The Edwards campaign fills my heart with confidence

As I have already written, I cannot seriously consider John Edwards as a presidential candidate because his last ACLU rating was only 60% (speeches are nice, but that pesky record always speaks volumes).

Actually, I would not consider any white male as a candidate if he chooses a white male running mate but that is another story altogether.

The Edwards campaign, indeed, has been one big bungle after another.

First, there was Elizabeth Edwards' unbelievably nasty and assinine remarks about John Kerry and Teresa Heinz. She isn't running for office, I realize, but she is part of the campaign, and someone should have told her to keep her judgmental vitriol to herself. Oh, and don't forget...Elizabeth is also "more joyful" than Sen. Clinton; she had to apologize for that one, too.

Then there was Edwards' campaign kickoff in New Orleans. He did a big photo op at the damaged house of a Katrina victim...only no from the campaign bothered to tell the homeowner that a presidential candidacy announcement was going to be made from her yard.

And now there is the Amanda Marcotte/Melissa McEwan situation. The bloggers for Pandagon and Shakepeare's Sister, whom Edwards hired for his campaign, have been attacked by the right wing for everything from being anti-Catholic to using crude language (oh, my). The word is that Edwards has fired them. The other word is that he may re-hire them. As I write this, there is probably even another word I haven't yet heard.

Well, let's lay it out. If Edwards hired Marcotte and McEwan without reading their blogs, then he is, in a word, stupid. These bloggers are outspoken liberals and outspoken feminists (I regret that these two categories are not necessarily one and the same). They write what they think and let the chips fall where they may. They call out the hypocrites, bigots, liars, misogynists, fascists, and other assorted right-wing freaks and those who sail with them. If Edwards didn't know that, you have to wonder how he makes his other decisions.

On the other hand, if he did read their blogs, then he would have to know--within about the first two minutes of reading--that Marcotte's and McEwan's writing would be severely criticized by the fake-patriot, woman-and-gay hating right wing crowd. Which means he made a decision to hire them anyway, which means he later made a decision not to stand by them.

However you slice it, it's an unappetizing pie, this Edwards campaign.