Female blogger reaches “breaking point” with Edwards

Until today, Amanda Marcotte has been an influential and famously passionate supporter of John Edwards’ candidacy. As the media reported last year, she threw herself under a bus to avoid harming his candidacy. When she breaks with Edwards’ campaign over his sexist remarks about Hillary Clinton yesterday, we need to pay attention. Here’s what Edwards said via ABC News:

Former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., … reacted to rival Sen. Hillary Clinton’s emotional moment Monday.

Edwards offered little sympathy and pounced on the opportunity to question Clinton’s ability to endure the stresses of the presidency.

“I think what we need in a commander-in-chief is strength and resolve, and presidential campaigns are tough business, but being president of the United States is also tough business,” Edwards told reporters in Laconia, New Hampshire.

Earlier in the day, Clinton became emotional when speaking to a group of voters in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Marcotte writes today at Pandagon blog:

Completely unacceptable amounts of sexism. It’s bad enough that the media plays the game with Clinton where if she shows any emotion, she’s too feminine or too scary, but if she’s more stoic, she’s a scary ballbuster, but to have her own party members (if political rivals) play that cheap sexist card is too much.

Here’s the video of Sen. Clinton’s “emotional” moment:

About that moment, Taylor Marsh eloquently writes in “Emotional Clinton on the Trail”:

[P]eople know when something is contrived. There is no doubt that she’s exhausted and the wall politicians usually erect completely falls in this exchange. She shared her honest feelings with the voters, revealing the Hillary people who’ve known her for years says is behind the politician we see every day. It’s a continuation of the “That hurts my feelings,” likability moment during the debate on Saturday, which was delivered so flawlessly. There’s a part of Hillary Clinton that has not been revealed to the public. It’s who she is and people need to meet that part of her. It was a very real moment. … (Read all.)

Taylor added this update:

UPDATE: More from the WSJ:

Allison Hampton, a retired teacher who was leaning toward voting for Barack Obama, says she’ll now go with Clinton. “When she broke up at the end, that came from the heart,” Hampton said. “She’s genuine and extremely intelligent.” (Read all.)

It is clear that Marcotte reacted as did Allison Hampton. So would anyone. It was a genuine moment, and powerful in that it exposed her humanity — but not her fragility, as John Edwards wrongly attempted to convey. That was a huge mistake by him. He worked with her for four years in the U.S. Senate and knows her well from the campaign trail. He knows what she’s made of, and shouldn’t spin false perceptions.

Like I’ve said, I have liked Edwards a lot. He has been my STRONG second choice.

I hope he apologizes. He has to apologize.

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ABOUT AMANDA MARCOTTE: If you weren’t closely watching political news last year — or you weren’t attached with an umbilical cord to Daily Kos, where this was huge news — you may have missed what Marcotte did to avoid damage to Edwards’ campaign (via the National Journal):

Amanda Marcotte has resigned as the blogger for the presidential campaign of Democrat John Edwards. She blamed her decision on Bill Donohue, the president of the Catholic League who last week demanded that Edwards fire her for anti-Catholic statements at the blog Pandagon.

The Journal reports that Marcotte wrote in her letter of resignation:

[The campaign by Donohue] was creating a situation where I felt that every time I coughed, I was risking the Edwards campaign. No matter what you think about the campaign, I signed on to be a supporter and a tireless employee for them, and if I can’t do the job I was hired to do because Bill Donohue doesn’t have anything better to do with his time than harass me, then I won’t do it. I resigned my position today and they accepted.

Some bloggers felt that Marcotte felt “encumbered by the campaign and unable to effectively defend herself from the right-wing.” I don’t know the intimate details. But she has been a strong defender of John Edwards.

Today, she broke with Edwards’ campaign. She may support Obama, she says, but is watching him carefully for any signs of sexism.