Friday, August 20, 2004
HEAD OF BUSH CATHOLIC OUTREACH RESIGNS
By Tweed
President Bush's efforts to entice the support of Catholic voters was dealt a set-back today when the head of his outreach effort resigned amid allegations of sexual misconduct. Deal Hudson, publisher of Crisis magazine, has been accused of sexual improprieties while a professor at Fordham University.
Mr. Hudson's involvement with a student at Fordham is old news; but the story exploded today when it was revealed that the sexual encounter was with an adult woman and not a pre-pubescent boy.
"We are shocked that Mr. Hudson's behavior was with a woman - and one old enough to legally offer her consent," said Braxton Hughes, a Bush campaign spokesman. "Now we have to smooth over our relations with church officials. This could take years to rectify."
The Catholic Church expressed great concern over the insensitivity shown by Mr. Hudson and the Bush campaign. "We knew of Mr. Hudson's past," said Cardinal O'Grady, spokesman for the Vatican, "but we naturally assumed his sexual daliances were more...unorthodox. But this revelation is very disturbing."
Cardinal O'Grady: "Hudson should focus his
sexual energies in the right place."
Supporters of Bush, but not the campaign itself, began circulating photographs of Mr. Hudson in the presence of small boys, naked and handcuffed. But these pictures were quickly determined to be hoaxes.
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By Tweed
President Bush's efforts to entice the support of Catholic voters was dealt a set-back today when the head of his outreach effort resigned amid allegations of sexual misconduct. Deal Hudson, publisher of Crisis magazine, has been accused of sexual improprieties while a professor at Fordham University.
Mr. Hudson's involvement with a student at Fordham is old news; but the story exploded today when it was revealed that the sexual encounter was with an adult woman and not a pre-pubescent boy.
"We are shocked that Mr. Hudson's behavior was with a woman - and one old enough to legally offer her consent," said Braxton Hughes, a Bush campaign spokesman. "Now we have to smooth over our relations with church officials. This could take years to rectify."
The Catholic Church expressed great concern over the insensitivity shown by Mr. Hudson and the Bush campaign. "We knew of Mr. Hudson's past," said Cardinal O'Grady, spokesman for the Vatican, "but we naturally assumed his sexual daliances were more...unorthodox. But this revelation is very disturbing."
Cardinal O'Grady: "Hudson should focus his
sexual energies in the right place."
Supporters of Bush, but not the campaign itself, began circulating photographs of Mr. Hudson in the presence of small boys, naked and handcuffed. But these pictures were quickly determined to be hoaxes.
