“If you heard any of the debate, you heard many people say that Mr. Pryor was being discriminated against because of his Catholicism,” Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) told reporters Thursday. “Well, nothing could be farther from the truth.”
Well I have to agree with Tom Daschle here. He is not being descriminated because he is a Catholic but because he is a Catholic who appears to follow what the Church actually teaches. If he was a “Tom Daschle” Catholic there would be no problem. They would have nothing against someone who went to a Catholic Church on Sundays but who didn’t follow the teachings of the Church in their political life.
Daschle blamed Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) for introducing the topic of religion because of comments Hatch made during Pryor’s June 11 confirmation hearing.
“You’re a person of deep religious conviction. You believe very strongly in the Catholic faith, and you have said so publicly,” Hatch said of Pryor. “Some of these criticisms come from your expressions of your own personal faith, which you have never, to my knowledge, allowed to interfere with what the law is.”
Hatch also asked Pryor if he was Catholic. Pryor responded that he is.
Daschle cited complaints from “all over the country” about Hatch’s comments and questions.
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Well Orrin Hatch is not a real good example to cite since he is increasingly not pro-life in his voting record. And his viewpoint on embryonic stem cell research matches the majority of the Democratic party so you can see that he would have the same animus towards Pryor as they do. The argument that Orrin Hatch introduced the topic thus he started it sounds like a playground excuse and not a valid reason. Saying “Well he started it” does not provide a reason why you should continue doing something.
