Civility and Religion and Politics

Amanda Marcotte stepped down from the Edwards campaign yesterday, and while TBogg probably has this right, that expecting to graduate to the "big leagues" without your past coming with you is kind of a fool's errand, I have to feel a little depressed about the occurrence. Mainly because religion has now taken a place in this society that is completely unassailable, impossible to be challenged or even rationally discussed without cries of bigotry.

Today Mitt Romney announced his campaign for the Republican nomination, and he did so at the Henry Ford Museum in his hometown Dearborn. I'm well aware of Ford's ugly history of anti-Semitism, but the Ford Museum is a showplace of cars and objects of American history. Lincoln's chair from the Ford Theater is there. So is Kennedy's limo from Dallas. Does that make them and their families anti-Semites? Romney's from Dearborn and the Museum is pretty much the only public space in that town you could hold such an event. Dave Neiwert writes:

The peculiar thing about this is that Romney is LDS, and Mormons are notably Judeophiles and have a history of rejecting anti-Semitism. Either he is unaware of this aspect of Ford's background, or he simply doesn't care.

But might it be that he doesn't view something like a campaign appearance through that lens? I think the left and the right need to be able to have civil discussions about religion without having the charge of bigotry constantly thrown in their faces. Romney's Mormonism, like John Kerry's Catholicism in 2004, became campaign issues, and so has of late Barack Obama's predominantly black church. Can we all remove the collective sticks from our behinds with regard to religion? The country was founded on not forcing your personal spiritual beliefs on others. This hands-off viewpoint is exactly how political campaigns should be run. I don't want to hear the rage of the perpetually wounded anymore, no matter who it is. The political correctness over religion is now practically an unscalable wall. It's profoundly un-American.

On to Romney's Statement About Confederate Yankee

It took a little while, but the Edwards team got this one right.

EDWARDS STATEMENT ON CAMPAIGN BLOGGERS AMANDA MARCOTTE AND MELISSA McEWEN

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.”

It's absurd that he even had to do this, but I'm glad he did. The notion that a candidate ought to be responsible for something a hireling wrote before (s)he was hired doesn't make sense to me. Maybe it's a question of judgment, but maybe it's a recognition that on a personal blog, the language is not going to be all sanitized for your protection. And certainly, there is a meta message of standing up to the right wing noise machine and not having them dictate your personnel choices. It's about time somebody told William Donohue and Michelle Malkin to shove it.