Bernie Ward, a most prominent left-wing radio host, was willing to smear and slander anyone to make a point. He was among those who helped stoke the false, Larry Flynt-inspired pre-2000-election rumors that President Bush had paid for an abortion during the 1970s. He despised pro-lifers and railed against Catholic Supreme Court nominees, ridiculing them for their moral views in an argument that would, if drawn out to its logical conclusion, reduce all believing Christians to second-class citizenship.

When Ward was first indicted for distributing child pornography, his friends blamed the Bush administration for a conspiracy against a critic. Ward lied by claiming that he had been doing “research for a book on hypocrisy among Americans who preach morality in public” — essentially another smear against conservatives.

For perhaps the first time in many years, Ward finally said something true on Thursday — he pleaded guilty to distribution of child pornography. The transcripts of his online chats do not even spare his own son from his sick mind.

This story jumped out at me because of the prominent (and sadly, appropriate) mention in every article of the fact that Ward had long ago been a Catholic priest. Even so, in considering the scandals within the priesthood, it is important to remember that people like Bernie Ward created the problems that have recently plagued the Catholic priesthood, not vice versa.