Edwards stands up

Took him a little while to do it, but in the end John Edwards did the right thing.

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said Thursday he was personally offended by the provocative messages two of his campaign bloggers wrote criticizing the Catholic church, but he's not firing them.

Edwards issued a written statement about the fate of Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwen, two days after the head of the conservative Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights demanded they be fired for messages they wrote before working on the campaign.

The campaign distributed written apologies from the two women, who stressed they were writing on personal blogs and not on behalf of the campaign. Edwards said he believes in giving everyone a "fair shake."

Edwards' statement is here, Marcotte's is here, and McEwen's is here. I'd have liked something a little stronger from Edwards, not to mention sooner, but he hits the main points and basically gets it. I still don't know who I'll vote for in the primary, but he's still on the list.

This isn't over, however. Just because it was Edwards' turn in the barrel this week doesn't let the other contenders off the hook. If they don't realize that sooner or later they'll be exactly where Edwards was, they're deluding themselves. While it would be ideal for them all to issue some kind of statement in support of Edwards, that's probably too much to ask. What's not too much to ask is for them to not buy into this bogus line of attack for their own gain. Any Democratic contender who sides with Bill Donahue and criticizes Edwards for not firing Marcotte and McEwen will lose my vote just as surely as Edwards would have had he caved. Bill Donahue is not your friend. You can't appease him. You can only fight him. Whether you do that on your terms or his is up to you. Anybody who doesn't get that is not who I want representing the Democratic Party next November.

Now then. When will we be taking that closer look at some of the genuinely shady characters on other campaigns? Or at William Donahue, for that matter? It's only fair, after all.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on February 08, 2007 to The making of the President