Anytime a speaker can be driven as quickly as Ms. Marcotte was driven from the arena of electoral politics, simply by drawing public attention to that speaker's statements in the public record, explanations such as "misogyny" and "vast right wing conspiracy" are unnecessary to an adequate explanation of her demise.

Unlike Dr. Dobson, Jerry Falwell, Donohue, Bush, and other talking heads, true Christians are typically more interested in actually living our lives and having a direct, positive impact on those around us than in telling the world how great we are.

Chloe, do you not see how bigoted (and ignorant) you are? I don't use the word "ignorant" in a name-calling sense, either, but in it's literal sense: you have no idea what you're talking about. You're condemning people on caricatures, not on anything they've actually said or done. Find me a single quote from any of these men "telling the world how great [they] are" and I'll grant your point.

In the meantime, though, you're telling the world how great you are because you're not like them.

I can tell you from the one example I'm most familiar with that Dr. Dobson has had waaaay more "positive, direct impact" on people around him than you ever will.

Doctor, heal thyself.

Because I am bound to the world that God created, and the realities therein, and not solely to the text that man created about God.

To follow the text and ignore the reality is to worship the book and man instead of God.

God gave me eyes through which to see the suffering of the world, for which gay marriage and divorce are hardly contributing factors.

At the end of it all, I cannot feign that I am responsible to God if I have not acted responsibly towards man.

Therefore I criticize your priorities.

And yes, I will judge. I expect to be judged. I do not fear God's judgment, because my dealings with God are not limited to threats of eternal damnation or rewards of eternal pleasure.

nothing like a convert to explain to the terminally stoopid liberals (*ptui*) what they are 'missing' about xtianity...

(oh no, mommy the bad agnostic/atheist insulted us by spelling it with an 'X', wah wah wah... how can we go on... *snort*

of course, as a 'heathen', *I'M* supposed to take the endlessly insulting putdowns and judgmental crap from xtians -you know, graciously informing me for my own eternal salvation- that i'm going to hell in a handbasket, blah blah blah shut the fuck up, you arrogant jerks... )

okay, cloying chloe, insert here: ________ the 'core' portion of xtian 'faith' that all us stoopidheads are not 'getting'... (or will it take -oh, i don't know- a whole book to 'splain ? ? ? )

*IF* you get to some idiotic 'leap of faith' bullshit (which ALL religions ultimately depend on), then you can get back on your knees and pray -ever so fervently- for the mortal soul of this pagan; 'cause i ain't buyin' *YOUR* xtian brand of bullshit any more than *ANY* other brandname of religious bullshit...

*just* like your moronic comments about how all your churchgoers are dem'rats... whoopdeedoo!!! what a joke: cloistered, self-identifying pwogwessive xtians who define out-of-existence all the 'bad' xtians as not *real* xtians... maybe *YOU* can determine that fundie xtians are not 'real' xtians, BUT that AIN'T what happens in the world i live in...

'mainstream', 'real' xtians of your -purportedly- pwogwessive persuasion DO NOT stand up and repudiate fundie xtians to ANY NOTICEABLE extent in the mainstream media (or even the alternative media, for that matter); the fundie/reichwing xtians ARE the representatives for xtianity that we ACTUALLY see/hear on the tee vee, inertnets, etc...

that's a fact, jack... you can bemoan the media for NOT doing a good job in separating out the 10 zillion factions of xtianity, which ones are 'legitimate', and which ones are whacked out, but i doubt that there is any practical way of doing so that would satisfy you or any other spinoff of xtianity...

(just as islam is tarred with the broadbrush of fundie muslims extremists when 90%+ are just regular sheeple tryin' to believe their particular brand of religious bullshit; so 'good' xtians are tarred by the broadbrush strokes of crazy fundie xtians who DOMINATE the public discourse...)

do i have to refrain from mocking people who believe in the easter bunny, SIMPLY because they DO believe in such a legend (however benign) ? ? ?

may i make sarcastic remarks on the intellectual capability of flatearthers, or is that, like, you know, so-o-o-o insensitive to their 'beliefs' ? ? ?

shall i refrain from justifiable jibes at those who insist the moon landings were faked, because those nutjobs really, *really* believe it to be the case ? ? ?

talk about moral relativism...

The Bible informs us, particularly about Christ, but I don't think it was ever meant to rule our lives. --Chloe

Um, are you reading the whole book or only those parts you find convenient? The Bible has this to say about itself:

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

You can't pick and choose. If you claim to believe the Bible and be a Christian, it's the entire package, not just the parts you find palatable.

(And, of course, you if you don't believe this or claim to be a Christian, just ignore all this.)

And yet the Jesus you claim to follow and whose words you claim to revere spoke extensively about both. Indeed, he warned more about hell than he spoke about heaven.

Are you sure you've actually read the Bible?

Amanda --

Enough already.

The true issue in all this is: Edwards' did a mediocre hire. I am still a bit incredulous that given how rich the liberal blogosphere is with cogent, interesting, deep, and serious diarists, posters, and bloggers, he hired two average but in no way compelling people to lead his blog efforts on a national level.

He must be seething at whoever gave him that advice.

I perused your writing in the past, same with your colleague's. Nice venom and yes, I guess being a feminist means you get to hurl invectives around with absolutely no accountability or need to back up anything with facts, or context. Welcome to the 21st century and its neo-feminists.

Hey, back in the day we struggled mightily just to get out of the kitchen and into the mainstream workplace -- and some of us are still struggling for that. Meanwhile, the neo-fems (kinda neo-fashionistas, too -- but that's a different topic) think that their crass posts are part of the "freedom" we should be enjoying as...what? Women? Norte Americanos? Educated twenty-something's? Terminal hipsters? Bloggers?

For this we're killing Iraqi's?

The BBB's of the blogosphere commanded that we all step in line with the group think and back you. I for one did not, and let them know when I received the Call to Action from the Townhouse gang.

And now you're with Salon? Hmmm...well, maybe they can teach you a few basics if you wish to stay in media.

Good luck,

Organic Mechanic