See previous:   Can't you just picture Amanda Marcotte in Tony Snow's job? 

Edwards Narrowly Avoids Becoming New Hate Object of Nutroots 
Greg Tinti 

He's decided to keep Crazy McPottymouth and her sidekick, no doubt for fear of being hit with an IMPORTANT ACTION ALERT. 

Senator John Edwards:

"The tone and the sentiment of some of Amanda Marcotte's and Melissa McEwen's posts personally offended me. It's not how I talk to people, and it's not how I expect the people who work for me to talk to people. 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. But I also believe in giving everyone a fair shake. I've talked to Amanda and Melissa; they have both assured me that it was never their intention to malign anyone's faith, and I take them at their word. We're beginning a great debate about the future of our country, and we can't let it be hijacked. It will take discipline, focus, and courage to build the America we believe in."

Amanda Marcotte: ...

Melissa McEwen: ...

This is nothing less than a tacit endorsement by the Edwards campaign of hate speech towards "godbags," as Marcotte is wont to say. Again, let's review some of the worst of what Marcotte has written. ...

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Allahpundit has more here.

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And This Coward Wants to be President? 
Posted by Emperor Darth Misha I

BUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Looks like we’ll have Potty Mouth Marcotte and her equally obnoxious fellow Nutrootette, Melissa McEwan, to kick around for a while to come.

Quoth the Breck Girl:

The tone and the sentiment of some of Amanda Marcotte’s and Melissa McEwan’s posts personally offended me. It’s not how I talk to people, and it’s not how I expect the people who work for me to talk to people. 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.

You hear it coming, don’t you? Here it is:

But I also believe in giving everyone a fair shake. I’ve talked to Amanda and Melissa; they have both assured me that it was never their intention to malign anyone’s faith, and I take them at their word.

Proving that you are as dickless as you are illiterate, My Little Pony. ...

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Blogmistresses NOT fired by Edwards! UPDATED
The Anchoress

John Edwards is not firing his campaign blogmistresses. He’s “personally offended” by their writing, but he’s going to keep them on, probably because he’s terrified of the netroot left. The bloggers have issued the requisite, “our profanity, sneers, mockery and disrespect was never meant to insult the crap out of you, wink, wink” dubious apology, and the matter is ended.

Well, for whatever reason Edwards has kept them on, I say good. I was never in favor of firing them. Alrighty, then.

Rick Moran wonders how the blogosphere can develop some sense of respectability. I shared my ideas in his comments section.

Maybe this will be a start. These blogmistresses are going to either become better writers or they’re going to buckle under the constraints of a campaign, crash and burn. Let ‘em write. I think we in the ’sphere need to let things play out a bit more, instead of quickly taking positions and spotting targets, if we want to gain some credibility outside of our own little world. ...

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Michelle Malkin: The Pandagonization of John Edwards is complete.

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Edwards Gives Potty Mouth Bloggers A Second Chance 
Lorie Byrd

When I wrote yesterday that Salon was reporting Edwards had fired the two bloggers he hired to work on his campaign for profane and anti-Christian statements, I also ran this quote:

The Salon report says the bloggers were fired, but also includes this quote from Jennifer Palmieri saying she would "caution [Salon] against reporting that they have been fired. We will have something to say later." I will update as new information is available.

Well, now I am updating and we know what Palmieri meant. Edwards says he has talked to the bloggers and he has decided not to fire them.  ...

I know this might earn him some credibility with his lunatic fringe Bush-hating base, but don't think it will play so well in the general election. What will be most interesting to watch is whether or not Hillary or any of Edwards' other primary opponents will be able to use this without ticking off their D.U.-Kos supporters. I think when all is said and done, this is one Edwards will regret.

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Rick Moran's FINAL THOUGHTS ON MARCOTTE is excellent. I won't try to excerpt it lest you be tempted not to read it.

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Jeff Goldstein:

... [L]ost on these Marcotte supporters—who are cheering on the power of the “netroots” to cow a politician into keeping on an ugly and hateful liability—is that Edwards just showed up Marcotte and McEwan as frauds and posturing blowhards, writers who have been pulling the wool over their audiences’ eyes by posting vicious “arguments” they never truly believed.  To use the loaded language of establishment feminism—he publicly castrated them—and in so doing, he made fools out of their audiences, to boot.

Further, in doing so, he has shown himself to be nothing more than a calculating political opportunist of the worst sort—one who believes the voting public so daft they might actually buy a statement like the one he just released. ...

Edwards and Marcotte deserve each other, as far as I’m concerned.  A presidential candidate who tries to sell me on the fact that Marcotte and her group of shrieking ill-tempered character assassins had no intent of maligning anyone—all for a bump in the DailyKos straw poll—is a charlatan and a waffling opportunist.

Similarly, if Edwards believes “we’re beginning a great debate about the future of this country,” he might begin by instructing his “Blogmistress” that deleting dissenting opinions doesn’t exactly further “debate” as it is commonly understood.

Of course, “debate” as it is understood in progressive circles means something different, I suppose—namely, circling the wagons and attacking dissenters, even as you airbrush away their dissent so that you alone can characterize it —so, in at least one America, Edwards is directly on point. ...

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Edwards Keeps Bloggers, Makes Them Apologize
By James Joyner

The saga of John Edwards’ bloggers continues to unfold, having now passed into the realm of the absurd. Edwards has apparently decided to humiliate them but keep them on staff. ...

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Liberal "Godbags" Pissed At Edwards for Not Firing Bloggers
Greg Tinti

While the nutroots might be celebrating Edwards as their new hero for refusing to fire Marcotte and McEwen, liberal religious leaders are less than pleased and making it known. Via The Politico.

As the flap over alleged anti-Catholic writings by two John Edwards campaign bloggers devolves into a shouting match between conservative religious voices and liberal bloggers, some members of the "religious left" say they feel – again – shoved to the margins of the Democratic Party.

"We're completely invisible to this debate," said Eduardo Penalver, a Cornell University law professor who writes for the liberal Catholic journal Commonweal. He said he was dissatisfied with the Edwards campaign's response. "As a constituency, the Christian left isn't taken all that seriously," Penalver said.

Democrats -- and Edwards in particular -- have embraced the language of faith and the imperative of competing with Republicans for the support of religious voters. His wife, Elizabeth Edwards, even sits on the board of the leading organization of the religious left, Call to Renewal. But in private conversations and careful public statements today, religious Democrats said they felt sidelined by Edwards' decision to stand by his aides. ...

It'll be interesting to see how the nutroots react to this, if they do at all. Many dismissed the outrage expressed in a statement by William Donohue of the Catholic League--which arguably helped bring this story into the MSM--because he's been closely associated with the GOP and has apparently made some questionable comments of his own in the past.

But these "godbags" are their side. Traitors to cause, I guess. ...

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Ed Morrissey has comments here.