The latest gambit from the GOP on the issue of judicial nominations is to accuse the Democrats of acting out of "anti-Catholic" prejudice. The idea, as I understand it, is to say that because William Pryor, et al., oppose abortion rights, and purportedly base said opposition on the teachings of the Catholic Church, anyone who opposes their nomination is doing so out of religious bigotry.

The logic of that attack is ridiculous, as Joshua Marshall points out here; by that logic, the right is basically stating that Catholics can avoid being held accountable for anti-abortion opinions, but that non-Catholics, or those who wish to restrict abortion rights for reasons not connected to religious principles, are out of luck. For other reasons, though, I hope the far right keeps up the attack. It shows that these wack-jobs have as little understanding of mainstream Roman Catholicism in the U.S. as they do of every other non-white, non-male, non-straight and/or non-Baptist in the country.

The typical American Catholic does not belong to Opus Dei, and does not believe that Cardinal Ratzinger speaks for him. We not only support abortion rights, in numbers greater than non-Catholics, but most of us think that priestly celibacy, the male priesthood, the bans on contraception and divorce, and the reliance on clerics to dictate the tenets of our faith are historical relics. Many of us support gay marriage. And just so you don't think it all goes in one ideological direction, quite a few "cafeteria Catholics" support the death penalty, and backed the war in Iraq, in defiance of the teaching of the Holy Mother Church. In short, we think for ourselves.

So if Senator Santorum wants to follow this strategy, BRING 'EM ON. Lord knows, the Democrats are going to need every Catholic vote they can get next year.