Three Way News: Isaiah Washington was institutionalized

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Isaiah Washington was institutionalized

Oh, Tony Perkins, your world is rich in fantasy. It's a tapestry woven from many threads of the same fiber. I can't find a permalink for this note from the Washington Update, so here's the full text of the latest nonsense:

Blogotry is OK?
Former Sen. John Edwards says he is offended by the vile posts of his presidential campaign's two anti faith bloggers, but apparently not enough to fire them. Edwards defends his decision to retain Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan in a press statement. "I talked personally to the two women who were involved. They gave me their word they, under no circumstances, intended to denigrate any church or anybody's religion, and offered their apologies for anything that indicated otherwise. I took them at their word." Given the level of obscenity and vituperation in the women's words, Edwards should have taken them to the woodshed instead. When actor Isaiah Washington slandered a homosexual, he was institutionalized. When Mel Gibson lashed out against the Jewish community in a drunken tirade, he became a Hollywood outcast. Marcotte and McEwan are being allowed to blog on in Edwards' name. Edwards said, "That kind of intolerant language will not be permitted from anyone on my campaign." What he does not say is why it was acceptable to utter such language in the recent past. We stand with the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights in calling on Edwards to take a stand against religious prejudice and to fire the bloggers before they do further damage to him and to the cause of civil discourse.

Is that what happened? I don't follow this stuff closely, but I seem to recall that Washington called a fellow actor a "fag", dug himself in deeper with a disgraceful national TV appearance, then checked himself into rehab. As of last week he was out of rehab and back on the set. Perkins, of course, would rather portray an ominous Gay Mafia with the authority to commit people to institutions for homophobia.

Mel Gibson is a Hollywood outcast? I'm not sure about that, either. His involvelment in a Holocaust-based mini-series was ended, but that's hardly surprising, is it? Apocalypto has done $50 million in ticket sales so far. Harvey Weinstein is willing to work with him.

In short, Tony Perkins lives in a fantasy land where Washington and Gibson were severely punished for offensive behavior. In reality, both used PR tools to manage their mistakes and quickly resume their careers.

I don't know if it was a good idea to hire these bloggers in the first place, but I do think it's a good idea to retain them. If Edwards wasn't aware of everything they wrote before he hired them, then he's got no business hiring them. His defense of his bloggers should have been better coordinated and more vigorous, but at the end of the day at least he stuck to his guns.

Update:

Amanda Marcotte has resigned from the Edwards campaign. The Edwards campaign is dead (hyper over-reaction, I know). If they can't address entirely predictable criticisms in a confident, straightforward manner, what chance do they have in a general election? Not only did they fail to prepare for this attack, they managed to get the response wrong after they finally got it right.

Besides, as a candidate for President, John Edwards has all of Barack Obama's experience and none of his mojo.

Labels: FRC, Tony Perkins