Jennifer Palmieri as White House communications director in 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
By Clyde Hughes
NEWSMAX
Catholics want top Hillary Clinton aide Jennifer Palmieri fired over a WikiLeaks email chain in which she mocked the religion.
The 2011 email exchange included Palmieri, now Clinton’s communication director, campaign manager John Podesta, and John Halpin, from the liberal policy group Center for American Progress, reported Fox News Insider.
In the exchange, Halpin criticized 21st Century Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch, and NewsCorp Chairman Robert Thomson for raising their children Catholic, while charging that some in the church were involved in an “amazing bastardization of the faith.”
“They must be attracted to the systemic thought and severely backward gender relations,” Halpin wrote, per FNI. While Podesta, who is Catholic, did not directly respond, Palmieri did.
“I imagine they think it the is the most socially acceptable, politically conservative religion – their rich friends wouldn’t understand if they became evangelicals,” Palmieri wrote, said FNI.
Brian Burch, president of the conservative group CatholicVote.org, on Wednesday called for Palmieri to resign or be fired over the remarks .
“And there’s no evidence that Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta ever pushed back at these smears against Catholicism,” said Burch. “Everyone has a unique faith journey, and it’s just insulting to make blanket statements maligning people’s motives for converting to another faith tradition. Had Palmieri spoken this way about other groups she would be dismissed. Palmieri must resign immediately or be fired.”
Catholic League President Bill Donohue said in a statement the Clinton campaign should sanction both Palmieri and Podesta for the revelation, calling them both “bigoted.”
“These anti-Catholic remarks are bad enough, but it makes one wonder what else Clinton’s chiefs, and others associated with the campaign, are saying about Catholics and Catholicism,” said Donohue.
“If Trump’s inner circle spoke with derision about transgender persons, the sirens would be sounded by the mainstream media and his operatives would be hung out to dry. Hillary Clinton is not responsible for this Catholic bashing, but she has a moral obligation to sanction Podesta and Palmieri immediately.”
The Hill said that while the Clinton campaign has not responded to the controversy, Democrats have tried to question the authenticity of the hacked emails by claiming that they were gathered by Russians.
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http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/catholics-fire-clinton-aide/2016/10/12/id/752922/