Sunday, August 31, 2008

Firsthand Experience On the Labor Day Weekend Festival Circuit

I've attended 2 parades in 2 days (marching with the K of C in one of them) in North-Central Ohio, and from what I'm hearing, Gov. Palin is playing very well in this part of Ohio.


UPDATE
See also these reports at The Corner:
How Will Palin Play? (The View from Ohio)
Last night I attended a 50th wedding anniversary party in Austintown, Ohio, just outside of Youngstown. This is Reagan Democrat terrirtory — working class, church-going, union member types. Given this, it was interesting to hear what people had to say about Sarah Palin — and it was almost uniformly positive, very positive. I heard people explain that they were inspired by her life story and career, and that having her on the ticket made the race exciting. Said another — who had never voted Republican until he pulled the lever for Bush in 2004, but was now committed to McCain — "she's just like us." I'm well aware that those with whom I spoke may not be representative, but it was interesting nonetheless.
Report From The Battleground
Just wanted to give you an update from Central/SE Ohio. I just got back from our party's headquarters in [REDACTED] County... As the party's volunteer Executive Director (we are all volunteers from our Chairman on down), I sometimes try to spend a couple of hours on Sunday afternoons following up on phone calls and other mundane party business. I picked Sundays because I can bring in my daughter with me and it's usually quiet. Not today. The voicemail was full with people ready to volunteer and we had numerous people stopping in to see if we had any signs with Palin's name on them yet.

This county has been lukewarm about McCain at best. Romney had an excellent volunteer organization in the county and many evangelicals liked Huckabee. It hasn't helped that the county (which was a critical exurban ring county for Bush in 04) has been almost completely ignored by the McCain campaign. There has been literally zero grassroots prep by the campaign and they've made critical mistakes (like putting in elected officials as county chairmen) that the Bush campaign avoided. This pick, however, has electrified the base. I hope that others are seeing the same thing in their counties...
Luntz & Palin
... Here in Ohio and with my family in Indiana, she does seem to be playing well though. All the middle age secretaries in our office watched her speech on Friday. Needless to say, their interest was sparked.
How Palin Is Playing - Another Report from Ohio
We spent the afternoon at the Canfield Fair today, and found more anecdotal evidence that the Palin pick is playing well...

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Darwin Catholic: "Douglas Kmiec, Master of Dissembling" [UPDATED]

Darwin Catholic takes on the latest sophistry from our favorite "conservative" Catholic legal scholar:

Most of us (outside of the set of "conservative legal scholars") had never heard of Professor Douglas Kmiec ... until the Romney campaign, which he had been working for, ran aground and he became "the conservative legal scholar who has endorsed Barack Obama". Perhaps realizing that fame is fleeting, and that short of the highly unlikely event of a judicial appointment from a President Obama (which would seem next to impossible, given that Kmiec lists his favorite Supreme Court justice as Clarance Thomas -- whom Obama considers manifestly unqualified to be on the court) he will never be heard of again after this election, Kmiec now seems unwilling to cede the dubious notariety that he has earned for himself. Thus, he has an interview in today's New York Times, which is in turn a promotion for the book he has coming out in two week, which is about (wait for it...) how Obama is a great candidate for Catholics to support.

Catholics are, all accusations to the contrary, people too. And far be it from me to suggest that there is some sort of monolithic "Catholic line" one must take to voting. We are, as Catholic, obliged to vote in a manner that will, to the best of our understanding, help society. Because there is much reasonable room for debate over just what is good for society, Catholics may most certainly disagree about who in any given election (this one included) is the best choice.

So it's not that Prof. Kmiec supports Obama that I object to. It's that he attempts to insist that some of Obama's positions are good and moral which are obviously not, at least if one accepts Catholic moral teachings. High among these is the issue of abortion. Obama insists that while a "grave matter" and an "agonizing moral situation" abortion is an fundamental right which must be protected, funded, and readily available at all times. This is clearly and absolutely wrong from a Catholic moral perspective.

Now it is possible (I personally think very difficult, but still theoretically possible) that there might be circumstances in which one might argue that the president at this time has little ability to affect the legality of abortion in this country, and that there are other factors which are more important in a given election. However, Kmiec does not attempt to make that argument. Instead of arguing that there are other good things Obama that outweigh his support for abortion (or bad things about his opponent that make Obama a better choice) Kmiec wants to argue that Obama is a better pick specifically in regards to pro-life issues.

It's a bad argument, and he makes it badly...


[Read the whole thing]
(emphasis added)

My Comments:
Darwin does a fine job of describing what has been my chief objection to Prof. Kmiec's arguments on behalf of Sen. Obama all along - that Kmiec tries to baptize Obama's horrific position on abortion and make it the Catholic position, or at least one that Catholic voters should support. Excellent work, Darwin!

And better yet, it saves me the hassle of having to read Kmiec's piece in The Times and having to dissect it myself. Lord knows, I've wasted too many keystrokes on Kmiec as it is.

Besides, my real hope is that Cardinal Egan will read Kmiec's piece in The Times and/or his book and feel the need to respond as he did to Mayor Giuliani's reception of Communion during the Papal Visit and to Speaker Pelosi's dabbling in Patristic Theology on "Meet the Press".

Then again, perhaps Prof. Kmiec is such a small fish that he doesn't merit that sort of response.


UPDATE (2 September)
The Cranky Conservative asks the inevitable question of Prof. Kmiec: "Have you no decency left?"


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Prof. Rick Garnett on Kmiec's "Missing the Point"

A Former Student of Prof. Kmiec Speaks Out ...

Prof. Kmiec Shifts the Goalposts

Kmiec's "Bridge Too Far"? Obama's Attacks on Justice Thomas

Without Further Ado: Doug Kmiec on McCain v. Obama at Saddleback [UPDATED]

Paging Prof. Kmiec ...

Doug Kmiec Claims Democrats Making "Steps Toward Honoring Life" in Platform

Prof. Garnett Takes on Prof. Kmiec ... Again

Casey Jr. to Get Prime-Time Slot in Denver to Appease Catholics [UPDATED]

Fr. Neuhaus Responds to Doug Kmiec

Deal Hudson's Open Letter to Doug Kmiec

National Catholic Register on Catholics, Kmiec, and Obama

Prof. Hadley Arkes: "Political Distraction Among the Catholics"

Doug Kmiec - What He Said Then vs. What He Says Now Re: Constitutional Jurisprudence

What is the "Pro-Life Position" Regarding Abortion?

