They aren’t accusing Amy Coney Barrett of gang-rape yet, but the Kavanaugh playbook is now being fully utilized. The bigoted attacks on the Supreme Court nominee’s religion are intensifying. Now, the reporter who started the war against Brett Kavanaugh is pushing wild conspiracy theories about Barrett.

Everything that’s old is new again.

Democrats are laundering their (admittedly weak) anti-religious smear of Amy Coney Barrett through Emma Brown, the same reporter they used to launch their massive and media-coordinated anti-Kavanaugh operation that so many Americans found so despicable. https://t.co/WRVyuD2WQ1

— Mollie (@MZHemingway) October 7, 2020

There are several things to dissect about this bigoted attack on Barrett’s religion.

For one, Barrett “lived” with the co-founder of People of Praise in a dorm. This happened at Notre Dame, which is a Catholic university, and while Barrett was there, traditional rules were very much still in place. In other words, the scandal here is that Barrett was in the same dorm as a person who’d later co-found what amounts to a Christian support group where women serve together. But the picture the media want to paint is Barrett living at some commune, sleeping in the same bed as a cult leader. That’s not at all reality, but the vagueness with which they are pushing these conspiracies is not accidental.

Secondly, the term “handmaid” was not invented by some trashy TV show on Hulu. It is a biblical term that applies to Mary, Jesus’ mother. It is meant to convey leadership and service to Christ, not male dominance. It does not in any way translate to subjugation in this context. The media, who apparently know nothing of religion, are either too stupid to realize this or are too biased to report on it honestly. That any nominee would have to endure these gross attacks is another sad testament to just how rabid and dangerous the left are.

But again, if this is the best the left have, they’ve got absolutely nothing. That’s why pushing back the nomination would be pointless. Republicans would be wise to continue charging full steam ahead, even if that means canceling the hearings altogether.

Meanwhile, the media are going to try to push these crazed, bigoted attacks via the same reporters they did with Kavanaugh. It’s not going to have the same effect this time, though. Attacking a mother of seven for being a Christian will absolutely backfire. GOP Senators should give Democrats all the rope they want on this.

(Please follow me on Twitter! @bonchieredstate)