Most of us expected some upset when Amanda of Pandagon was hired by the Edwards campaign, but man, the shit sure did hit the fan.

Amanda’s a controversial blogger. She’s strongly opinionated. Her arguments provoke thought, but they’re not tailored to capture all sides of an issue: she’s a pro-choice vegetarian liberal (among many, many other things), and she’s never tried to be anything to the contrary in order to appeal to another demographic. In short, she’s an actual human being - no rough edges softened, no whites bleached, no sugar-dusting. She swears. She gets pissed. She names names.

And she’s intelligent, whether you agree with her or not. She brings new perspectives to the table. She brings up issues and new developments that otherwise tend to fall through the cracks. I think she’ll be an asset to the Edwards’ campaign, and I look forward to reading her work.

So what’s the problem? The political world is a whitewashed mudbath. It’s unfortunate, but I have to wonder if the blogosphere will be wise enough to look past Amanda’s naughty language and satirical name-calling in her personal blog and see her value as an intelligent, well-informed professional.