Defend Donohue

Deal Hudson

With the resignations of Marcotte and McEwan, Bill Donohue has become a major target of the 2008 presidential campaign.  It is important to read through the kind of arguments that are being presented to challenge the not-for-profit status of the Catholic League. 

The bottom line is this: Any position Donohue takes to defend Catholic teaching or the Catholic Church against bigotry is being labeled as "partisan" or as "lobbying." 

The arguments against Donohue are not sophisticated, but they are dangerous.  It doesn't make any difference that they are without merit -- they could be applied to any number of public statements, for example, by the Anti-Defamation League. 

The problem is that there is a coordinated effort by leftwing bloggers who want to drain the resources of the Catholic League and distract the attention of an effective spokesman for orthodox Catholics, Bill Donohue.

There is good news in all of this: Everytime the Left overplays its hand, whether it is Roe v. Wade or the Massachusetts Supreme Court decision mandating gay marraige, it sets their cause back for years. The Marcotte/McEwan episode will be forgotten by the time the primary season starts in earnest, but it will have served to unite and motivate religious conservatives, especially among Catholics, well in advance of battles to come.