Republican Catholic outreach campaign leader resigns.

DEAL HUDSON, PUBLISHER of the conservative Catholic monthly, Crisis, and leader of President George W. Bush's outreach effort to Catholic voters, resigned from both positions after Joe Feuerherd of the National Catholic Reporter exposed a sexual scandal concerning a vulnerable female student when Hudson was a tenured professor of philosophy at Fordham University 10 years ago.

Despite Hudson's sordid past, Feuerherd notes that he was not afraid to pontificate on the failings of others. After orchestrating the firing of an employee at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops who organized the "Catholics for Kerry" website, Hudson was unrepentant. "If you're going to play in the sandbox," Hudson said, "then you have to take the consequences of your public utterances and your public actions."

The response from conservative groups threw into question these organizations' claims to be acting in the best interests of women. The American Life League decried the "recent negative media reports regarding Deal Hudson." Jim Anderson, writing on LifeNews.com, described the furor as an "error in judgment, a sin, a one-time fault," comparing Hudson's actions to a "child who makes a mess and cleans it up before others need to." Anderson was concerned that it would now be "a little tougher for ordinary people like you or I to get our concerns heard by the White House."

In a statement, Frances Kissling, president of CFFC, said "Hudson and his colleagues on the right have conducted a particularly ugly style of politics. They have shown no regard for civility or respect in their encounters, articles and other commentary on those who disagree with them. Perhaps they will learn something as they experience a small taste of what they have dished out for so long."

Leonard Leo, the executive vice president of the conservative Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, succeeded Hudson as head of "Catholic Outreach" for the Republican National Committee.