Pope Too Controversial for Senate Democrats [UPDATED]

(Hat tip: Deal Hudson)

From The American Conservative:

When Senators Sam Brownback (R, Kan.) and Bob Casey (D, Penn.) introduced an amendment this week “Welcoming Pope Benedict XVI to the United States and recognizing the unique insights his moral and spiritual reflections bring to the world stage,” they didn’t expect much push-back. It was “hot-lined” (queued up for unanimous approval) yesterday, and it cleared the Republican Conference.

Today, however, at least one Democratic Senator has objected to the resolution, blocking its unanimous approval, I am told by a Senate source. Reading through the language of the resolution, the most likely passages to raise Democratic ire are:

Whereas Pope Benedict XVI has spoken approvingly of the vibrance of religious faith in the United States, a faith nourished by a constitutional commitment to religious liberty that neither attempts to strip our public spaces of religious expression nor denies the ultimate source of our rights and liberties;

or

Whereas Pope Benedict XVI has spoken out for the weak and vulnerable, witnessing to the value of each and every human life.

Decide for yourself, by reading the resolution here.

My Comments:
It's not the first time Senate Democrats have taken issue with this Pope.


UPDATE
From Politico:

Pope resolution passes after "life" language removed

While Pope Benedict XVI's historic visit to Washington received wall to wall coverage, Sen. Barbara Boxer briefly held up a Senate resolution welcoming the pontiff because she objected to language about how the pope values "each and every human life."

The measure later cleared the Senate Thursday afternoon after the sponsor of the resolution, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), dropped the reference to "human life" because some Democrats saw it as a reference to abortion. According to Republican aides, Brownback, a devout Catholic, did not want a high profile fight over the resolution, which was adopted on a voice vote. In fact, Brownback blackberried his staff from the Pope's mass at Nationals Park to direct them to drop the references to human life.

A copy of the original resolution can be found here. The new resolution, with the human life language and references to religious expression in public buildings removed, is here.

"There was some politics involved here, and the objectionable language has been withdrawn," a senior Democratic Senate aide said.

Three Senate Republican aides involved in the issue say that Boxer objected to the "life" language, which Democrats see as an implicit reference to the Catholic church's opposition to abortion. Senate Democratic leadership offices declined to comment but referred questions to Boxer's office, which has not responded to Politico's inquiries this morning.

Two high profile blogs — The Corner at National Review and the Daily Kos — have already picked up on the controversy, citing "sources" in the Senate who discussed the papal resolution.

The pope just wrapped up his two-hour Mass at the new Nationals Park in southeast Washington, and the Senate has moved on from this behind the scenes controversy.

[More]

(emphasis added)

Despicable! This is why I will NEVER vote for another Democrat again. That party is so wedded to the evil scourge of abortion-on-demand that an innocuous resolution commending the Pope can't even pass the Senate without their describing the language "the value of each and every human life" as "objectionable" and demanding that it be stripped out.

Got that? The phrase "the value of each and every human life" is deemed "objectionable" by the Democrat Senate colleagues of Senators Obama and Clinton.

But go ahead. Complain about how the Republicans "haven't done enough" to end abortion, all the while you ignore that crap like this is exactly why more hasn't been accomplished. If you vote Democrat, you vote for evil. Plain and simple.

But go right ahead.


UPDATE #2
Regular Guy Paul writes:

... But it seems to me that there's a problem from the pro-abortion side: If it's "objectionable" to witness "to the value of each and every human life," then which human lives does Sen. Boxer wish to deny the value of?

If she denies the value of unborn human lives, desiring to maintain the right to kill them for any reason or no reason, then isn't Sen. Boxer admitting that the unborn, are, in fact, human lives?

Isn't this essentially an admission that what happens in abortion is, in fact, an outright denial of the value of human life?

UPDATE #3 (18 April)
A couple of entries from Kathryn Jean Lopez at The Corner:

A Senate aide adds that it was not just the life language that was an issue in the resolution in the Senate:

[Boxer's] spokesperson claims that the reference to the "naked public square" was about "religious expression on public buildings." This is a rather uninformed and cramped understanding of what that language means. I guess we can take comfort from this episode that leading liberal Democrats have zero understanding of what makes Catholics and religious people tick.

(emphasis added)

... This is what was ridiculously cut:

"that neither attempts to strip our public spaces of religious expression nor denies the ultimate source of our rights and liberties"

and

"Whereas Pope Benedict XVI has spoken out for the weak and vulnerable, witnessing to the value of each and every human life"

I don't know that I can say it any better than this: " ... leading liberal Democrats have zero understanding of what makes Catholics and religious people tick."

But go ahead. Vote for the Party of Death anyway.


UPDATE #4 (18 April)
Some are looking to place a portion of the blame on Sen. Brownback for "backing down" on the "objectionable language":

Here's how I responded:

I certainly don't blame Brownback for not wanting a floor fight over a resolution to honor the Pope. Boxer and the Democrats come off looking bad enough without it turning into a partisan battle.

What should have happened instead is that the Democrats who are so concerned at present with convincing us that they "value" the values voters (namely Obama and Hillary and the resolution's co-sponsor Casey Jr.) should have gone to Boxer and said "Hey Babs, let it go."

But Moloch takes precedence in that particular party, which is why I will NEVER AGAIN vote for a Democrat.

But I don't blame Sen. Brownback at all for wishing to avoid such a fight during the papal visit. He could have used the opportunity to score political points, but instead decided not to distract from the Holy Father's visit.

Sure, I wish Sen. Brownback had stood more firm, but the Democrats deserve ALL the blame for this debacle.