Public Eye
February 7, 2007 2:33 PM

The Problem With Harnessing The Blogs

By
Brian Montopoli
Topics
In The News
(AP)
The Catholic League is demanding that John Edwards fire a pair of liberal bloggers, Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan, who recently signed up with the Edwards campaign.

The bloggers' crime? They're "anti-Catholic vulgar trash-talking bigots," according to Catholic League President Bill Donohue. ABC's Terry Moran has a roundup of some of the pair's comments, which they made before they joined Edwards. Among them was this, from Marcotte, on the Catholic Church's position on 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.
Media Matters notes that Donahue has his own history of incendiary speech, including this: "Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. It's not a secret, OK? And I'm not afraid to say it. ... Hollywood likes anal sex. They like to see the public square without nativity scenes. I like families. I like children. They like abortions."

Great stuff on both sides, really.

The Edwards campaign is now "weighing the fate" of the bloggers, according to the Times. The story has kicked up a firestorm in the blogosphere: "Apparently, there is a new standard that any blogger who has made controversial or profane remarks in the past is unsuitable to work for a political campaign," writes Glenn Greenwald. On the other side of the political spectrum is Dean Barnett, who writes: "I can't believe that Marcotte had become so comfortable in the left wing echo chamber that she actually believed her past didn't preclude her from publicly entering a mainstream presidential campaign…[and] I really can't believe that the Edwards campaign apparently didn't vet a high profile hire." Memeorandum has more.

I think we're going to see more and more stories like this as the campaign continues. Candidates who saw Howard Dean harness the power of the Internet in 2004 know they need to reach out to the blogosphere. But the bloggers who get the most attention are often the most incendiary and partisan. If a campaign wants someone who is truly plugged in, it risks seeing that blogger's past words used against the candidate.

The campaigns should know all this by now, of course. As the Times dryly points out, the bloggers have stirred up trouble by "doing what bloggers do — expressing their opinions in provocative and often crude language." And this type of conundrum predates blogs – campaigns have long had to decide to what degree they want to embrace those more controversial figures in their base. The Internet hasn't made their balancing act any easier.

UPDATE, 9:30 AM: According to Salon.com, Marcotte and McEwan have been fired.

UPDATE, 2:00 PM: But according to the AP, they haven't!

Add a Comment
by sanfelz February 8, 2007 1:14 AM EST
The terrorists are the evangelical fundamentalist religious idealogues that are super-patriotic believers of myths and of country first. The longtime nasty Mr Donohue would be an ardent Shia or Ba'athist if he was born in Iraq. Indeed, to whom does Mr Donohue owe his allegiances?
These two hires/fires will not cause the downfall or success of Mr Edwards.
Reply to this comment
by ronmwanga February 8, 2007 12:47 AM EST
Edwards fired the bloggers, which, I guess is what he felt he needed to do to be viable in the Bible Belt where he is supposed to be competetive. But it cuts both ways as Edwards wants to be the candidate of College students and the Moveon.org crowd, the inheritor of the Howard Dean mantle. With this and his opposition to gay marriage, he just may be losing steam. This could be a pivotal moment in the Edwards campaign, and then the question becomes: With all these early announcements, doesn't that give each candidate ample time to implode?
Reply to this comment
by wirro-2009 February 7, 2007 10:43 PM EST
You fail to mention that Terry Moran is the brother of Rick Moran of www.rightwingnuthouse.com

Rick Moran is known for his own hateful screeds. Terry plagarized almost word for word this rightwing propaganda from his brother and placed it on ABC's website.

Now I think that's a story, don't you?
Reply to this comment
by one_american February 7, 2007 9:23 PM EST
As far as America should be concerned, putting an end to terrorism trumps all of the "Millennium Development Goals" heretofor, and should be a the very top of the list. As it stands now, it didn't even make the list.

How completely short sighted are those who created this list?

Let's let those countries who have no terrorism problems tackle that list...
Reply to this comment
by katiel7 February 7, 2007 8:43 PM EST
Well I don't know these bloggers but I do think that Edwards needs to open his eyes to what he supports- one of those things should be the Millennium Development Goals. In fact I demand that our next president supports the Millennium Development Goals.
Reply to this comment
by one_american February 7, 2007 7:50 PM EST
Word is that Edwards has fired the two bloggers, Amanda Marcotte, formerly of Pandagon, and Melissa McEwan, of Shakespeare%u2019s Sister.

Good move, but a little late.

Should have been more careful, Mr. Blowdried.
Reply to this comment
by theanchores February 7, 2007 7:14 PM EST
This has nothing to do with suppression of free speech and everything to do with Edwards simply not doing his homework before hiring these bloggers. Let's not blame "the Catholics" for this firing. Bloggers have every right to say what they wish. A candidate has a responsibility to determine whether those bloggers can well-represent what they stand for. Your report is rather narrow. There was much more there than so-called "anti-Catholicism" that could have given Edwards trouble, including some seriously over-the-top ranting about birth control, free choice, the SCOTUS and the Duke Rape Case.

The bloggers are free to speak and they will continue to do so. The Candidates need to look closely at who they hire. That's all.
Reply to this comment
by one_american February 7, 2007 6:44 PM EST
Edwards is going down in flames.

That's what you get for hiring liberal kooks, like Ned Lamont did.

America is waking up to the evils of liberals in America.
Reply to this comment
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