Thanks for the comment! You may be right about the obstacles presented by cowtowing to the fundamentalists, but I was heartened by Ezra’s take on the Edwards healthcare plan. And thanks for agreeing to drop a few notes on Amanda’s behalf; I have no doubt they’ll be way more eloquent than mine.

Unfortunately, I don’t think this knee-jerk reaction from Edwards is surprising, given his history of courting some imagined Christian center (as I recall, he tried playing to the Christians last time around, too).

Not surprising, but certainly offensive. At best, the Edwards campaign is being ineffectually managed, with either poorly considered decision-making or low confidence in decision-making delegates. At worst, the campaign is poorly managed *and* Edwards regards freedom of speech issues as a political convenience. Somewhere between these ignoble poles navigates the campaign, firing two bloggers for the same reason they hired them, then encouraging the media to wait and see if they’re rehired after some token capitulation to the religious right. Edwards must be frustrated that he hasn’t been able to deliver an “I voted against them before I voted for them” speech yet.

For my part: I was someone principally interested in a single issue in the 90’s: healthcare. Now, despite his campaign focus on domestic issues, I have to toss out any notions that Edwards can effectively serve the nation’s healthcare interests,
since the dogma of the Christian right runs rather specifically contra sound practice in health and medicine. If this is the kind of cowing the Edwards campaign is capable of regarding their bloggers (with all due respect to our national decentralized media), I shudder to think what this type of rectitude (or lack thereof) would yield in a high stakes executive or judicial nomination process post-election.

In any case, I wish the Panda the best luck possible in all this. She’s better than they seem to think (and I’ll come up with a few more direct communiqués as per P.A.M.’s generous recommendations).

“Surely I made a joke about burquas at some point in time that could be misconstrued as anti-Muslim. Wonder why that hasn’t gotten any play.”

Was it that joke where you say, “Surely I made a joke about burkahs and then Shirley asked me not to call her Surely”?

Surely, you aren’t serious, because Cirius hates that, Shirley.

As soon as they find the Muslim Malkin (hey, that sorta sounds good…), you can be sure they’ll be throwing crap from the Quran at you and anyone else who dares to avoid drinking the Kool Aid…

Meanwhile, if Edwards even thought about firing her, I’d have to think that would be the end for him. The rap he has to overcome is that he’s too green and too soft, and if he caved to the ten most unhinged people on the planet over this, he’d clearly be a joke. Michelle Malkin and her epigones are calling the shots for his campaign? I realize he’s not showing any signs of mistakenly believing these peoople are sane or otherwise worth listening to, I’m just saying.

You know, all K-Lo’s loony column does is reinforce what I already knew anyway: It doesn’t matter what the subject is, whether it’s Duke or Catholicism or mice or disco balls, so long as it can be used to point fingers and shriek, “Ewwww, feminist!” at Amanda.

All the wingnut players in this one know exactly how sunk they are if a Democrat hopeful not only wins, but wins on the support of feminists. “Pants-shitting terror” doesn’t begin to describe how they feel about that possibility. See, they thought they’d only have Hillary to worry about. They were (continuing the streak they’ve been on since I can’t count back that far) wrong.

What if you apply for a job and every comment you’ve made on a blog can be reviewed for ideological purity? What if the contents of every email you’ve sent or received are archived for public access? What if your browsing history were available?

The analog for this, IMO, would be having public access to everyone’s DNA. There has always been a group of people who are certain nothing bad would result from this. The rest of us see it an endless source of pain, grief, and mischief.

I hope Amanda retains her job, and I hope these desperate attacks don’t get her down. I’ve honestly been shocked by the virulence, the pettiness, and the childishness of the whole thing…