The Catholic League’s Bill Donohue, when he’s not busy suggesting that it’s their own fault when young boys are molested by priests, has a full time job safeguarding “both the religious freedom rights and the free speech rights of Catholics whenever and wherever they are threatened. “ Apparently, part of that mission includes defending teh internets from foul-mouthed lefty bloggers.
It started back in 2007 when he launched an ultimately successful crusade to get the John Edwards campaign to part ways with both Amanda Marcotte of Pandagon and Melissa McEwan of Shakespeare’s Sister, whom he called “two anti-Catholic vulgar trash-talking bigots.” And now he has set his sites on purging the Democratic National Convention of bloggers who raise his ire:
Over 120 blogs have been credentialed as members of the media for the Democratic National Convention; those who have received credentials are allowed to cover the Convention at the Pepsi Center. While most of them offer legitimate commentary, some do not.
Catholic League president Bill Donohue is protesting two of the blogs:
“The list of credentialed blogs include radical sites like The Daily Kos. Worse are blogs that feature anti-Catholic and obscene material. The two most offensive are Bitch Ph.D. and Towleroad.
“On the home page of Bitch Ph.D. there is a picture of two children: one of them is shown flashing his middle finger. Today’s lead post, which was written August 17, is called ‘Jesus Christ.’ It begins with, ‘I’m a really crappy Catholic who hasn’t been to mass in ages because most parishes around here ‘will’ insist on being aggressively anti-abortion….’ The writer then objects to some children’s toys on the grounds that they are more offensive than desecrating the Eucharist. The toys are actually balloons that have been made to depict Jesus in various poses, including a crucified Christ; one of these images shows Jesus with a penis. Several who commented on this image made patently obscene comments.
“Towleroad describes itself as ‘A Site with Homosexual Tendencies.’ Accordingly, it shows men in jock straps and underwear. It also has a post on Pope Benedict XVI that takes him to task for wearing a cape with ermine. Some of those who commented on this described the pope in a vile and profane way.
“Both of these blogs should be cut immediately from the list of credentialed sites. Neither functions as a responsible media outlet and both offend Catholics, as well as others. To allow them access to the Democratic National Convention sends a message to Catholics they will not forget. We look for Leah Daughtry, CEO of the Convention, to nix them ASAP.”
Apparently, Donohue is so desperate for attention that he has been reduced to picking fights with bloggers over the type of cape that the Pope wears. In fact, this entire spectacle is vintage Donohue in that he scours the internet or televsion in order to find something that offends him and then declares that failure to kowtow to his personal whims, dislikes, and obsessions will “send a message to Catholics they will not forget” … based on nothing more than his say so. So this sort of bluster is nothing new for Donohue, who has a long history of attempting to intimidate his political enemies, as well as his own history of bigotry such as declaring that “Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity.”
