The Internet never forgets

If you do any wandering through the political blogs, no doubt by now you have heard of the furor around John Edwards appointment of a couple of political bloggers to his campaign staff.

The bloggers are Amanda Marcotte, of Pandagon; and Melissa McEwan, of Shakespeares Sister. Both women are — to put it mildly — vulgar, obscene, and profane.

This should be no surprise. I have noted for some time that certain areas of Blogworld seem to equate ‘edgy’ with the use of Ye Infamous F-bomb, especially if you can cutely mis-spell the word by swapping the middle two letters.

*sigh*

If quantity is your indication of ‘edgy’, then these two ladies are definitely on the high-speed/low-drag side of ‘edginess’.

I’m not sure about Ms. McEwan — I’m not getting paid to wade through cyber-space cuss matches — but from the little research I did into Ms. Marcotte’s postings it seems that the lass has a major case of the hips RE: organized religion (especially the Catholic Church), men (especially the accused Duke lacrosse players) and “The Patriarchy”.

That would be white men from the South, near as I can tell.

As an example, allow me to post a brief bit of whimsy from Ms. Marcotte:

“Q: What if Mary had taken Plan B* after the Lord filled her with his hot, white, sticky Holy Spirit?

A: You’d have to justify your misogyny with another ancient mythology.”

I’m not sure — is that a trifecta of insults, or just a twofer?

As one might imagine, some folks took a bit of umbrage at people with this kind of world-view being attached to what seems to be a major Presidential bid.

To be fair, it should be noted that both ladies wrote the controversial things before being hired on to the Edwards campaign staff; and that neither one of them have said anything controversial since being affiliated with Edwards.

Of course, in the spirit of fairness, it should also be noted that both ladies have been official Edwards Campaign Staff for less than a week.

Edwards issued a press release stating that he was “personally offended” by some of the comments made by each blogger, and that “intolerant language” would not be permitted in his campaign.

He went on to further state that he didn’t believe that the two ladies actually intended to malign anyone’s faith. A sentiment echoed in the not-quite-apologies issued by the ladies involved.

Huh.

As a cynical observer of the human condition, I have to ask a simple question:

If the targets of the profane ire of Ms. Marcotte and Ms. McEwan had been Islam; or Buddhism; or Wicca — instead of Christianity — would they have been let off with a warning, or would they be looking for new jobs right now?

If they had targeted black male Patriarchy or black male misogyny with the same gusto as they devoted to white males — would a simple apology be enough?

We’ll never learn the answer to that.

But we can guess.

LawDog

*Plan B is the shelf name for the “morning after pill” contraceptive

A couple of random thoughts
Oh, this is going to be fun.

16 thoughts on “The Internet never forgets”

  1. Yup, bringing these two upstanding ladies on board was probably one John E’s more solid political decisions. Hopefully, it’s going to be all downhill from now on? I’m sure there has to be some sort of ‘two Americas’ theme to all this, but I’m not sure where? Oh wait, here it is!

  2. The disturbing thing is you picked one of Marcotte’s more classy comments.

  3. The disturbing thing is you picked one of Marcotte’s more classy comments.

    I have standards.

  4. Heck I quite like her answer to that one.

    And mind you, all human semen is white, so uhm, I wouldn’t take that as a racial thing.

    Of course I haven’t read anything else by her, so she might yet be a total *fiveletterword*, but if you were trying to prove that, then you used a bad example.

    Of course, I’m over at the socialism side of the political spectrum myself. “Religion” wise… secular humanist(or just call me atheist, whichever.)

  5. I know why Edwards is keeping her around.

    This quote right here says it all:
    http://pandagon.net/2005/09/03/dear-racist-fucks-who-complained-about-looting/

    Amanda sez the following: “I wish I wasn’t a cum-guzzling boozehound.”

    It’s going to fun for the boys on the right giving these girls the duke lacrosse team treatment.

    Amanda and Melissa, time to bend over and prepare to feel the power of the patriarchy. It’s inevitable….just relax and enjoy it.

  6. Wow, I swear like a drunken sailor with Coprolalia but just for dramatic effect.

    However, I’ve never uttered anything as disgusting as those two “ladies” seem to enjoy doing.

    Edwards deserves the potty mouthed prostitutes, I hope they go far together.

  7. Heck, I’m an agnostic with neo-pagan leanings who wears a Mjolnir around his neck instead of a cross, and I’m offended by Marcotte’s choice of phrasing. These women (NOT ladies!) make Emperor Misha I’s rants seem PG-13 by comparison. Though to be fair, most folks would need a dictionary to recognize much of His Imperial Rottiness’ invective for what it is…

  8. He has to put it out in the public that he is “offended” by their language, he is after all from a bible belt state. I’m dissapointed that he is from my state. sorry guys.

  9. Your quote reminded me of a tale told us in Yorkminster Cathedral. Seems that one Church of England Bishop publicly proclaimed some doubts about Mary’s Virginity one Sunday morning. That night, a MAJOR storm broke over York like the vikings & then some. A bolt of lightning struck one of Yorkminster’s wings & burned it to the ground. The bishop was quietly retired soon after. The building had only just been repaired in 1995.
    The sacristan/tour guide said this with some relish.

    I’m waiting to see if something similar happens to the Edwards campaign. Might make things interesting.

  10. Quote from Albert Einstien (paraphrased)

    “The two most abundant elements in the known universe are hydrogen and human stupidity. And we’re not sure about hydrogen.”

    Nuff said

  11. The funny thing is, there are liberal bloggers who can write. You know, sentences and stuff. Without sounding like they escaped from “Goodfellas.” I sense the good-old-boy network (“Hey, can you hire my niece Amanda…”) or possibly the float-to-the-top-on-your-back strategy. Anyway, he has definitely thrown away his presidential aspirations. And that’s good. We don’t need the finger of someone with such poor judgement on The Button.

  12. being piqued by this battle of the blogs, I went and looked over both of their blogs, then went to Patrick Haynes blog.
    Obviously, Edwards didn’t do his homework…nor is he a student of history. I’m pretty sure that MOST of the wars ever fought were over religion or because of someones’ religion. In my opinion, they’re not bright. they’re like most liberals. Mean, ignorant and intolerant.

  13. “I’m pretty sure that MOST of the wars ever fought were over religion or because of someones’ religion. “

    Even the most cursory glance at a history book will tell you that is incorrect. It is one of those statements that get thrown around that has no basis in reality whatsoever. Just like the one that says more people have been killed over religion….blah blah blah. It has no basis in fact. In other words it’s horseshit.

  14. I heard last night on WBAP that these women had resigned.

    Thanks to you, lawdog, I’m sure.

    Russ

    Oh, by the way…. you haven’t mentioned your stance on the castle doctrine…

    see my blog http://kw5kw.blogspot.com/
    for my thoughts on the castle doctrine up for vote Texas.

    Russ

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