SOCIAL IMPRESSIONS

Democratic presidential candidate, John Edwards, has opted against firing two of his campaign bloggers who criticized the Catholic Church in their personal blogs. This decision has faced much opposition from the Catholic League, which is 350,000 members deep. Although the bloggers in question, Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan issued individual apologies, the league is still unsatisfied.

According to Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, the bloggers lambasted the church’s stance on homosexuality, and abortion and contraception, occasionally using profanities. Donohue’s main issue was that these bloggers didn’t simply offer criticism, they were disrespectful about it. Edwards apologized for the content in their blogs. He also said, “Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but that kind of intolerant language will not be permitted from anyone on my campaign, whether it’s intended as satire, humor or anything else.”

It is important to note that Donohue isn’t saying the women aren’t entitled to their First Amendment rights of free speech. What he is contending is that as a Catholic, Edwards shouldn’t have these women working for him. To illustrate an example, my friend, Terah noted, ‘As a black person, how can I stand up there and say that I represent black people when I have someone on my campaign keeping a racist blog?”

It is understandable that presidential candidates have to be extremely careful in how they represent themselves to the public. Having employees criticize Catholicism might weaken Edwards’ appearance as a devout and religious man. However, Edwards effectively played the middle by keeping these women in his campaign, but condemning their actions.