Traumatized

Unrequited Love

Doug Kmiec: "After Meeting with Barack" [UPDATED]

Cranky Conservative: "But At Least He Says It with a Smile"

Doug Kmiec Again Places Platitudes Above Policy [UPDATED]

Prof. Bainbridge on "Obama, Abortion, & Catholics"

Prof. Rick Garnett on Kmiec's Latest Nonsense

Deacon Keith Fournier: "Why I Disagree with Doug Kmiec, Once Again"

Give It a Rest Already, Prof. Kmiec!

Deacon Keith Fournier: "No More ‘Left’ or ‘Right’, Time for a New Catholic Action"

Doug Kmiec's Newfound Celebrity Status Among Those on the Left

Doug Kmiec Soon To Be Sorely Disappointed

E.J. Dionne on Kmiec Being Denied Communion [UPDATED]

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

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

Deal Hudson on "How Obama's Catholics Will Dodge the Infanticide Question"Kmiec's Dishonesty [UPDATED]

Catholic Teaching and Political Risk Taking: When Credit Isn't Given Where Credit is Due [UPDATED]

Kmiec's Wishful Thinking on Obama and Abortion

The Curt Jester: "Shameless Garment" [UPDATED]

So-Called "Catholic Reaganite" Doug Kmiec Endorses Obama [UPDATED]

"No'bama for Me, Thanks"

Can a Catholic Vote for Obama?

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

Deal Hudson: "Barack Obama's Catholic Problem"

"Why American Catholics are Supporting Barack Obama"

Catholics at the Ballot Box

How the Catholic Left Will Tackle McCain

Why Does Kmiec Criticize McCain for Positions on Which He Gave Romney a Pass?

Deal Hudson on "Douglas Kmiec and the Lure of Obama"

Douglas W. Kmiec on "The Moral Duty to Inquire"

Professor Bainbridge: "Will Catholic Reaganites Go for Obama?"

Deal Hudson: "Preacher Man: Barack Obama and the the Gospel of Liberalism"

"Sorry, Doug Kmiec, But This Catholic Isn't Buying Obama"

Ramesh Ponnuru on Douglas Kmiec and "Catholic Reaganites for Obama" [UPDATED]

Romney Advisor Says Obama "a Natural for the Catholic Vote"

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Saturday, August 30, 2008

A Brilliant Trap Makes Dems the Male Chauvinists

In attacking Gov. Palin, the Obama campaign and its surrogates are running a reprise of their dismissive efforts against Hillary. The best part is that they've taken the bait the McCain campaign set out there for them:

SHE'S just a beauty queen.

She's another Dan Quayle.

And ironically, the biggest criticism of Sarah Palin, John McCain's veep choice, is she has no experience. Funny, coming from the Barack Obama camp.

Following McCain's announcement of Palin - the first female to be put on a GOP ticket for the White House, and only the second in US history - the Obama campaign skipped the niceties and blasted her as the "former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience.

She's also a governor of Alaska (my home state), the first woman in that office and the youngest elected in state history. She has an 80-plus percent approval rating. She has turned the state upside down with her reformist zeal and has made enemies of the Republican establishment.

And she can talk energy policy, one of the biggest issues facing this country.

Is she a gamble? Definitely. But so is Barack Obama, who has himself dismissed experience as a prerequisite for leadership, despite his spot atop the Democratic ticket.

***
One Obama supporter and political operative blogged, "In picking an unknown, untested half-a-term governor from Alaska . . . John McCain is following in a long line of reckless men who have rolled the dice for a beauty queen."

Do we really have to do this again?

No sooner was Hillary Rodham Clinton out of the race, and a new woman is in the cross hairs.


On CNN, during a discussion about whether it was appropriate for Palin to accept this job when she has a baby, Dana Bash pointed out it's unlikely anyone would ask this of a male candidate.

I can't help wondering if this is a trap. The McCain camp watched and learned as Obama supporters offended Hillary supporters by their treatment of her. The McCainiacs had to know that this group is incapable of behaving, that Palin would bring out their worst instincts.

***
The other potential trap is luring the Obama campaign onto the "experience" field. The early conventional wisdom says McCain's pick was boneheaded because it takes the experience issue off the table. But it seems that it has done the opposite: The importance of experience is the topic of the day.

The more Democrats complain about this, the more Republicans can turn it on them and say, "If you are so concerned about the amount of experience of the vice president, what about the top of your ticket?"


[More]
(emphasis added)

My Comments:
I'm no McCain fan, but when it comes to campaign strategery, his team has been almost flawless for the last couple of months.

Which leads me to say in regard to the Palin pick: "McCain, you magnificent bastard!"

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More on Gov. Palin


Over at Catholics in the Public Square, Christopher Blosser has an excellent roundup on Sen. McCain's choice of Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.







Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Radical Catholic Mom: Sarah Palin by Someone Who Knows Her Personally

The REAL "Change" Ticket?

A Ticket I Can Support?

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Quote of the Day: Karen Hall on "Big City Bigots"

(Hat tip: Creative Minority Report)

Karen Hall at Some Have Hats writes:

I just watched an Obama Camp spokeswoman explain, with a look on her face like she just stepped in a cowpile, that Palin's only experience is that she has been a "part-time mayor of a town with a population of under 9,000."

Gratefully, the reporter interviewing her pointed out that when Palin was working in such a meager position, Obama was a "community organizer" in Chicago. (And if Obama has experience running anything more complicated than his sock drawer, I'm still waiting for someone to tell me what it was.)

I'd just like to say, as a person who grew up in a town of 1,200 and was raised by the Vice-Mayor: Obama's elitist, condescending, small-town-bashing bigots can kiss my ignorant, gun-toting, Bible-clutching @ss.

I have a feeling that a lot of people living in small towns across America feel the same way, and then some. And correct me if I'm wrong (I'm only from a town of 1,200, you know) but aren't there a LOT of those small towns? And with the polls so close, does it really make sense for the Obama camp to keep insulting the people who live in them?

I don't know. I reckon I gotta git one of them smart people from the big city to 'splain it to me.
(emphasis added)

My Comments:
And as someone who grew up in a town of roughly 1,600, served as Mayor of a town of about 50, and currently resides in a small city of about 16,000, I'd just like to concur with Karen's sentiment.

