Defending My Sister's Honor

By now you may have seen the NY Times report that wingnut whinger Bill Donahue is pressuring the John Edwards campaign to fire his two bloggers.

The Catholic League, a conservative religious group, is demanding that Mr. Edwards dismiss the two, Amanda Marcotte of the Pandagon blog site and Melissa McEwan, who writes on her blog, Shakespeare’s Sister, for expressing anti-Catholic opinions.

Mr. Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, is among the leading Democratic presidential candidates.

Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, said in a statement on Tuesday, “John Edwards is a decent man who has had his campaign tarnished by two anti-Catholic vulgar trash-talking bigots.”

Mr. Edwards’s spokeswoman, Jennifer Palmieri, said Tuesday night that the campaign was weighing the fate of the two bloggers.

So Mel uses the F word occasionally.

I’m betting that if you check Donahue’s background, he’s not only said it he’s done it as well.

I’ve known Melissa McEwan as a blogging pal for a couple of years now. She’s often outspoken, even uses a few naughty words, but she is as far from a bigot as it is possible to be.

According to the NYT, Donahue is speaking for “The Catholic League, a conservative religious group.” I’m pretty certain he is wielding the political hatchet on behalf of the latter part of the group’s description, rather than the former. Dirty tricks by proxy are always more effective. (On this one, even conservative James Joyner agrees with me.)

Indeed, as Melissa herself points out, her degree is from Chicago's Loyola University. It seems unlikely to me that a supposed anti-Catholic bigot would choose to study at a Jesuit university! It seems far more likely that Donahue's handlers at the GOP simply didn't do enough OpFor research before setting out to tar with such a wide brush.

That the Edwards campaign is even considering bowing to the pressure of a man who defines the word "bigot" by looking in a mirror tells me a lot about the Edwards campaign, to be honest.

Mel, you joined the wrong team, hon.