New Hampshire House Majority Leader David J. Bettencourt is not backing away from his attack on Manchester Bishop John B. McCormack. After the bishop joined an interfaith rally last week protesting budget cuts and efforts to roll back labor union rights, Bettencourt, a Republican, called McCormack a “pedophile pimp who should have been led away from the State House in handcuffs with a raincoat over his head.”
Catholic League president Bill Donohue addressed this issue today:
As president of the nation’s largest Catholic civil rights organization, I am contacting every member of the New Hampshire House calling for a Resolution of Censure. House Majority Leader David J. Bettencourt has had plenty of time to retract his vicious assault on Manchester Bishop John B. McCormack and refuses to do so. Therefore, it is only fitting that he be censured for his invective.
This kind of incivility has no legitimate role to play in public life. It is not just Catholics who feel bruised, it’s Americans of every faith and political persuasion. Moreover, the insult extends way beyond the borders of New Hampshire.
