Well good for them, but honestly I did not like Edwards' response. He basically conceded that Donohue was right and that "he's set the girls straight now". Not the forceful reaction to an attack that I was looking for.

But hopefully this means that the story is over.

Get ready for another 18 months of milquetoastiness. It should be a lot of not-fun!

I think that took balls on Edwards' part. I'll give credit where credit is due, even though I don't care for him.

Humph. Right action, wrong words. Edwards was too rough on them; certainly he could have done better than such a terse, stern piece; he could have talked about freedom of expression, about the right to speak your mind, about diversity, and about fierce dedication to democracy and freedom, and ESPECIALLY pointed fingers at DONOGHUE, quoted his bigotry, and called him out for the bully he is.

I'm pretty disgusted.
They took this long to respond, and THAT'S the response?!?

This could so easily have been used as a soapbox opportunity, a chance to say something bold and decisive, like:
"I'm sorry if some of my staffers' writings offended some people, but America was founded on principles like the freedom of speech, therefore I support their right to make the statements they made, whether I personally agree with those statements or not. I support the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I support America and the principles on which it was founded."

Let Donohue stuff that in his pipe and smoke it. There's no comeback to that statement that doesn't implicitly say, I oppose freedom and hate America. We should know this trick by now. They've been using it on us for years.

But no, we get the cowering, grovelling, kicked-dog response. Sorry, sorry, master, I've been baaaaaad, but I promise I won't do it again, promise promise promise!

Big surprise there. Sigh.
Screw Edwards. I'd like to support him for the sake of Amanda and Shakes, but I only vote for vertebrates.

I love being in the position I am: always support the candidate whose views are closest to mine, thereby making them unelectable in the primary (i.e. Kucinich), and then vote for some wacked out third party candidate in the general election because I live in Texas and only crazy reactionaries seem to vote.

Two things:

1)firing them would have been the easy spineless thing to do; keeping them takes courage and conviction.

2) Amanda and Shakes can defend themselves against their detractors, can't they? Are people suggesting that they need Edwards to protect them? Cause that would seem anti-thetical to everything that pandagon stands for.

jane, as to number 2 -- I think the problem is that he essentially apologized for them. Which is more than a little demeaning.

"I think the problem is that he essentially apologized for them."

Ms. Marcotte did apologize for herself as well.

*nodding at TLF*
Yeah. He essentially apologized for failing to do a better job controlling his wimmens.

The tone of the whole thing was very stern-daddy-ish. They're grown women, dammit!
Plus, grovelly. Ick.

Granted, I didn't like him much before now. *shrug*

It would have been great if they could have ended this without an apology but I suppose, sadly, that's not the way politics works.

I will take the little step first and say good on him for keeping Amanda and Shakes. I think we have to remember that there are older moderates who aren't as crazy as Donohue and are on the fence about this and he might just be doing this to appease that demographic. He knew there was absolutely no point in firing Amanda and Shakes for the sake of Donohue's ilk and he did right by keeping them. I know his *apology* sucks and it was unnecessary but we're having to take baby steps back to the kind of government we want. We've been under the right wing thumb for going on seven years now and while it would be awesome, we can't expect brass balls overnight.

It's a start in a good direction if anything.

Vervain,

You do understand that the majority of the electorate has a very short attention span, right? Thus your hypothetical statement:

"I'm sorry if some of my staffers' writings offended some people, but America was founded on principles like the freedom of speech, therefore I support their right to make the statements they made, whether I personally agree with those statements or not. I support the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I support America and the principles on which it was founded."

Would have been rendered by the worthless corporate media down to the following:

"I'm sorry if some of my staffers' writings offended some people"

and broad sections of ill-informed voters would have only that to ponder when considering Edwards as a candidate. I don't like it, but that's the way I see it.

As for all the comments that share the sentiment that Edwards "apologized for failing to do a better job controlling his wimmens", I think its pathetic that you have such little respect for Amanda and Melissa. If they felt he was "demeaning" them, don't you think they would have resigned from the Edwards team and stated it as such? I do. Lets give them a little credit. They are wonderful people who make their own decisions.

Why aren't you all pissed at the sellout sisters? "I never meant to offend anyone with my writing..." Bull. They completely intended to offend people with their writing - and that's fine. Make that choice, disapprove of other's choices and hypocrisies, point it out, and swear like a sailor as you tell them what you think. That's who they are. Now they are liars and hypocrites and have lost their integrity. They should have told Edwards to go poung sand. Now they're just sellouts.

If they felt he was "demeaning" them, don't you think they would have resigned from the Edwards team and stated it as such?

Seriously, Edo? You're hired by a guy who could be the next president of the United States and you're gonna thumb your nose at him every time you disagree?

Granted, that would make you consistent and ballsy -- but it's completely unfair to expect a woman, trying to make a living for herself and carve out a reputation, to spit in the face of the awesomest job she's ever gotten, even if that job is imperfect.

Buffy, then I guess you're a sellout for being an American. But we already knew that.

Whether or not you care for Edwards' reaction, everybody please go read this:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/2/8/95321/56338

and let's get to the root of the problem...Donohue!

