Catholic League: Dems Owe Blackwell an Apology

(File under Catholic League, Ken Blackwell, Ohio Politics, Democrat Dirty Tricks)

Yesterday, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights issued the following press release regarding Ken Blackwell, Republican candidate for Governor of Ohio:

February 23, 2006

KEN BLACKWELL, OHIO POL, OWED APOLOGY

Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, the Republican candidate for governor, has recently been labeled anti-Catholic by the Ohio Democratic Catholic Caucus. The charge stems from the fact that Blackwell is co-authoring a book, Rebuilding America, with Jerry Corsi, the co-author of a book with John O’Neill about the swift boat veterans. Corsi once made anti-Catholic jokes on the Internet, and later apologized for doing so. This was sufficient grounds for the Catholic Democratic group to say, “The message from Blackwell to Ohio Catholics is clear. Mainstream and faithful Catholics need not apply.”

Catholic League president Bill Donohue took issue with this today:

“Follow the logic: Ken Blackwell, who holds the same positions as the Catholic Church on abortion and school vouchers, and who was vice president and a professor at a Catholic university (his alma mater, Xavier University), is being branded anti-Catholic by an organization which rejects the Catholic Church’s stance on abortion and school vouchers, simply because he is co-authoring a book with someone who once made anti-Catholic quips for which he has long apologized.

“Charging a public official with bigotry is serious business, and nothing that Ken Blackwell has ever said or done is anti-Catholic. Indeed, his record is one of championing Catholic causes: he has been honored for his pro-life work by the Knights of Columbus, and was given an award last year by the Catholic Inner-City School Education Fund. That is why he deserves an immediate apology from those who have slandered him.”

(emphasis added)

My Comments:

Looks like the Dems are trying to use against Blackwell the same old guilt-by-allegedly-anti-Catholic-association gambit tried by John McCain against George W. Bush in the 2000 Republican primaries. Didn't work then; won't work now.


Other Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Ken Blackwell Leads GOP Hopes

National Review: Meet “Jesse Jackson’s Worst Nightmare” - Ken Blackwell

Principle Trumps Race

Ronald Reagan's Unlikely Heir