Bad Writing? No.

[eggplant107]

No: HPFGUIDX 162990

 "lupinlore" <rdoliver30 at ...> wrote:

> Dumbledore's explanation does not 
> make clear why he did not step in 
> and put a firm stop to the Dursleys 
> abuse of Harry

With the exception of one scene in book 2 where he's locked in his
room, the Dursley's actions would not be considered criminal child
abuse; and even Dumbledore can't order them to love Harry, or command
them to develop good parenting skills. 

> When Umbridge's abuse of Harry 
> began the Ministry had not yet 
> put her in charge of Hogwarts 

Remember, it was not Dumbledore's idea to bring Umbridge to Hogwarts,
and she may not have had the official title of Headmaster but from day
one it was pretty clear that she was the one making the important
decisions at Hogwarts not Dumbledore.

>  abuse being approved by the "epitome of goodness,"

Gee, you sure like that phrase, pity it's not in any of the books. 

> [
] is approved. At least in the message which I don't think JKR
intends to send.

Now I'm confused. First you say JKR is a great fan of child abuse then
you say that is not the message she wants to send. Personally I don't
think JKR is terribly interested in sending messages, she just wants
to tell a good story and several million readers, including me, think
she hasn't done too badly. You don't earn a billion dollars by being
incompetent.  

Eggplant