Under fire as 'anti-Christian bigots,' Edwards staffers quit

Two aides to presidential hopeful John Edwards quit their jobs with the campaign following allegations that they used anti-Catholic language on their personal blogs.

Bill Donohue, president of the New York-based Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights, mounted a weeklong campaign to oust the Edwards staffers.

Amanda Marcotte drew Donohue's wrath for several statements posted on her Web site, www.pandagon.net. They included references to church support for "using the state as an instrument to force women to bear more tithing Catholics" and questioning what would have occurred if Mary "had taken Plan B" following impregnation by the Holy Spirit. "You'd have to justify your misogyny with another ancient mythology," wrote Marcotte.

On her blog, "Shakespeare's Sister," Melissa McEwan used vulgar language to refer to Christian conservatives.

Donohue threatened a "nationwide public relations blitz" attacking Edwards after the candidate said in a Feb. 8 statement that while he did not approve of their blog postings, he would not fire the campaign workers. "Had anyone on his staff used the 'N-word,' he or she would have been fired immediately," said Donohue. He referred to the two bloggers as "foul-mouthed anti-Christian bigots."

Marcotte resigned Feb. 12, McEwan Feb. 13.

It's not the first time Donohue's intervention has led to shake-ups in Democratic campaigns. In 2006, an assistant for religious affairs was forced to resign from the Democratic National Committee after Donohue publicized her support for removing the words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance. Donohue also criticized a staffer with John Kerry's campaign for her previous work with the anti-AIDS group ACT-UP, which Donohue blasted as anti-Catholic.

Various liberal Web sites, including Media Matters and Think Progress, accused Donohue of invoking a partisan double standard. They noted that in 2004, Donohue defended Bush Campaign religion adviser Deal Hudson after revelations (NCR, Aug. 27, 2004) that Hudson, as a Fordham University philosophy professor in the 1990s, engaged in an inappropriate relationship with an 18-year-old college freshman.

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