In Defense of Amanda Marcotte
I have been very disappointed that the main actors behind recent hubbub about the Edwards campaign's hiring of two liberal bloggers, Melissa McEwan (Shakespeare's Sister) and Amanda Marcotte (of Pandagon), are either extremely misinformed or are cherry-picking evidence in order to lead people to a conclusion that is obvious false.
Melissa McEwan hasn't written anything remotely offensive
The critics of Melissa McEwan have tried to paint her and Amanda Marcotte with the same brush, but the most controversial things McEwan is said to have written are that 1) some of the most prominent Christian leaders regularly speak out against tolerance of gays and 2) that many conservative Christians leaders are obsessed with what goes on in people's private beds.
These are hardly controversial statements. The main critique of Melissa McEwan seems to be that she disagrees with the Religious Right and that she swears sometimes. These are not disqualifications for a Democratic (or even moderate Republican) primary campaign -- the fact that some say they are implies that they aren't being very truthful.
Amanda Marcotte is not anti-Catholic.
Much has been made of the allegations by Bill Donohue that Amanda Marcotte is somehow anti-Catholic. I've been a regular reader of Amanda's blog since before she even joined it, and I can say with certainty that Amanda is not anti-Catholic. She is a fervent feminist and atheist and is against all religions that teach that women should be subservient to men.
The Catholic League has been misleading in choosing from Amanda's site only excerpts that are angry at the leaders of the Catholic Church for their stance on birth control and on the role of women. But, in fact, Amanda has been equally critical of other religious groups that demean women, such as the Protestant "Quiverfull" movement. To cast her views as explicitly anti-Catholic is especially misinformed given that most American Catholics agree with her on the issues of birth control and the rights of women.
It particularly galls me to see that some have misconstrued disagreement with the official position of the Catholic Church as being anti-Catholic in an ethnic sense. This is a fallacy congruent with believing someone is an anti-Semite because they disagreed with the Likud political party. That fact of the matter is that the Catholic Church holds a number of extremely regressive views that manifest themselves in immoral policies (the prohibition against use of condoms is particularly unhelpful in the fight against HIV/AIDS), and there is nothing wrong with criticizing the Church about such issues.
Bill Donohue does not speak for all Catholics.Bill Donohue, leader of the Catholic League, has implied that somehow Amanda has offended all Catholics and has said that he will lead an extensive campaign to expose her so-called anti-Catholicism. It is worth noting that he doesn't speak for all Catholics (although he does pretend to). Frances Kissling, President of Catholics for a Free Choice, wrote the following in a letter the the New York Times:
"It would be unfortunate if John Edwards were to cave to the mindless bullying of groups like the Catholic League or even think that groups like it have any influence with mainstream Catholic voters ... Despite the Catholic League's attempts to paint all critics of the Catholic church as anti-Catholic, the reality is that comments by its own leaders do far more to the brand Catholics as bigots that any critic of the church could ever do."
She goes on to note that if Bill Donohue's own statements were to be subjected to the same treatment that he has given to Amanda Marcotte's, he would be branded anti-gay and anti-semitic.
Is being mean a firing offense?
A more honest critique of Amanda's writings is that she was being mean and purposefully attempting to offend the Religious Right with her vulgarity, her profanity, and her blasphemy and that this shows a lack of respect for "people of faith." But look, if a group of people is using their religious beliefs to try to take your rights away, why should you respect them?
Amanda was mean and petty to right-wing Christians, and that may be a firing offense, but it's not anti-Catholic and it pales in comparison with the rhetoric that conservative Christians use against groups they oppose. I find it very disheartening that being mean to the Religious Right may get you fired, but being mean to women, gays, and Muslims will not.