The condescending elitists who are so dismissive of us "bitter" small-town folks who "cling" to God and guns will just never learn.


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Obama Delegate Admits the Obvious: "Bitter" Was Indeed a Big Deal

What Obama Really Meant Was "They're Nuts"

Obama Disses Blue Collar Voters Again: Says They "Cling to Guns or Religion" Because They Are "Bitter" [UPDATED]

Obama's Problems in Pennsylvania Mirror His Problems in Ohio

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The Worst People in America: Keith Olbermann and Michael Moore Hope Hurricane Destroys New Orleans to Spite Republicans

Michael Moore to Keith Olbermann: "[Hurricane] Gustav proves there is a God in heaven."


UPDATE (31 August)
Democrat Officials Joke About Gustav; Say Hurricane Shows God's Favor to Democrats

Who says Democrats are uncomfortable talking about God?

Meanwhile, Morning's Minion appears to be more offended that Rush Limbaugh (admittedly a blowhard to whom I haven't listened in years) mentioned "Jesus" and "guns" in the same sentence and that the fine gentlemen (or "reprobates" as Morning's Minion referred to them) at Creative Minority Report quoted Rush favorably. Believe it or not, I really do like Morning's Minion, but one wonders about that boy's priorities.

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Friday, August 29, 2008

Digest of Today's Posts (29 August 2008)

  • Radical Catholic Mom: Sarah Palin by Someone Who Knows Her Personally

  • The REAL "Change" Ticket?

  • A Ticket I Can Support?




  • (Digest of Yesterday's Posts (28 August 2008)

    Labels:

    Radical Catholic Mom: Sarah Palin by Someone Who Knows Her Personally

    Radical Catholic Mom, an Alaskan who knows Gov. Sarah Palin personally, writes about her at Vox Nova:
    ... I have known Sarah Palin for years. How? I met her through AK Right to Life. She always came to our fund-raising dinners, she always came to pro-life events (even when she took time off from politics to be home with her children), and one of her kids became AK RTL’s baby mascot for our stationery. She is the real deal when it comes to pro-life matters. This became even more clear when at the age of 44 of this year, she gave birth to a baby with Down’s Syndrome...

    [More]

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    The REAL "Change" Ticket?

    For all his "change" rhetoric, Sen. Obama has proven himself to be no different than any other run-of-the-mill partisan Democrat who toes the line of left-liberal orthodoxy. His sparse Senate record is short of evidence of his ability to "reach out" that his campaign rhetoric ascribes to himself.

    In picking a running mate, he went with the "safe" option of picking someone who has been in the Senate for 36 years - Sen. Biden has been a U.S. Senator since he was 27 years old. Very little real world experience outside of the halls of government.

    By way of contrast, Sen. McCain has a REAL record of bucking his party and his President and reaching across party lines to get things done. He has ACTUAL bi-partisan legislative accomplishments to point to.

    And when it came to picking a running mate, Sen. McCain didn't go "safe". He went BOLD ... picking a female governor with real accomplishments in taking on and winning against government corruption within her own party. The REAL fresh face in this election belongs to Gov. Sarah Palin. Inexperienced? As Mark Levin points out in my earlier post, Gov. Palin has more executive experience in her 2 years than Senators McCain, Biden, and Obama combined. (And it's not like Sen. Obama is in a position to point out the alleged inexperience at the BOTTOM of the other side's ticket.)

    So, the ticket MOST likely to bring a change of tone to the divisiveness of Washington politics of the last 16 years? That's what Americans will have to decide this fall.


    UPDATE
    Ed Morrissey is thinking along the same lines: What Palin does for McCain, and to Obama

    ... McCain has clearly chosen to play offense rather than defense. Instead of a safe choice, such as closest runner-up Mitt Romney or genial Everyman Tim Pawlenty, McCain took some risk with a relative newcomer to national politics. Palin will inject risk, excitement, controversy, and an unexpected historic note to the Republican convention.

    First, though, let’s assess the risk. Palin has served less than two years as Governor of Alaska, which tends to eat into the experience message on which McCain has relied thus far. At 44, she’s younger than Barack Obama by three years. She has served as a mayor and as the Ethics Commissioner on the state board regulating oil and naturalk gas, for a total of eight years political experience before her election as governor. That’s also less than Obama has, with seven years in the Illinois legislature and three in the US Senate.

    However, the nature of the experience couldn’t be more different. Palin spent her entire political career crusading against the political machine that rules Alaska — which exists in her own Republican party. She blew the whistle on the state GOP chair, who had abused his power on the same commission to conduct party business. Obama, in contrast, talked a great deal about reform in Chicago but never challenged the party machine, preferring to take an easy ride as a protegé of Richard Daley instead.

    Palin has no formal foreign-policy experience, which puts her at a disadvantage to Joe Biden. However, in nineteen months as governor, she certainly has had more practical experience in diplomacy than Biden or Obama have ever seen. She runs the only American state bordered only by two foreign countries, one of which has increasingly grown hostile to the US again, Russia.

    And let’s face it — Team Obama can hardly attack Palin for a lack of foreign-policy experience. Obama has none at all, and neither Obama or Biden have any executive experience. Palin has almost over seven years of executive experience.

    Politically, this puts Obama in a very tough position. The Democrats had prepared to launch a full assault on McCain’s running mate, but having Palin as a target creates one large headache. If they go after her like they went after Hillary Clinton, Obama risks alienating women all over again. If they don’t go after her like they went after Hillary, he risks alienating Hillary supporters, who will see this as a sign of disrespect for Hillary.

    For McCain, this gives him a boost like no other in several different ways. First, the media will eat this up. That effectively buries Obama’s acceptance speech and steals the oxygen he needs for a long-term convention bump. A Romney or Pawlenty pick would not have accomplished that.

    Second, Palin will re-energize the base. She’s not just a pro-life advocate, she’s lived the issue herself. That will attract the elements of the GOP that had held McCain at a distance since the primaries and provide positive motivation for Republicans, rather than just rely on anti-Democrat sentiment to get them to the polls.

