Why I'll never be employed by a politician

(Well, this and the fact that I have like 2 readers.)

Gavin at Sadly No! has the reaction from John Edwards and staff to the criticism of Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwen. If you don't know, Edwards hired Marcotte and McEwen to work on the online part of his campaign. Since the two bloggers have a personal blogging history (Pandagon and Shakespeare’s Sister)they've of course said some impolitic things.

There seem to be two things that have gotten people upset. One is the use of obscenities (Marcotte has said "fuck Bush" for example) and the other is disparaging comments about religion.

Gavin is happy with the response. Not me. The foul offense at obscene language thing is just ridiculous posing and no one should ever have to apologize for saying fuck or shit. We're adults, deal with it.

But their response to the religious thing bothers me. All three walk the fine line between disparaging religion and disparaging someone's personal belief. All making the claim that the former is ok, but the latter is not. (Emphasis mine.)

Edwards

they have both assured me that it was never their intention to malign anyone’s faith,

Marcotte

My writings on my personal blog, Pandagon on the issue of religion are generally satirical in nature and always intended strictly as a criticism of public policies and politics. My intention is never to offend anyone for his or her personal beliefs, and I am sorry if anyone was personally offended by writings meant only as criticisms of public politics.

McEwen

We do, however, share many views - including an unwavering support of religious freedom and a deep respect for diverse beliefs. It has never been my intention to disparage people’s individual faith, and I’m sorry if my words were taken in that way.

I see no reason to make this distinction. Here I agree with Sam Harris. Some people beleive some stupid shit. And in public discourse it should be fair game to call them out on that.