Edwards' Campaign Blogger Quits Amid Controversy

Feb. 13, 2007 — -- Amanda Marcotte, a campaign blogger for presidential candidate and former Sen. John Edwards, quit the campaign Monday, after the incendiary language on her personal blog became too much of a distraction. Marcotte's controversial writings about Christianity continued on her personal blog, Pandagon, even after Edwards had talked to her about no longer making such postings.

The criticism "was creating a situation where I felt that every time I coughed, I was risking the Edwards campaign," Marcotte wrote on her personal blog Pandagon.

The Edwards campaign had no comment.

The controversial postings of Marcotte and another Edwards campaign blogger, Melissa McEwan, had aroused the wrath of conservatives and subjected the Edwards campaign to a rash of unwanted media attention.

Edwards had decided to keep the women on staff to give them a "fair shake," though he repudiated their offensive postings.

Edwards had found himself in a 21st century politician's bind -- he did not want to offend the liberal activists of the Internet, the so-called "netroots," whose support Democratic politicians want to cultivate. But Marcotte's comments had also become a distraction for his campaign, one that risked alienating Catholic voters.

Edwards stuck with his employees, derided their comments and had hoped the flap would die down.

But on Monday, in a review of the film "Children of Men," Marcotte wrote that the "Christian version of the virgin birth is generally interpreted as super-patriarchal, where God is viewed as so powerful he can impregnate without befouling himself by touching a woman, and women are nothing but vessels."

On the Internet, outrage erupted.

Within the Edwards campaign, staffers were surprised that Marcotte was continuing to use questionable language about Christianity even after the flap of a week ago.

Then, before the Edwards campaign could even react, Marcotte submitted her resignation.

In her farewell, Marcotte took several shots at Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, who repeatedly had called for Edwards to fire both bloggers for remarks he deemed anti-Catholic.