Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Re: Catholic Democrats Should Be Outraged [Stephen Spruiell]
Ed Morrissey bought one of the articles that Jindal wrote for the subscription-only New Oxford Review. The Louisiana Democrats are using this article and others as the basis for their ad claiming that Jindal is "anti-protestant." Morrissey found out just how badly they distorted Jindal's words:
I purchased the first essay highlighted on the website that the Democrats set up to demonize Jindal's writings. In this, they cleverly write hyperbolic descriptions of his essays while hiding behind the knowledge that readers will have to pay to read them from New Oxford Review. For instance, the description on the essay I bought claims that "Jindal explains how Catholicism has more merit than all other Religions. Jindal states non-Catholics are burndened [sic] with "utterly depraved minds" and calls individuals who ignore the teachings of the Catholic church intellectually dishonest."
When I read Jindal's essay, however, it says nothing of the sort. Jindal quotes John Calvin as saying that all men are born "utterly depraved" and then argues against it: [...]
He also does not call Protestants "intellectually dishonest." He says that it would not be intellectually honest to ignore the teachings of the Catholic Church when studying Christianity. That doesn't mean all Protestants are dishonest, but that any comparative study of the religion without at least seeing for one's self what Catholicism has to say about itself is intentionally self-limiting. He also calls on the Catholic Church to live up to those teachings in almost the same breath. Frankly, this piece is pretty much Catholic Apologetics 101. [...]
Put frankly, the Louisiana Democratic Party is despicable. Anyone contributing to this campaign should be publicly outed for the bigots they are.
I bought another one of the articles the LDP is using to attack Jindal. This distortion is even worse. The Democrats' website describes the subscription-only article thus:
Jindal describes himself as a "Knight in Shining Armor" while assisting an "intimate friend" with her battles with illness.
Note the slimy insinuation inherent in putting quotation marks around "intimate friend." Here's the actual excerpt:
Though she had not said anything, I knew something was wrong. Susan and I had developed an intimate friendship; indeed, our relationship mystified observers, who insisted on finding a romantic component where none existed.
Daily Kos approvingly links to the LDP's website and writes, "Jindal can deny [the substance of the ad] all he wants, but fact is he wrote stuff to that effect." Did he? Without taking his words out of context, show us one instance that backs up that claim.
08/21 03:46 PM
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