Sane reactions from the left, something many thought impossible.

If you’re here then by now you’ve probably heard about the dust up that John Edwards caused when he hired Amanda Marcotte of Pandagon and then fired her, well she’s been axed according to that unconfirmed article at Salon. Reading articles and comments on Pandagon, BlueNC, MyDD and almost any other liberal blog, you’d think the world was coming to an end for John Edwards if he has shown Amanda and the other chick (Melissa?) the door.

Problem is, the Netrooters are a minuscule representation of the liberal community. Granted their delusional profanity laced ravings are the most accessible since they’re published on the intertubes, but no matter how hard Kos and the gang try to convince you the liberal “Netroots” effort is the deciding factor, it ain’t all its cracked up to be. How can I be so sure, well other than Ned Lamont’s crushing defeat at the hands of Joemama I’d have to rely on the people I talked to today that still proudly display Kerry / Edwards bumper stickers on their cars and office walls.

See I work at a institute of higher Edumakashun, a veritable bastion of liberal thoughts and ideals, so it wasn’t hard to find folks to talk to about John Edwards and his pimple on the ass of progress. That’s me Phineas G., citizen journalist almost extraordinaire.

With John Edwards being North Carolina’s almost native liberal son quite a few people are backing his presidential bid in our area. The news of the Catholic League’s displeasure with Amanda spread across campus pretty fast. Yet, there wasn’t the outrage. There were no burning effigies of John Edwards anywhere to be seen, hell I even went out looking for them.

Throughout the day in various meetings I talked to a dozen professors on campus about Mr. Edwards’ decision to send Amanda packing. Of the dozen eight are “strongly backing the Edwards campaign”..

Yet, they weren’t supporting Amanda’s ideals and thought John Edwards had made a mistake in hiring someone who thought it appropriate, even in jest, to publish “What if Mary had taken Plan B after the Lord filled her with his hot, white, sticky Holy Spirit?”. As one professor said being a liberal and a Christian aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive and John Edwards can’t afford to alienate over seventy percent of the US population if he wants a shot at winning the primary, much less the Presidency.

Another professor who’d read one of the reactions to the announcement of Amanda & Melissa’s termination couldn’t understand how people were so upset. They [the nutrooters upset by Amanda Marcotte's termination of employment] just don’t get it. There’s not way John Edwards can let someone with a penchant for using profanity and slandering Christians be his voice on-line.

Granted in a group of five professors you’re probably not going to hear a view point that differentiates radically, the whole group think mentality thing, but if the people leaving comments were truly representative of the progressive base there would have been some decent. Sad to say, well kind of sad for the Netroots crowd, there wasn’t any objection. On a final note my favorite quote of the day from a professor His decision to wash his hands of someone who proudly displays hatred and contempt for anyone who disagrees with them, like that girl from the Panda website, makes him a better candidate in my book, because he’ll have that much more appeal to the masses.

Yeah, I’m not real sure about that much more appeal to the masses, but it at least shows he’s bright enough, maybe if its confirmed, to quit digging when he finds himself in a hole.