What will the Associated Press come up with next? David Duke on the merits of the fight for black equality, or Lynette "Squeaky" Fromm's inside look at the State of the Union?
What I'm talking about is the Associated Press quoting today what they call a "Catholic group" that is concerned about alleged "anti-Catholic bigots" working on the John Edwards presidential campaign (they're talking about Edwards' new bloggers who have been critical of the Catholic church - and who hasn't?).
The "Catholic group" in question is none other than the Catholic League, a far-right fringe group of activists run by a loud-mouthed and somewhat-unhinged-appearing president William Donohue. Donohue is AP's expert on bigotry and religion. And in fact, Donohue is an expert on religious bigotry and hate speech - an expert in spewing it, that is.
Donohue said the following on December 9, 2004 on MSNBC about Jews:
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. That's why they hate this movie. It's about Jesus Christ, and it's about truth. It's about the messiah. Hollywood likes anal sex.Hollywood is controlled by Christian-hating Jews who like anal sex. This is the AP's only source for a story attacking a leading Democratic presidential candidate as being supportive of alleged hate speech. Oh yeah, Donohue also refers to homosexuality as a "gay death style." And Donohoe had this to say about gay actors:
I don't know what about -- the queer-bashing is all about. I'm pretty good about picking out who queers are and I didn't see any in the movie. I'm usually pretty good at that.Nice job, AP. Two young people are in danger of losing the job of their lifetime because you didn't bother checking out your source before you presented him to all of America as some Catholic leader, rather than a Jew-hating homophobe.
One final point. Check out who this "Catholic group" is affiliated with.
Members of the Catholic League's board of advisers include conservative author and media analyst L. Brent Bozell III; conservative radio host and syndicated columnist Linda Chavez; right-wing pundit and author Dinesh D'Souza; former Republican presidential and senatorial candidate Alan Keyes; and National Review Washington editor Kate O'Beirne.Yeah, some Catholic group. It reads like the board of the Heritage Foundation.
So what really happened here is that the Associated Press got a call from a bunch of conservative longtime Republican party activists criticizing a lead Democratic candidate, but didn't suspect a partisan motive, and didn't bother informing its readers.
Quick, give the AP reporter $500.
