Poor me. I’m still sick, and have the energy as a snail. This has been on my mind, so I might as well get it off my mind and unto the blog so my stuffed up head can clear, at least on one level.:^)

Last week I got into a lively discussion with a Catholic friend in the US about anti-Catholicism and Catholic League’s Bill Donohue’s crusade to see that two bloggers who were hired by a presidential hopeful were fired. (Donohue was successful, they withdrew)

It was big news in the US  blogosphere.  While I can appreciate Donohue is paid to stand against anti-Catholic speech and behavior, this is a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

I’ll be honest - I’ve read some of his columns, I’ve never heard him on radio. I’ve only seen him on TV once, and that was when I was in the US late last year. I lasted a minute or two and turned him off.  

Someone who gets paid about 334 thousand dollars a year (IRS filing 2005) to be a talking head on behalf of Catholicism, has an obligation to represent his tribe with decency. Donohue simply doesn’t. There are excellent Catholic writers and speakers in the US that could and do address anti Catholicism without this level of blind bigotry. This is trash talking politics, it was not about faith, regardless of the spin.

Calling for the firing of Amanda Marcotte as Blogmaster and Melissa McEwan as the Netroots Coordinator for the Edwards campaign,  Donohue called both women ” “anti-Catholic, vulgar, trash-talking bigots.” Took his media campaign about a week to get him what he wanted.  Neither woman makes claim to faith. 
People tend to respond viscerally and emotionally to perceived attack of their religious beliefs, the question for me is simple. Did anyone approach either blogger directly to discuss why some Catholic Christians might take offense to their   blog posts? Or was this what it looks like - an opportunistic Republican hatchet job?
Republican pundits receive vicious email - this Donohue campaign is one of those times the religious drive directed at these bloggers is blatant, egregious and open.

When Jerome Corsi made anti Catholic and anti Muslim remarks in 2004, Donohue was silent, finally piping up in 2006 with:

“Corsi once made anti-Catholic jokes on the Internet, and later apologized for doing so,” and quoted Donohue describing Corsi as “someone who once made anti-Catholic quips for which he has long apologized.”

When Mel Gibson went on his anti-Semitic alcohol fueled tirade:

“There’s a lot of people who have made comments which are bigoted who are not necessarily bigots,” adding that he is “concerned now about piling on.” Of those who won’t forgive Gibson, Donohue said: “Who gives a damn about those people?” Donohue then asked, “What kind of blood do they want out of this man?

According to Media Matters, Donohue is known for inflammatory rhetoric.

• “People don’t trust the Muslims when it comes to liberty.” [MSNBC's Scarborough Country, 2/9/06]

• “Name for me a book publishing company in this country, particularly in New York, which would allow you to publish a book which would tell the truth about the gay death style.” [MSNBC's Scarborough Country, 2/27/04]

• “The gay community has yet to apologize to straight people for all the damage that they have done.” [MSNBC's Scarborough Country, 4/11/05]

• Addressing former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) in a press release, Donohue said: “[W]hy didn’t you just smack the clergyman in the face? After all, most 15-year-old teenage boys wouldn’t allow themselves to be molested. So why did you?” [10/4/06]

• “I’m saying if a Catholic votes for Kerry because they support him on abortion rights, that is to cooperate in evil.” [MSNBC's Hardball, 10/21/04]

• “We’ve already won. Who really cares what Hollywood thinks? All these hacks come out there. Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. It’s not a secret, OK? And I’m not afraid to say it. … Hollywood likes anal sex. They like to see the public square without nativity scenes. I like families. I like children. They like abortions. I believe in traditional values and restraint. They believe in libertinism. We have nothing in common. But you know what? The culture war has been ongoing for a long time. Their side has lost.” [MSNBC's Scarborough Country, 12/8/04]

• “Well, look, there are people in Hollywood, not all of them, but there are some people who are nothing more than harlots. They will do anything for the buck. They wouldn’t care. If you asked them to sodomize their own mother in a movie, they would do so, and they would do it with a smile on their face.” [MSNBC's Scarborough Country, 2/9/06]

There are other examples. I don’t find him representative of much of anything except self-interest, and he does not speak well for Catholics I know and respect. 
Regardless, Donohue got exactly what he wanted.

It is up to US Catholics to make  decisions about how they will be represented in media by this spokesmen. Marcotte and McEwan received horrific sexual assault and death threats when Donohue got on his media soapbox and began his crusade. By the time it was over, it had spilled well past blogs.

What did Amanda Marcotte write at Padagon that was offensive? She criticized contraception, the Pope, patriarchal religion and limbo. A couple of those are dogma issues for Roman Catholics, not merely denominational concerns or opinion, and whether she understood or not, she crossed the line. But I will not accept it was a line that warranted the violent backlash she and McEwan experienced after Donohue was through. And what did Melissa McEwan of Shakespeare’s Sister write? She was very open about her rejection of Roman Catholicism, the anti homosexual agenda, birth control and sexism.

Two wrongs do not make a right.
In discussing this with my friend I called Donohue a jackass, which in my view makes me just as much a one as he is.
I repent. 
No matter how this dust up is dressed up, Donohue’s purpose was political, and that is a venue where people of faith need to willfully navigate with maturity, care and respect.  Stooping to Donohue’s level serves no purpose. 
Theresa Nielsen Hayden:

Joy is the engine of our spirits, and it takes it all away. You get depressed, and hurt all over. Your own words fail you. The damage can last for years.

That’s the intended effect. It’s meant to hurt—to be so nauseating and dispiriting that the person who’s the target shuts down and stops communicating. It’s not just a matter of triumphing (albeit by grossly unfair means) in the argument of the moment. The underlying message is: We don’t care about what’s right, or fair, or accurate. We care about winning. If you stand against us, you will lose, and we will hurt you as much as we can for having fought us. We will wreck your career, and hurt the people around you and the things you care for. If you cry out, we will hurt you for that, too.

My friend says in speaking out about Marcotte and McEwan, Catholic League President Bill Donohue wins for all people of faith.
I will respectfully and clearly continue to disagree.
No one won.