    Third, and I think maybe most importantly, Palin addresses the energy issue better and more attuned to the American electorate than maybe any of the other three principals in this election. Even beyond her efforts to reform the Oil and Natural Gas Commission, she has demonstrated her independence from so-called “Big Oil” while promoting domestic production. She brings instant credibility to the ticket on energy policy, and reminds independents and centrists that the Obama-Biden ticket offers nothing but the same excuses we’ve heard for 30 years.

    Finally, based on all of the above, McCain can remind voters who has the real record of reform. Obama talks a lot about it but has no actual record of reform, and for a running mate, he chose a 35-year Washington insider with all sorts of connections to lobbyists and pork. McCain has fought pork, taken real political risks to fight undue influence of lobbyists, and he picked an outsider who took on her own party — and won.

    This is change you can believe in, and not change that amounts to all talk. McCain changed the trajectory of the race today by stealing Obama’s strength and turning it against him. Obama provided that opening by picking Biden as his running mate, and McCain was smart enough to take advantage of the opening.
    (emphasis added)


    UPDATE #2
    Gov. Palin is like Dan Quayle? The Democrats better tread lightly here.

    First, they've worked overtime trying to turn the inexperience charge against Sen. Obama into a "racist" thing. They run an equal, if not greater, risk of being thought of as "sexist" if they go there with Gov. Palin. There might be plenty of disaffected Hillary voters who could be irate over what they see as a sexist reprise of the dismissiveness the Obama campaign showed toward Hillary.

    Second, they better take a look at their own presidential ticket. At the top of the ticket, they have someone with less Senate experience than Dan Quayle had. And at the bottom of the ticket, they decided to run someone who, when it comes to foot-in-mouth syndrome, makes Dan Quayle sound like Cicero.


    UPDATE #3
    David Freddoso adds more about the contrast between Gov. Palin and Sen. Obama:

    Contrast Obama with Sarah Palin

    She is everything Obama is not. A real reformer who took on her own party's corrupt establishment and won, defeating an incumbent governor, 80-20. Don't forget that she's also a mother who chose life for her Down Syndrome baby — we can probably guess where she'd fall on the Born-Alive act. If this is the future of the GOP, they're in good shape.

    UPDATE #4
    From National Public Radio:
    Sarah Palin is no stranger to the "maverick" label often assigned to Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate who has selected her to join him on the GOP ticket. Alaska's youngest and first female governor has pushed for ethics investigations of fellow Republicans in her state and bucked the powerful oil industry on a major natural gas pipeline project.

    When she ran for governor in 2006, she ran as an outsider and an agent for change. But she's also an anti-abortion, pro-gun fiscal conservative — something sure to please the Republican base.

    The 44-year-old Palin is a fresh face on the national political scene. But she has participated in local and state politics for much of her adult life. She was elected to the Wasilla City Council in 1992, running against tax increases in the Anchorage suburb. Four years later, she was elected mayor of the city, which has grown rapidly although its population is still under 10,000. Palin held the mayor's job until 2002 and in 2003 was named chairwoman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

    Palin was elected governor three years later despite her outcast status in the Republican Party. Her campaign theme was a defiant one — "Take a Stand." She won a three-way primary race against incumbent Gov. Frank Murkowski and former state Sen. John Binkley, then went on to defeat former Democratic Gov. Tony Knowles.

    As governor, Palin says she's tried to instill public confidence in the government of a state that's been shaken by political scandals. She won't invite lobbyists to her office and has introduced ethics reform legislation. One of her first acts as governor was to kill the now infamous "bridge to nowhere" pork-barrel spending project. And she put the former governor's personal jet up for sale on eBay.


    [More]
    (emphasis added)


    UPDATE #5
    McCain camp pushes back: More qualified than Obama:
    It is pretty audacious for the Obama campaign to say that Governor Palin is not qualified to be Vice President. She has a record of accomplishment that Senator Obama simply cannot match. Governor Palin has spent her time in office shaking up government in Alaska and actually achieving results -- whether it’s taking on corruption, passing ethics reform or stopping wasteful spending and the ‘bridge to nowhere.’ Senator Obama has spent his time in office running for President.
    Ouch! The Obama campaign shouldn't have gone there. It's not as if the McCain campaign wasn't going to anticipate that charge and turn it to their advantage.

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    A Ticket I Can Support?


    Three different sources are claiming that Sen. McCain is set to announce Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. From HotAir:
    CNBC
    ***Source: It’s Palin***

    Christian Newswire
    ***Another source also hearing Palin***

    Chicago Tribune
    ***Third source: Yes, it’s Palin***
    My first choice was Sen. Sam Brownback. His selection would have brought me over to the McCain camp. However, adding Gov. Palin gives me hope that this would be a ticket I can support:
    A Republican source confirms that John McCain has chosen Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate. Campaign officials, however, remain mum this morning.

    McCain is expected to announce his choice at a rally in Dayton later.

    Palin is the first woman governor of Alaska, elected in 2006. She was also the youngest ever elected at the age of 42. She is the mother of five children, the youngest of whom was born in April and has Down's Syndrome. She ran on a clean government platform in '06 to defeat the incumbent Republican Governor Frank Murkowski.
    Gov. Palin is very pro-life. She's also a government-reform advocate. While I still need to hear more from Sen. McCain regarding his willingness to reverse his position on ESCR, the addition of Gov. Palin to his ticket would give me hope. Sen. McCain hasn't closed the deal with me yet, but if he picks Gov. Palin, he will have taken a step forward in that regard.


    UPDATE
    Mark Levin's reaction is similar to mine:
    Few have been more critical of Sen. McCain than I, both here and on my radio show. And I have long said on my radio show that his selection of a running-mate will be key in determining my enthusiasm for his candidacy. If McCain has, in fact, chosen Gov. Palin, then count me in with both feet. It would be a terrific choice.

    Palin is by all accounts a principled conservative and government reformer who can contribute mightily to the decision-making that occurs in the White House. She has more executive experience in her two years as governor than Obama, Biden, and McCain combined. She is a mother of five in what appears to be a loving and functioning family. And she is someone Republicans, conservatives, and others can rally behind in the future.

    From a purely tactical aspect, Palin would knock the legs out from under Obama's monopoly hold on "change." And attacks on her "inexperience" will only highlight one of Obama's greatest vulnerabilities — and he's at the top of the Democrat ticket. And because Hillary Clinton spent months telling women voters that they are being dissed by Obama, some percentage of women who normally would not vote for McCain will take a second look if Palin's on the ticket. There is no question that a Palin selection would cause the Obama camp headaches.

