I agree with JLS, who said, "Dungy is certainly free to associate with whatever groups he wants to in his off-the-field life", as well as others who made similar comments.

HOWEVER ...

His appearance at the IFI banquet is not as "Tony Dungy, Concerned Citizen". It's as " "Indianapolis Colts Head Coach Tony Dungy". If he's flying the Colts' colors, it's not truly "off-the-field". His appearance there has the blessing of the Colts organization, whether or not they would ever explicitly admit to it.

I'd rank "uppity" even higher than "articulate" in the list of Things To Not Say About A Twenty-First Century African-American Unless You Want To Sound Racist.

(And these are the Intertubes ... you can now say "smug" all you want, but we've got the screen caps of your first version for public consumption.)

... for all those who have, in various ways, called Amanda a "quitter", or suggested that she "gave up too easily", or "abandoned the fight":

Do you really believe that if she had stayed on and tried to fight these attacks from within the Edwards campaign that she ever could have actually "won"? And, for that matter, what would constitute "winning"? A signed letter of apology from Bill Donohue? A "mea culpa" from Bill O'Reilly? Get real.

Do you honestly think that the end result could have been anything other than the complete destruction of Edwards' presidential aspirations? (Leave aside the question of whether or not that's already come to pass.) Or is that the point – if Edwards made the mistake of hiring her, should she have hung in there until it ruined both of them?

How long would have been long enough? Until she came to actual physical harm? Would that have sufficed?

"Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me."

— John Lennon

[Which pretty much sums it up for me as well. The biggest problem I have with Christianity is the behavior of so many who call themselves "Christians".]

orinocle, if I might, I'd like to try to parse some of your indignation:

• "Edwards did not deserve this yoyo on his watch, her lack of depth has harmed his campaign." This seems to imply that Amanda somehow foisted herself on Edwards' campaign, uninvited. How is the problem here not the campaign's failure to do proper due diligence, and determine her "lack of depth" before hiring her?
• "She was a blogmaster who's[sic] only talent it appears is the ability to make excuses and cut and run." Referring to my earlier posting, what would you have had her do, once the shit had hit the fan?
• "This self centered focus at the expense of a greater good..." Am I incorrect here in assuming that a "greater good" would bee the continued viability of the Edwards campaign? In that case, I'd argue that what she did was entirely not self-centered. The fire was already on both her and the campaign – by resigning, she drew much of the fire solely onto herself. Forcing the campaign to make the decision to remove her would have been the self-centered response. (Although I suppose by "self-centered" you're referring to the fact that she chose to complain about what had happened after she'd removed herself. The proper thing to do would have been to just fade away and STFU, right?)

I will agree with you on one thing, though ... if by "[u]nderdeveloped people in critical gatekeeper roles and how thier[sic] lack of depth and myopic life skills can lead to a[sic] major damages", you're referring to George W. Bush, you're absolutely correct.

You don't need to be a genius to guess that as the gap between Walter and Fingerling narrows, the margin between sanity and madness also begins to shrink.

So basically this is very much along the lines of the concept that was explored just a few months ago in "Stranger Than Fiction".

(Except that Will Ferrell actually can act ...)

You speak of your brother well and honestly. The love is evident.

Peace be with you, and your family.