Los Angeles-area Catholics were instructed by Cardinal Roger M. Mahony to defy a proposed federal law designed to target illegal immigration. Many disagree with the Cardinal's instruction to his priests to break the law.
But disagreement can easily transform into cheap, personal attacks when the issue involves the Catholic Church. Witness morning talk-show host Doug McIntyre on KABC in Los Angeles this morning. In an angry tirade against Mahony's public statements, McIntryre pulled out the priest molestation scandal and proceeded to call a Cardinal "a scumbag." In reading his name "Roger M. Mahony," McIntyre formulated that his middle name was not Michael, but that "the M stands for molester." (The Cardinal has never been charged by law enforcement for molestation.)
Does every discussion involving the Catholic Church have to resort to the cheap ploy of dragging in the molestation scandal? At what point does this ploy cross the line into simple anti-Catholic bigotry?
The Los Angeles Times has been having its own issues dealing with the issue of illegal immigration. The great LA Times watchdog Patterico has been on the case here and here.