    I should add that if Palin is the choice, this also suggests that McCain may not be as stubborn as portrayed — and that's a good thing given his positions on a number of issues that have given conservatives heart-burn. At least it gives us some hope in that regard...
    (emphasis added)


    UPDATE #2
    NBC now confirming Palin too

    ***Fox News confirms: Palin for VP***

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    Thursday, August 28, 2008

    Digest of Today's Posts (28 August 2008)

  • Malthusian Nonsense Alert: "Save the Planet — Have Fewer Kids"

  • Something Tells Me ...

  • Prof. Rick Garnett on Kmiec's "Missing the Point"




  • (Digest of Yesterday's Posts (27 August 2008))

    Highlights from Yesterday:
  • Durbin's Catholic Scorecard: Biden Rates Only 50%
  • Obama Camp to Speaker Pelosi: "Shut Up, Already!"
  • Labels:

    Malthusian Nonsense Alert: "Save the Planet — Have Fewer Kids"

    From The Chicago Tribune:
    LONDON — There are plenty of ways to cut your carbon footprint, whether it's driving less or buying an energy-efficient refrigerator. But the British Medical Journal, in an editorial last month, urged a more controversial one: having fewer children.

    With 60 million people already living in one of the most densely populated countries in the world, the journal said, British couples should aim to have no more than two children as part of their contribution to worldwide efforts to reduce carbon emissions, stem climate change and ease demands on the world's resources.

    Limiting family size is "the simplest and biggest contribution anyone can make to leaving a habitable planet for our grandchildren," the editorial's authors said.

    Family planning as a means to reduce climate change has been little talked about in international climate forums, largely because it is so politically sensitive.
    [ED.: Please. It's talked about quite regularly among many population control zealots and global climate change alarmists, including many NGOs affiliated with the United Nations. See the links below.] China's leaders, however, regularly argue that their country should get emission reduction credits because of their one-child policy, and many environmentalists—and even a growing number of religious and ethics scholars—say the biblical command to "be fruitful and multiply" needs to be balanced against Scripture calling for stewardship of the Earth.

    [More]
    My Comments:
    Yes, we should all be just like Communist China.


    Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
    Deacon Fournier Reviews Population Controllers

    Malthusian Nonsense Alert: Babies a Drag on the Economy, Report Says

    Darwin Catholic: "Want Sustainable? Try a Family"

    Malthusian Nonsense in the Extreme: "When Should You Die?"

    Population Control Movement is "Number One Violator of Human Rights," Author Claims

    USAToday Columnist: Religion is Killing the Planet

    The Pitter-Patter of Carbon Footprints ...

    Cardinal Pell Criticizes Australian Medical Ass'n for Publishing Letter Advocating Carbon Tax on Children

    Professor Solves Global Warming: Let’s Tax Reproduction

    Global Alarming Update: Focus on So-Called "Carbon Footprint" Anti-Family

    Malthusian Nonsense from "Global Warming" Alarmists

    Cardinal Pell on Global Warming Alarmists: "Scaremongers" and "Zealots"

    Labels: , , , , ,

    Something Tells Me ...

    ... that St. Augustine's feast day is going to get a little more attention this year than it has in the past.

    Labels: ,

    Prof. Rick Garnett on Kmiec's "Missing the Point"

    Notre Dame Law Professor Rick Garnett writes at Bench Memos on National Review Online:
    ... The grave, distorting wrong that Roe and the abortion license work on our law and on the common good of our community involves more than the number of abortions performed each year. To contend, as Kmiec and Stevens-Arroyo do, that pro-life Catholics should not be bothered by the fact — and, to be clear, it is a fact — that Sen. Obama will nominate (and the Senate will certainly confirm) judges and Justices who will invalidate, as unconstitutional, even reasonable regulations of abortion, because (a) overruling Roe would not end abortion anyway and (b) the Democrats' more generous social-welfare programs might help to reduce the number of abortions, is to miss entirely that Roe is really bad constitutional law . . . and it matters.

    Yes, overruling Roe would not end abortion (though it would certainly make a difference). This side of Heaven, I'm afraid, nothing will. The problem with Roe, though, is not just that because it facilitates wrong choices by private persons; it is also, and fundamentally, at odds with our constitutional structure and with democratic self-government. As long as Roe is the law, We the People are not allowed to write into law the conviction — assuming that it is or becomes our conviction — that the unborn child ought to be protected from lethal private violence. The debate is cut off; the conversation is silenced; the "dialogue" that is so often celebrated by the same people who are enthusiastic about Sen. Obama is distorted.

    What is at stake in the abortion debate — and, as someone who has known and admired Doug Kmiec for years, I am sorry that he seems to be forgetting this — is not only reducing the number of abortions and helping women considering abortion to find their way to a different choice (though, of course, such reductions and help are important, and one wishes that Democrats for Life had more influence); it as about repairing the damage done to our political community, and to our constitutional order, by a decision that declared that the Constitution itself disables citizens from protecting in law the most vulnerable among us.
    (emphasis added)


    Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
    Prof. Garnett Takes on Prof. Kmiec ... Again

    What is the "Pro-Life Position" Regarding Abortion?

    Prof. Rick Garnett on Kmiec's Latest Nonsense

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    Wednesday, August 27, 2008

    Digest of Today's Posts (27 August 2008)

  • Durbin's Catholic Scorecard: Biden Rates Only 50%

  • Poll: Pro-Life Democrats Abandoning Barack Obama as Abortion View Exposed

  • THIS Is What Pro-Life Platform Language Looks Like

  • LA Times Columnist Lies to Cover for Pelosi

  • Casey, Jr. Disappoints; Glosses Over Life Issues [UPDATED]

  • Obama Camp to Speaker Pelosi: "Shut Up, Already!"