Nah, Edwards is still untrustworthy. He's less so than he was 24 hours ago, but I still wouldn't buy a used car from him. Obama is still the candidate I hate the least, and I say that while standing behind earlier posts of mine in which I called him an empty suit and a Dominionist.

I understand why some people feel like Edwards's response was too weak, but I really don't see how it helps him to get into a brawl with bottom-feeders like Malkin and Donohue now. I think the remark about "hijacking the debate" makes it clear that he knows what's going on.

I suppose a sermon on freedom of expression would have been nice in a Warren Beatty movie or something, but no one was saying they shouldn't be allowed to speak their minds, just that he shouldn't have hired people who had written some of the things that they had. To me, the real point here is that their previous writings have nothing to do with Edwards or his campaign, and the only reason they've become an issue is because there are some extraordinarily butt fugly people out there who wanted to get Amanda fired.

I suppose he could have been a little less apologetic, but I don't think was a battle worth fighting.

The Law Fairy,

Seriously, Edo? You're hired by a guy who could be the next president of the United States and you're gonna thumb your nose at him every time you disagree?

"Disagree" or "demean"? seems like there is a world of difference between the two. I see your point about potentially giving up a dream job, but I submit that if they really felt demeaned by Edwards' handling of the recent brouhaha that it isn't really a dream job.

I see your point about potentially giving up a dream job, but I submit that if they really felt demeaned by Edwards' handling of the recent brouhaha that it isn't really a dream job.

Right, but dream jobs almost never happen. Pretty Damn Close to a dream job is better than most of us ever get. My job is far from a dream job. It's pretty damn good -- but, yeah, sometimes it's a little demeaning. That's the nature of being a big firm associate (and, I suspect, the nature of working for a presidential campaign). The sad fact is that if we ever want the power to make things more respectful, it might just be the case that we have to put up with shit like this until WE'RE the ones on top. It's not right, but I certainly won't pretend to know how to change it from down here.

fair enough. I suspect we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. ;->

"I love being in the position I am: always support the candidate whose views are closest to mine, thereby making them unelectable in the primary (i.e. Kucinich), and then vote for some wacked out third party candidate in the general election because I live in Texas and only crazy reactionaries seem to vote." - Norbizness

Amen, brother! We so need to go drink a beer after the next election.

As for Edwards, I thought his statement was pretty sorry. Their "posts personally offended me" and "it's not how I talk to people", "I've talked to Amanda and Melissa" and "I take them at their word". He hired them after they had written those words because he was trying to reach a certain demographic and those two know how to do that very well. That is why they were called up to the show. There was no confusion as to what they did or the manner in which they did it. If they had acted unprofessionally after being called up, then there might be a problem.

Someone earlier posted that Edwards response was fine because he can't get in a fight with bottom feeders. He elevated the bottom feeders game with his response.

As for the statement earlier about Amanda and Melissa being able to apologize for themselves, this isn't really about them. It is about Edwards and being able to stir up a controversy to make him dance. Looks like his shoes fit just fine.

BlogPac came up with a page where you can email the news organizations and reporters who acted as stenographers for the right-wing smear machine on this story. Take action, and contact them now. Tell them to do their jobs instead of being mega-phones for the Republican Noise Machine. 1,555 emails so far!

Glad Edwards kept Amanda and Shakes. Bummed out that he apologized for what sounded to me like perfectly sensible comments, but that's vintage Edwards.

Cheers,

TH

Well, I just thought I'd pop in and congratulate you girls.

When I heard about the Edwards PR debacle, and that two graduates from the pseudo-liberal, psudo-feminist nut network sorority were hired by John Edwards, and they immediately landed him in hot water, I didn't know if I should laugh out loud or just shake my head.

I think I did both.

It's not enough to be as nasty as you wanna be. Not enough to attack and insult people, and delete their posts when you don't like what they say. No, you also need to bring down a Democratic Candidate! lol.

And I applaud you. Much like Jon Stewart applauds the neocons for the sheer scale of their oppression, how they lay their bigotry bare in the naked sun, totally unafraid.

And so I applaud you. The audacity of it. The Bush-like confidence and "wid me or agin me" attitude. AND of course the poetry, which continues to this day:

"As any good Queens girl will tell you, don’t mess with a bitch’s friends—we’re likely to fuck you up."

I miss that kind of class. I've been hanging around real new sites and political blogs too long. I long for the kind of complex discourse found here on your fine website.

But, you know, I have to point out one thing about that quote. The only thing you managed to fuck up was poor John Edwards.

Have you received his thank you letters yet? I'm sure they're on the way.

Anyway, I'm sorry for Edwards, but it's not that big a deal to me. Otherwise I'd be royally pissed off. I'm quite impressed instead with the "empty suit" Barak Obama. Thankfully he's run his campaign solidly, without a hint of desperation. Good luck, O.

It's the unfortunately racist feminist.

By the way, it's Barack.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

And to all the blogs that misspell Melissa's name it's

McEwan

not

McEwen

Got that? I'm sick of reading McEwen. Show a little respect for the Scottish lady.