Early Thoughts on the '08 Presidential Campaign

Amanda Marcotte of Pandagon has resigned from the John Edwards campaign after being consistently targeted by the "right-wing noise machine" (specifically, William Donohue and Michelle Malkin) for blog posts made on Pandagon, specifically anti-religious ones.  For Donohue, head of the Catholic League (which, as far as I can tell, isn't actually tied to the Catholic Church, although it is a 501(c)(3) organization and should be slapped down hard for its interference in this electoral campaign), that's not surprising - it's their modus operandi, if not their raison d'etre.  For Malkin, it appears to be more a matter of convenience - picking out the bits potentially offensive to religion is going to sway more people (and people that might actually vote for a Democrat) than just quoting her feminist statements.

I think I'm supporting Obama now, at least in the absence of a Gore campaign.  His appeals to religion bother me a bit, but he hasn't slapped down a staffer for being an outspoken atheist, or proposed any theocratic measures, so he's looking to be the best candidate out there.  If the best the hate machine can find on him is a trumped-up madrassa allegation, his middle name, and the "you shouldn't vote for him because nobody will vote for a black man" concern trolling (interesting in light of the "he's not really black" charge), then that's promising.  And kicking out Fox News is a far more principled stand than Edwards' mealy-mouthed apology for Marcotte's posts.  Not to mention that I like both the style and content of Obama's speeches.  He's very smart, and for an executive smart can be as important as any particular policy.