  • The Follow-Up Question Brokaw Should've Asked




  • (Digest of Yesterday's Posts (26 August 2008))

    Highlights from Yesterday:
  • Pelosi: St. Augustine Agrees With Me - That's My Story and I'm Sticking to It [UPDATED]
  • Labels:

    Durbin's Catholic Scorecard: Biden Rates Only 50%

    At Catholics Against Joe Biden, Christopher links to Jeff Miller's excellent find:

    Sen. Dick Durbin had put out a scorecard called "Evaluating the Votes and Actions of Public Officials from a Catholic Perspective" where each Catholic Senator was suppose to be evaluated against Catholic doctrine and USCCB "full range of issues." It was a quite laughable attempt since it had Kerry at the top with Sen. Santorum towards the bottom. [ED.: In fact, there was only 1 pro-life Republican in the top 10.] But I decided to look it up again to see where even this heavily biased scorecard placed Sen. Biden.

    ***
    ... Sen "My views are totally consistent with Catholic social doctrine" Biden gets scored at only 50% by his fellow Catholic Democrat on a scale that was totally relativistic in regard to issues.
    So, even according to as biased a measure as Sen. Durbin's scorecard, Sen. Biden's voting record is, contrary to his assertion that his "views are totally consistent with Catholic social doctrine", at best, only 50% in alignment with the Church's teachings.

    And, as Jeff points out, topping Sen. Durbin's list as the "most Catholic" U.S. Senator was none other than Sen. John F. Kerry, with an overall score of 60.9%.*

    (Which, of course, was quite convenient given that the scorecard came out in 2004, and Sen. Kerry just so happened to be the Democrat Party's presidential nominee that year. Is there any doubt that if the scorecard were to have come out this week, rather than 4 years ago, Sen. Biden would be at the top of the list?)

    At any rate, if we're to take Sen. Durbin's scorecard for what it claims to be, Sen. Biden rates worse than Sen. Kerry from the perspective of having a voting record in accord with Catholic teaching.

    * Sen. Durbin humbly rated himself a close 2nd at 60.5%.

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    Poll: Pro-Life Democrats Abandoning Barack Obama as Abortion View Exposed

    (Hat tip: Ramesh)

    LifeNews.com reports:
    Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new Gallup poll finds pro-life Democrats are abandoning Barack Obama now that more evidence has been presented that Obama takes a hardcore pro-abortion position. The drop in his support from pro-life Democrats also comes as John McCain has been more active promoting his pro-life views.

    As the election draws closer and more voters are paying attention to it and learning where the candidates states, a Gallup poll finds pro-life Democrats are less inclined to support Obama.

    The Gallup survey shows Democrats who say they are conservative on issues like abortion supported Obama at a 72 percentage point clip in mid-July.

    Now, that level of support has fallen to just 63 percent -- dropping steadily since then during a time Obama has come under fire nationally for his opposition to a bill to provide medical care for newborns who survive abortion.

    Obama has lost 5 percentage points with pro-life Democrats in the last few days alone as McCain
    has bashed him for opposing the anti-infanticide bill and Obama hurt his own case further by picking pro-abortion Sen. Joe Biden as his running mate.

    [More]

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    THIS Is What Pro-Life Platform Language Looks Like

    From Creative Minority Report:
    Maintaining The Sanctity and Dignity of Human Life

    Faithful to the first guarantee of the Declaration of Independence, we assert the inherent dignity and sanctity of all human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution, and we endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children. We oppose using public revenues to promote or perform abortion and will not fund organizations which advocate it. We support the appointment of judges who respect traditional family values and the sanctity and dignity of innocent human life.

    We have made progress. The Supreme Court had upheld prohibitions against the barbaric practice of partial-birth abortion, the Born Alive Infants Protection Act has become law, and states are now permitted to extend health care coverage to children before birth. We invite all persons of good will, whether across the political aisle or within our party, to work together to reduce the incidence of abortion; to protect girls from exploitation and statutory rape through a parental notification requirement; and to oppose sex selection abortions. We all have a moral obligation to assist, not to penalize, women struggling with the challenges of an unplanned pregnancy. We salute those who provide them alternatives, including crisis pregnancy centers, and we take pride in the tremendous increase in adoptions that has followed Republican legislative initiatives...


    [More]
    In addition, The Cranky Conservative has excellent news on the GOP platform committee's quite significant one-word change related to embryonic stem-cell research. The long-and-the-short of it is that as a result of that change in one word, the 2008 Republican platform calls for a ban on all embryonic stem-cell research, public or private.

    So, in the end, the GOP platform is even MORE pro-life than it was 4 years ago.

    This is a sad joke by comparison.


    Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
    Frances Kissling Celebrates Democrat Platform as "Slap in the Face" to Pro-Life Catholics

    Fidelis on "Platform Honesty"

    More Dem Platform News: Party to Officially Oppose Defense of Marriage Act

    Doug Kmiec Claims Democrats Making "Steps Toward Honoring Life" in Platform [UPDATED]

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    LA Times Columnist Lies to Cover for Pelosi

    Mark Shea has the details. Here's the money quote from Mark in response to this column:
    Bottom line: In order to maintain the abortion regime it is, as ever, necessary to lie.
    For what it's worth, I've blogged before about this same columnist to whom Mark links. Same guy; same lie; different pro-abort Catholic politician.

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    Casey, Jr. Disappoints; Glosses Over Life Issues [UPDATED]

    Defender of the unborn. But don’t say it too loudly by The Cranky Conservative

    "He Likes Me! He Really Likes Me!" by Jay Nordlinger

    The Great Pro Life Hope of the Democrat Party by Opinionated Catholic

    Bob Casey May Not Strongly Oppose Abortion in Democratic Convention Speech at LifeNews.com

    Casey, an Abortion Opponent, Praises Obama at The New York Times

    Casey calls abortion stance difference an 'honest disagreement' at The Harrisburg Patriot-News

    Casey lauds Obama as 'one of us' at Allentown Morning Call


    UPDATE
    Like Father, Not Like Son - Bob Casey ducks and covers at National Review Online:
    Denver — There was a great shame here at the Pepsi Center on Tuesday night. Pennsylvania senator Robert P. Casey Jr. spoke to the Democratic Convention. His presence at the podium was acclaimed by all quarters as a clear sign that Democrats are an open tent, that the party is not closed to those who defend human life. Casey said: “Barack Obama and I have an honest disagreement on the issue of abortion. But the fact that I'm speaking here tonight is testament to Barack’s ability to show respect for the views of people who may disagree with him.”

    That’s an easy call for Obama to make in the case of Casey, who provides no leadership on the abortion issue. Casey is so not the leader that his speech didn’t even dare to mention what is the point of disagreement between the Keystone State senator and the nominee of his party. The word “life” never crossed his lips.


