

“The Edwards campaign is in total disarray and the meltdown will continue unless McEwan is removed from his staff,” Donohue wrote. “The fact that Marcotte had to quit suggests that Edwards doesn’t have the guts to do what is morally right. He has one more chance—fire McEwan now.”

On Monday, the Catholic League also compiled a web page full of the anti-Catholic writings of Edwards’ staffers: http://www.catholicleague.org/linked docs/warning.htm