Monday, February 12, 2007

Amanda Resigns

It was bound to happen. When I saw Amanda posts showing up Pandagon (which has been taken down, oddly enough), I knew her demise was soon to follow. You just can't keep the self-appointed know-it-alls of the world in check for long.

I tried to link directly to Amanda's announcement, but, given they decided to be childish, I've resorted to other sources. (H/T Ace of Spades).

She's pretty sure that William Donahue went after her so hard because she has a vagina.

If it's really her own decision, why is she so angry about it? Couldn't such anger have been avoided by, you know, not resigning?

Well, no, not if you've read Amanda's rants before (or been the subject of them).

I've been out of pocket today, so I never even saw the story or had an opportunity to read the post before Pandagon stuck its head in the sand (like its accused so many of its subjects). I found the text at Michelle Malkin's site, and except for lacking in vulgarity, it's pure Amanda gold.
I was hired by the Edwards campaign for the skills and talents I bring to the table, and my willingness to work hard for what’s right. Unfortunately, Bill Donohue and his calvacade of right wing shills don’t respect that a mere woman like me could be hired for my skills, and pretended that John Edwards had to be held accountable for some of my personal, non-mainstream views on religious influence on politics (I’m anti-theocracy, for those who were keeping track). Bill Donohue—anti-Semite, right wing lackey whose entire job is to create non-controversies in order to derail liberal politics—has been running a scorched earth campaign to get me fired for my personal beliefs and my writings on this blog.
In fact, he’s made no bones about the fact that his intent is to “silence” me, as if he—a perfect stranger—should have a right to curtail my freedom of speech. Why? Because I’m a woman? Because I’m pro-choice? Because I’m not religious? All of the above, it seems.

Regardless, it was creating a situation where I felt that every time I coughed, I was risking the Edwards campaign. No matter what you think about the campaign, I signed on to be a supporter and a tireless employee for them, and if I can’t do the job I was hired to do because Bill Donohue doesn’t have anything better to do with his time than harass me, then I won’t do it. I resigned my position today and they accepted.

Notice how Amanda doesn't blame the vitriolic rhetoric she spewed daily for years. It's got to be the fault of people who pointed out where her spit landed. It's not the fact that she insulted--repeatedly--Christians in general and Catholics in particular. It's not that she lashed out at groups that weren't as wacked out as she is. No, it's not because she said derogatory and insulting things about Catholics that caused William Donohue to challenge her hiring. It's all because she's a woman.

In other words, Amanda didn't learn a thing from this situation.

I thought, perhaps, with the new bit in her mouth, that Edwards could have trained her up to act like an adult, the kind of person who can disagree without necessarily spitting on the opponent each and every time. But no. It took Amanda only five days before she was back to blaming "the patriarchy" for everything. Some things don't change.

And I guess the fake apology didn't take, either. According to Danny Glover, Amanda said:
Unencumbered by her work for Edwards, she vowed to strike back. "The main good news," Marcotte wrote, "is that I don’t have a conflict of interest issue anymore that was preventing me from defending myself against these baseless accusations. So it’s on."

You mean--gasp--she didn't mean that heartfelt apology she issued only days ago???

In other news: sky still blue, fish still swim.

Patterico expresses regret that Amanda resigned.
I share this attitude in general. The feeling, which Allah and I share, is that blogging has gotten too dangerous. This is one reason that I have said repeatedly that I hope Edwards keeps Marcotte...

Marcotte alienated constituencies...Just to take one example, she bagged on every anti-abortion Christian in the country, branding them all as misogynists. If Edwards didn’t know about this, she should have been savvy enough to tell him. It’s not all about the f-word, it’s about how it’s employed.


Jeff Goldstein says...
Ms Marcotte blames the Catholic League’s Bill Donohue for her troubles, but in truth, her anti-religious screeds (she calls them “anti-theocracy”—though the distinction seems rather disingenuous, given that her attacks tend to target religious people who actually believe the tenets of their faith), once exposed, offended more than just the perpetually aggrieved and controversial religious politico. In fact, as Kirsten Powers noted on tonight’s “O’Reilly Factor,” Marcotte and McEwan’s pronouncements on religion were going to make it difficult for Edwards in particular (and Democrats more generally) to convince people of faith that the Democratic party isn’t hostile to their beliefs.


Bryan at HotAir has video from The O'Reilly Factor on Amandagate. Bryan says:
It’s a shame that the AP singles out “conservative critics” to credit/blame for all of this, when the critics who probably had more of an impact were the progressive Christians who also saw bigotry in Marcotte’s inflamatory writings. Put another way, which seems more likely: That Edwards worried about what Bill Donohue thinks, or that he worries about what his fellow Democrats who also happen to be Catholics think? With Hillary! and Obama waiting to crush him in about a year, he can’t afford to leave out any potential voters.

And all of the above masks the truth at the center of all of this, which is that on their face Marcotte’s writings on Christians and Catholics in particular smack of rank bigotry, from the 114 times she mimicked the name of Christ as “Jeebus” to the ways she graphically described carnal intercourse with the Holy Spirit. That’s what earned her the criticism from Donohue and from us and other conservatives from the progressive Christians as well. It’s not a smear to accurately quote someone’s own words when criticizing them.


I discussed the concerns of the Religious Left with Amandagate in this post.

Howard Kurtz also has a story about Amanda's temper tantrum and subsequent resignation.