John Edwards’ bloggers called ‘anti-Catholic’

WASHINGTON – Two bloggers hired recently by Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards were criticized Tuesday by a Catholic group for posts they had written elsewhere on the Internet.

Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, demanded that Edwards fire Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan.

“John Edwards is a decent man who has had his campaign tarnished by two anti-Catholic, vulgar, trash-talking bigots,” Donohue wrote in a statement.

The Edwards campaign declined to comment. McEwan and Marcotte did not respond to e-mails requesting a response.

Donohue cited posts that the women made on blogs in the past several months in which they criticized the pope and the church for its opposition to homosexuality, abortion and contraception, sometimes using profanity.

Edwards put both bloggers on his payroll last week as part of his outreach to liberal voters and activists on the Internet.