Louisiana Democrats go gutter sniping

This is profoundly pathetic:

In one of the hardest hitting – Republicans will undoubtedly say “dirtiest” – television ads aired in history, the Louisiana Democratic Party is accusing Rep. Bobby Jindal of being anti-Protestant.

The bizarre charge is delivered by an unidentified woman in a new Louisiana Democratic Party TV ad produced by Carvin/Seder Communications, a Louisiana-based consulting firm whose clients have included former Governor Edwin Edwards (D-La.), Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius (D) and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin (D).

In the TV spot, the announcer charges that Jindal wrote articles that “insulted thousands of Louisiana Protestants,” and she holds up an article in which she says Jindal “doubts the morals and questions the beliefs of Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalians, Pentecostals and other Protestant religions.”

The ad directs interested viewers to a website, www.JindalonReligion.com. (However, unless you are a subscriber to The New Oxford Review, you won’t be able to read Jindal’s entire articles.)

From what I'm reading, the charges are utterly baseless. Jindal has indeed described why he believes Catholicism is right and Protestantism is wrong (and why shouldn't he -- he's Catholic!) but the accusations that he has defamed Protestantism are totally without merit. The LDP is apparently using deceptive quotes taken out of context, even some that are falsely attributed (in one such quote Jindal is quoting John Calvin, without endorsement).

This is just like last gubernatorial election -- the Democrats claim to be the party of tolerance, but they're only too willing to appeal to racial and religious prejudice if it wins them an election. Let's hope it doesn't work this time, and we have a fair contest.