    [More]
    (Disclaimer: It's by Kathryn "On ... Waterboarding ... Not One of Us" Lopez, so take it for whatever it's worth)


    UPDATE #2 (28 August)
    Bob Casey Jr.: "Give Me 15 Minutes and I'll Overlook Death!" at Creative Minority Report


    UPDATE #3 (28 August)
    Catholic League: Senator Casey 'Blows It' at DNC

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    Obama Camp to Speaker Pelosi: "Shut Up, Already!"

    The American Spectator reports:
    The Obama campaign has asked Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to shut her mouth, but in as nice a way as they possibly can. That isn't to say they aren't mad about her recent activities.

    "It's like 'Thanks, madam speaker, you've done quite enough. Please move along,'" says one Obama adviser. "She got us stuck on three different issues that we wanted no part of. She's no master strategist, no matter what she may believe. You may see more of her, but if her mouth is open, what comes out won't be anything that our campaign wants anything to do with."

    ***
    Now Pelosi's big mouth has ensnared Obama in Catholic abortion issues, and campaign issues from four years ago that he wanted no part of and wasn't a part of just a week ago. Further, Pelosi's continued gaffes on the subject have renewed examination of Pelosi's poor standing in the Catholic Church. Given her position and votes on abortion and birth-control issues, she is not in good standing with the Catholic Church, despite what she may herself believe.
    (emphasis added)

    My Comments:
    Actually, Speaker Pelosi is only guilty of making worse a situation that had been brewing for some time - at least among Catholics who were examining Sen. Obama's abortion record closely, and which was exacerbated by Sen. Obama's performance at the Saddleback Forum, and was only going to become more intense with the choice of a "pro-choice" Catholic running mate.

    Yes, Speaker Pelosi has helped to turn the abortion issue into a firestorm of controversy right in the middle of the Democrat Convention, but Sen. Obama himself had ensured that this was going to become a significant issue whether or not Speaker Pelosi had ever opened her mouth.

    (Hat tip: HotAir)

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    The Follow-Up Question Brokaw Should've Asked

    A commenter at GetReligion nails it:
    If Brokaw had wanted to hit [Speaker Pelosi] with a real zinger, he could have said, “Your party claims to be the party of progress. But on this issue, you seem to be ignoring both scientific progress and theological progress and relying on a third-century understanding of fetal development. What gives?”
    (emphasis added)

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    Tuesday, August 26, 2008

    Digest of Today's Posts (26 August 2008)

  • Pelosi: St. Augustine Agrees With Me - That's My Story and I'm Sticking to It [UPDATED]

  • A Former Student of Prof. Kmiec Speaks Out ...

  • Dawn Eden to Sen. Biden: "Keep Your Rosaries Off My Uvula!"

  • On "Act-Types" and "Act-Tokens" and ... Huh?




  • (Digest of Yesterday's Posts (25 August 2008))

    Highlights from Yesterday:
  • Archbishop Chaput on Speaker Pelosi: "On the Separation of Sense and State" [UPDATED]
    (especially see today's update, which includes Cardinal Egan's incredible response to Speaker Pelosi and like-minded "pro choice" politicians)
  • Labels:

    Pelosi: St. Augustine Agrees With Me - That's My Story and I'm Sticking To It [UPDATED]

    Despite admonishment from at least 6 different Catholic Bishops (including 2 Cardinals) regarding the Church's historic teaching against abortion since her Meet the Press appearance on Sunday, Speaker Pelosi appears prepared to stick to her discredited story that the views of St. Augustine and other Church Fathers on abortion match hers.

    The following email was sent out from Speaker Pelosi's staff just a little while ago:

    In response to questions, this is quote from me, Brendan Daly, spokesman for Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in response to questions about her comments on Meet the Press on abortion on Sunday.

    “The Speaker is the mother of five children and seven grandchildren and fully appreciates the sanctity of family. She was raised in a devout Catholic family who often disagreed with her pro-choice views.

    “After she was elected to Congress, and the choice issue became more public as she would have to vote on it, she studied the matter more closely. Her views on when life begins were informed by the views of Saint Augustine, who said: ‘…the law does not provide that the act [abortion] pertains to homicide, for there cannot yet be said to be a live soul in a body that lacks sensation…’ (Saint Augustine, On Exodus 21.22)

    “While Catholic teaching is clear that life begins at conception, many Catholics do not ascribe to that view. The Speaker agrees with the Church that we should reduce the number of abortions. She believes that can be done by making family planning more available, as well as by increasing the number of comprehensive age-appropriate sex education and caring adoption programs.

    “The Speaker has a long, proud record of working with the Catholic Church on many issues, including alleviating poverty and promoting social justice and peace.”
    My Comments:
    Well, you gotta give her credit for her very public and obstinate persistence.


    UPDATE
    Fr. Z has an excellent round-up on the controversy.

    And Thomas Peters provides a very helpful timeline.


    UPDATE #2 (27 August)
    The Curt Jester: "Nancy Pelosi Patristic Scholar"





    UPDATE #3 (27 August)
    In other theology-related news, Speaker Pelosi calls into question the Church's teaching on the Real Presence:
    The issue of abortion is not the only significant issue Pelosi is in disagreement with her church on. In a book edited by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s daughter Kerry Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi contributes an essay in which she announces:
    My granddaughter was getting ready for her First Communion. Around the time of the swearing-in, we were all just lying on the bed, after the tea or something, and she said to her mother, “I want to explain to Mimi” — that’s me — “that it is the body and blood of Christ. When we go to church, it is the body and blood of Christ.” So her mother, in the interest of trying to simplify, said “Yes, the host and the wine represent the body and blood of Christ.” And my granddaughter said, “Not represent. Is, it is the body and blood of Christ.” My granddaughter was buying into it, okay. But it is hard. Every Sunday for me it’s hard. Christ had died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. Now think of it, we say that every week. Do I really believe he’s coming again? Yes, I believe he’s coming again. Christ died, Christ is risen, Chirst will come again. This is my body, this is my blood. They’re asking a lot. In my era, we didn’t question any of it.
    If you believe Christ is coming again and died for our sins to give us eternal life, “they’re” not asking all that much.

