Edwards, Clinton, other Democrats said to fear party activists
by Jim Brown
February 20, 2007
(OneNewsNow.com) - - A former GOP presidential candidate says the controversy surrounding two liberal bloggers for Democrat John Edwards' presidential campaign gives Americans a window into the powerful far-left blogosphere. Gary Bauer also says the controversy highlights the fear top Democratic politicians have for far-left activists within their own party.Two Edwards campaign bloggers recently resigned amid protests over their history of vulgar and bigoted comments directed at Catholics and Christians. Although Senator Edwards acknowledged the statements were offensive, he initially decided not to fire the two women saying, before they quit, that he kept them on staff to give them "a fair shake."
American Values president Gary Bauer says the scandal will not immediately sink Edwards' campaign, but that it does set a "marker."
"It tells us something about the mindset of Senator Edwards and his top campaign people," he says. "And my experience in over 35 years in politics and in Washington has been that once a politician makes this kind of a misjudgment you'll see it over and over again -- and if the pattern continues, then I think, yes, it will doom his chances."
But what Edwards' hesitancy does demonstrate, says Bauer, is that Democratic presidential candidates are "scared to death" of left-wing activists operating websites like MoveOn.org and the Democratic Underground.
"On these sites you'll find an unbelievable hatred of Christians, of Evangelicals, of Jews, of conservatives in general, of the president," he explains. "And the people who go to these websites are often the volunteers, the doorbell-ringers, the envelope-stuffers, and the donors that unfortunately the National Democratic Party has come to rely on."
Bauer says anytime there is a controversy, people like Senator Edwards, Hillary Clinton, and others on the left do whatever they can to avoid offending the "radical left fringe that controls their party."
