"Pro-Abortion" Chutzpah ...

... is what it takes to write - as one commenter recently did at this InsideCatholic post - something like this:

I must once again take issue with your use of the term "pro-abortion," especially in reference to any Catholics. [ED.: So, then, there are NO people who call themselves Catholic who could be considered "pro-abortion"? NONE? At all?]

That term suggests that the well-intentioned Catholics who support Obama [ED.: I'll admit that there are "well-intentioned" Catholics who support Obama. But they're the ones voting for Obama IN SPITE OF his record on abortion. They're most definitely NOT the ones who are trying to "baptize" Obama's position on abortion as "not pro-abortion" and making it out to be some sort of middle ground that is actually preferable to what pro-lifers have been doing for the past 35 years.] want to increase abortions; seldom have there been more ridiculous assertions in this primary campaign.

The Catholics supporting Obama, including Sebelius, who are pro-choice have explained their position, which clearly shows their disdain for the practice of abortion [ED.: Are you kidding me? If their actions (not just their words) "clearly show[ed] their disdain" for abortion, then we wouldn't have so much confusion on the issue. I mean, we wouldn't have the spectacle of Governor Sebelius being denied Communion by her Archbishop if she so "clearly shows [her] disdain" for abortion. Would we? Maybe "clearly shows" means something else to these Obamaphiles than it does to most plain-speaking people.] as well as their frustration with the inability of 30 years of mostly Republican appointments to make any progress on the abortion issue. [ED.: WTF? Is this person REALLY trying to claim that Sebelius et al are frustrated that Republicans haven't done MORE to end abortion? More on this below.] What is more, they outlined the many other issues on which they find Senator Obama the best candidate, the least of which is not his pledge for a new politics [ED.: Again with the bald assertion not backed up by anything even close to resembling reality. What concrete steps has Obama EVER taken to show an ability or even an inclination to be anything other than a typical left-liberal Democrat politician? Where is this "new politics" evidenced in his record? Or even on the campaign trail?] in which the searing vituperation of terms like "pro-abortion" would have no home. [ED.: Is that a threat? Is that term suddenly going to find itself on an index of "hate speech"? I can tell you right now, hotshot, that as long as there are politicians who support legalized abortion on demand, there will be plenty of people out here for whom "pro-abortion" will continue to be a legitimate term for describing those committed to that agenda, "new politics" be damned.]

(emphasis and editorial commentary added)

How does one claim with a straight face that "pro-choice" Catholics like Sebelius have "clearly shown ... their frustration with the inability of 30 years of mostly Republican appointments to make any progress on the abortion issue"?

Yes, and of course, those "pro-choice" Catholics like Sebelius (and Kennedy and Leahy and Durbin and Biden, etc., etc.) - all of whom so "clearly disdain" abortion - have had absolutely NOTHING to do with the inability to make any progress on the abortion issue. No, not at all. /sarcasm

The biggest coup during this election season has been the ability of Obama-supporting Catholics to turn Democrat intransigence on the issue of legalized abortion-on-demand into a liability for the Republicans. They work overtime to keep any progress from being made to end abortion, and then have the nerve to say "Look at those Republicans; they haven't done anything to end abortion." But, of course, that's the height of hypocrisy to blame your opponent for that for which you are chiefly responsible.

Look, I'll say it and mean it: the Democrat Party is a pro-abortion party to its very core. The Democrat Party will not compromise on the issue because they believe legalized abortion-on-demand to be in the common good. As Archbishop Chaput wrote last week:

... very few of the people, including Catholics, who claimed to be “personally opposed” to abortion really did anything about it. Nor did they intend to. For most, their personal opposition was little more than pious hand-wringing and a convenient excuse—exactly as it is today. In fact, I can’t name any pro-choice Catholic politician who has been active, in a sustained public way, in trying to discourage abortion and to protect unborn human life—not one... Changing the views of “pro-choice” candidates takes a lot more than verbal gymnastics, good alibis, and pious talk about “personal opposition” to killing unborn children.

(emphasis added)


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Robert Novak on the Possibility of Sebelius as Obama's Running Mate: "A Vice President for Abortion"

Q and A With Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann

Bill Donohue: "Catholic Left Hangs Itself"

Make That a 101% "Pro-Choice" Rating

Archbishop Chaput: Thoughts on “Roman Catholics for Obama ’08”

Deal Hudson on Prof. Kmiec and Blurring the Lines Between "Pro-Choice" and Pro-Abortion

Bishops' Document on Voting Refers to Purely Hypothetical and Non-Existent "Candidate Who Takes a Position in Favor of ... Abortion"

"Catholic Democrats" Attack "Registered Republican Archbishop of Kansas City" for "Using Communion" to "Take Down" Sebelius

"Scandalous"

Archbishop Naumann to Kansas Gov. Sebelius: Stop Taking Communion, Publicly Apologize [UPDATED]

Did Doug Kmiec Just Now Catch On That Obama and NARAL Are Politically Conjoined? [UPDATED]

Pro-Life Democrat Calls Being Pro-Life and Voting for Obama "A Psychological Impossibility"

National Catholic Register: "Obama and Abortion"

Deal Hudson on "How Obama's Catholics Will Dodge the Infanticide Question"

Kmiec's Dishonesty [UPDATED]

The Curt Jester: "Shameless Garment" [UPDATED]

Can a Catholic Vote for Obama?

Obama's Pledge to Planned Parenthood: “I Will Not Yield"

Obama "Post-Partisan"? Ask John Roberts

Obama and the "Pragmatic Center"

Sen. Moloch H. Obama Celebrates Abortion, Warns Supreme Court Could Reverse Roe

National Catholic Register: "Religious" Democrat Barack Obama Sticks to the Abortion Line

Litmus Test: Democrat Candidates Demand Pro-Abortion Supreme Court Justices

Obama, Clinton Slam Supreme Court on Abortion Ruling

Democratic Candidates for President Give Unanimous Pro-Abortion Views

During First Debate, Democrats Back Abortion, Criticize Efforts to Save Terri Schiavo

Reaction to Court’s Abortion Ruling Falls Along Predictable Party Lines