    UPDATE #4 (27 August)
    Archbishop Wuerl responds (once again) to Speaker Pelosi's defiant insistence on misrepresenting Church teaching:
    The public feud over abortion between the Speaker of the House and the archbishop of Washington intensified Tuesday as Rep. Nancy Pelosi responded to his recent criticism and the archbishop fired another salvo at the California Democrat.

    The latest development came Tuesday evening, when Washington Archbishop Donald Wuerl issued a statement to The Hill that brushed aside Pelosi’s explanation of her comments about conception on Sunday’s edition of “Meet the Press.”

    ... Wuerl swiftly denounced Pelosi’s statement, saying, “As the Catechism and early Church documents make clear, abortion is always an evil. That is an unchanging teaching. The question on when the soul enters the body was a philosophical question that grew out of a lack of scientific data at the time of St. Augustine. We have the data today which shows the embryo is human. There no longer is any discussion of whether the unborn is human and so the philosophical discussion of St. Augustine’s time is not relevant today.” (The Hill)
    (emphasis added)

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    A Former Student of Prof. Kmiec Speaks Out ...

    ... at Catholic Online:

    ... In a speech to Planned Parenthood in 2007, Obama made his position on abortion very clear: “On this fundamental issue, I will not yield and Planned Parenthood will not yield.”

    We are told that Obama is a man of goodwill on this issue, that he is open to argument, but he has already told us what the result of talking to him will be, nothing, for he will not yield. We also must not yield to the likes of Obama.

    ***
    We are told by our fellow Catholics that the pro-choice position is more in keeping with subsidiarity; that there can be compromise on the absolute right to life; that we, in cooperation with Obama, can encourage the use of contraception to reduce abortions; that we should be more pragmatic, that overturning Roe v. Wade will not stop abortion; that we should not be so divisive on this issue (as if we are the villains); that we must consider the Iraq War and fuel-efficient cars; that being pro-choice is not really being pro-abortion; that McCain is so terrible on every single other issue that we can impute to him, without the danger of calumny, a hate of the environment, the poor, the immigrant, the worker and a desire to foment racism against Obama.

    This line of reasoning shows severe misunderstandings regarding the nature of abortion—that it is murder. Proposing that the pro-choice position is more in keeping with subsidiarity is ridiculous. Subsidiarity is based on the respect of the human person and his ability to make decisions regarding his own life. Being pro-choice is believing that there are some individuals who have no right to respect of their person. Such reasoning is the height of absurdity.

    Some argue that overturning Roe v. Wade will not save a single life; however, it cannot be doubted that such a legal decision will help to end abortions. Any argument to the contrary is disingenuous. Without the constitutional protection of abortion as a right, we will be free to pass laws to outlaw it.

    So long as Roe v. Wade remains in place, no amount of heart-changing will allow us to outlaw abortion...


    [More]
    More on the author of this piece:

    Gunnar Gundersen graduated number one in the Class of 2007 from Pepperdine University School of Law, where he studied Constitutional Law under Professor Douglas W. Kmiec. He is also a former law clerk of Judge O'Scannlain of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.

    Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
    Prof. Kmiec Shifts the Goalposts

    Kmiec's "Bridge Too Far"? Obama's Attacks on Justice Thomas

    Without Further Ado: Doug Kmiec on McCain v. Obama at Saddleback [UPDATED]

    Paging Prof. Kmiec ...

    Doug Kmiec Claims Democrats Making "Steps Toward Honoring Life" in Platform

    Prof. Garnett Takes on Prof. Kmiec ... Again

    Casey Jr. to Get Prime-Time Slot in Denver to Appease Catholics [UPDATED]

    Fr. Neuhaus Responds to Doug Kmiec

    Deal Hudson's Open Letter to Doug Kmiec

    National Catholic Register on Catholics, Kmiec, and Obama

    Prof. Hadley Arkes: "Political Distraction Among the Catholics"

    Doug Kmiec - What He Said Then vs. What He Says Now Re: Constitutional Jurisprudence

    What is the "Pro-Life Position" Regarding Abortion?

    Traumatized

    Unrequited Love

    Doug Kmiec: "After Meeting with Barack" [UPDATED]

    Cranky Conservative: "But At Least He Says It with a Smile"

    Doug Kmiec Again Places Platitudes Above Policy [UPDATED]

    Prof. Bainbridge on "Obama, Abortion, & Catholics"

    Prof. Rick Garnett on Kmiec's Latest Nonsense

    Deacon Keith Fournier: "Why I Disagree with Doug Kmiec, Once Again"

    Give It a Rest Already, Prof. Kmiec!

    Deacon Keith Fournier: "No More ‘Left’ or ‘Right’, Time for a New Catholic Action"

    Doug Kmiec's Newfound Celebrity Status Among Those on the Left

    Doug Kmiec Soon To Be Sorely Disappointed

    E.J. Dionne on Kmiec Being Denied Communion [UPDATED]

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

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

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

    Kmiec's Dishonesty [UPDATED]

    Catholic Teaching and Political Risk Taking: When Credit Isn't Given Where Credit is Due [UPDATED]

    Kmiec's Wishful Thinking on Obama and Abortion

    The Curt Jester: "Shameless Garment" [UPDATED]

    So-Called "Catholic Reaganite" Doug Kmiec Endorses Obama [UPDATED]

    "No'bama for Me, Thanks"Can a Catholic Vote for Obama?

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

    Deal Hudson: "Barack Obama's Catholic Problem"

    "Why American Catholics are Supporting Barack Obama"

    Catholics at the Ballot Box

    How the Catholic Left Will Tackle McCain

    Why Does Kmiec Criticize McCain for Positions on Which He Gave Romney a Pass?

    Deal Hudson on "Douglas Kmiec and the Lure of Obama"

    Douglas W. Kmiec on "The Moral Duty to Inquire"

    Professor Bainbridge: "Will Catholic Reaganites Go for Obama?"

    Deal Hudson: "Preacher Man: Barack Obama and the the Gospel of Liberalism"

    "Sorry, Doug Kmiec, But This Catholic Isn't Buying Obama"

    Ramesh Ponnuru on Douglas Kmiec and "Catholic Reaganites for Obama" [UPDATED]

    Romney Advisor Says Obama "a Natural for the Catholic Vote"

    Obama "Post-Partisan"? Ask John Roberts

    Obama and the "Pragmatic Center"

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