Edwards Campaign Bloggers are Attacked By Right-- Edwards Holds Strong

But in her segment on the Edwards story, which aired on the February 7 edition of The
Situation Room, CNN correspondent Mary Snow included a clip of Donohue slamming the bloggers, while making no mention of his own
"inflammatory" comments.

Likewise, on the February 7 edition of
MSNBC's Tucker, host Tucker
Carlson allowed Donohue to accuse the bloggers -- whom he described as "two little brats" -- of "speak[ing] in the most disparaging way" about Catholics. Donohue went on to assert that "[i]f they had used the n-word even once in their career, they'd have gone by now" and claimed that he does not "want Muslims to be disrespected." But at no point
in the interview did Carlson bring up Donohue's own insulting comments toward Muslims and other minorities. Nor did he challenge Donohue regarding
his defense of Gibson following Gibson's anti-Semitic remarks.

Further, Snow's CNN report was followed
by a segment from Internet reporter Jackie Schechner on the number of presidential campaigns "reaching out to prominent bloggers to try to drum up support." Schechner noted that McCain had hired Patrick Hynes, a blogger for the conservative AnkleBitingPundits.com, as an "e-consultant." But while host Wolf Blitzer had said Schechner
would be offering "some context" regarding the Edwards controversy, she made no mention of Hynes' own controversial record, including his apparent past description of Chelsea Clinton as "hideously ugly"
and his strong support for the Swift Boat
Veterans and POWs for Truth, whose baseless smears and attacks against 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry (D-MA) McCain denounced as "dishonest and dishonorable."

The good news is, John Edwards is NOT firing the bloggers. Apparently, Salon was wrong.

Edwards blogged on his campaign site announcing that the bloggers were not fired.

Amanda Marcotte blogged here response to this event, and her associate, Melissa McEwan also blogged about their blog postings that Donohue had commented on.

Bottom line-- John Edwards was tested. He faced a challenge with some similarity to the Swiftboating Kerry faced-- an assault upon him and his team by right wingers. He showed grit and character and flexibility and has earned newfound respect and trust as a candidate who stands for something.

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