This is just hilarious.

Sally Quinn of the “On Faith” blog, who called Pope Benedict a criminal and compared him to Nixon, is wondering whether Governor Rick Perry has an anti-Catholic “pastor problem.”

Gotta’ love it.

Rick Perry’s pastor problem?

Texas Governor, and possible GOP presidential candidate, Rick Perry has endorsed ‘The Response’ a prayer event scheduled for August 6 in Texas. “As a nation, we must come together and call upon Jesus to guide us through unprecedented struggles, and thank Him for the blessings of freedom we so richly enjoy,” Perry wrote on the event’s official Web site. Perry’s critics are concerned about his distinctly Christian approach to public prayer as well as his association, through ‘The Response,’ with several problematic pastors, among them John Hagee, controversial for his comments on Israel, the Roman Catholic Church and Islam, and C. Peter Wagner, who has suggested that the Catholic veneration of saints is an evil practice.Should politicians be judged by the religious company they keep?

This is great because Quinn was running around to anyone with a microphone screeching “RACISM! RACISM!” in an effort to silence anyone who dared criticize Jeremiah Wright.

But when it suited Quinn, she attacked the Catholic Church and Pope Benedict personally.

This is the Vatican’s Watergate. The Pope is Nixon. I mean, if you look at the signs, and the way they’re behaving, it’s exactly the same way. They’ve done something terrible. They’ve denied it. They’ve accused their accusers. The Pope this weekend talked about this being “gossip” and they weren’t going to be intimidated by it, but the fact is it’s been a coverup, and a crime, and a coverup.

The thing is that Quinn raises the specter of Hagee every election cycle. Hmmm. Let’s remember. About three years ago Sally Quinn, after completely excusing Obama for sitting silently in Jeremiah Wright’s church, expressed grave worries about Pastor Hagee’s bff-ness with…John McCain.

Earlier this year, he (McCain) sought and accepted endorsements from Rev. John Hagee, who has called the Catholic Church “The Great Whore”, and from Pastor Rod Parsley, his “spiritual adviser,” who calls Islam a “false religion” that should be “destroyed.” After negative publicity about both endorsements, McCain finally rejected them.

This is plain ol’ partisan hackery. It’s not even disguised well.

If I hear the Perry sat in a church that week after week that said G-damn Catholics. Or if I hear that he said or did something anti-Catholic himself I’ll get concerned. I can’t get too concerned about Sally Quinn’s accusations here. In fact, to be honest, I’d be a lot more concerned if he was hanging out with Sally Quinn.

Note: To be fair to On Faith, they do offer several differing opinions on the matter, some of which are valuable. (Not the one by Richard Dawkins)