Is Jon Huntsman the 2012 GOP Dark Horse?

Tip of the hat to Rob Wasinger, the former Brownback chief of staff and 2008 presidential campaign manager who has endorsed Ambassador Jon Huntsman for the 2012 GOP nomination, for alerting me to this article by Deal Hudson on Ambassador Hunstman's prospects for winning:

... The question most asked about Huntsman is how Obama's ambassador to China, ostensibly a "moderate" Republican, could gain the nomination of a party presently being fueled by the energy of Tea Party and social conservative activists.

Huntsman's record suggests the possibility is not so far-fetched as some might think. Social conservatives may not realize that, as governor, he signed three pro-life bills to help limit abortions in the state of Utah. Huntsman also signed the most important school choice voucher program in the nation, a universal program not limited to low-income students in a particular district or poorly performing schools. Huntsman also signed legislation protecting the Second Amendment rights of Americans to own firearms.

As a fiscal conservative, Huntsman's credentials are unquestioned. While governor, Utah won an award from the Pew Center's Government Performance Project as the "Best Managed State in the Union," and in 2007 Huntsman signed the largest tax cut in Utah's history, earning his state the Cato Institute's number-one ranking in tax policy. Last year, Forbes magazine described Utah as the nation's leading state in job growth and the "best state" for business and careers. On top of all this, Utah's economy has recorded five consecutive years of 3.5 percent annual growth.

On Huntsman's effort to reform health care in Utah, he does not share the vulnerability of the other Mormon candidate seeking the GOP nomination, Mitt Romney. While Romney's health care program in Massachusetts is seen by many as a prototype for Obamacare, Huntsman's health care measures in Utah were designed to give individuals and families choices about their coverage and how to pay for it. For example, one piece of legislation gave citizens of Utah the ability to take defined contributions from their employers and buy their own coverage. Utah created a website called NetCare, allowing citizens to shop and compare health insurance programs.

The better-known GOP frontrunners for the nomination each has obstacles to overcome: Pawlenty will have to explain to Catholic voters why he left the Church of his birth; Romney's Achilles heel is health care; Gingrich's personal history will continue to dog him, and so on.

But Huntsman has a chance to define himself on the basis of a solid record in the midst of a field of candidates with multiple handicaps. There is good reason why David Plouffe, the former campaign manager for President Obama, said the prospect of a Huntsman candidacy makes him "a wee bit queasy."

[Read the whole thing]

As I told Rob in an email, I am not quite sold on Ambassador Huntsman yet. I have concerns about his views on "Cap and Tax" and on same-sex unions. In addition, it's fairly easy to govern as a conservative in a state like Utah, and I wonder how much of Governor Huntsman's conservatism was a product of where he was governing as opposed to who he is.

But, that said, he is one of the more intriguing possibilities in the GOP field, and I could very well be won over. Such is not the case, for example, for Mitt Romney. Absolutely nothing Romney does or says could possibly change my mind about his being, at heart, a liberal and a phony. I can't understand why conservatives who should know better, such as Kathryn Lopez and the rest of the gang at National Review (except for Ramesh), are so enamoured with Romney (who has NEVER governed as a conservative and who, prior to 2008, had always run for office as a liberal) a pass, while labeling someone like Huntsman (who has actually governed as a conservative) a "moderate". The comparison of the two is an interesting juxtaposition, not the least reason being the religion angle. At any rate, I call into question the conventional wisdom that Huntsman is a "moderate".

And I definitely hope he decides to run.


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Why is Jon Huntsman Considered a "Moderate"?

"Be Who God Meant You to Be and You Will Set the World on Fire." - Feast of St. Catherine of Siena, 29 April

Today is the feast day of the Dominican tertiary who dared to tell a Pope to get off his duff and do his job, St. Catherine of Siena - a fact of which the Anglican Bishop of London took full notice today in joining an arguably better-known Catherine to the future King of England:

LONDON: Bishop of London's Sermon at the Royal Wedding of William and Kate

April 29, 2011

"Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire."

So said St Catherine of Siena whose festival day this is. Marriage is intended to be a way in which man and woman help each other to become what God meant each one to be, their deepest and truest selves.

Many are full of fear for the future of today's world but the message of the celebrations in this country and far beyond its shores is the right one - this is a joyful day. It is good that people in every continent are able to share in the celebrations because this is, as every wedding day should be, a day of hope.

In a sense every wedding is a royal wedding with the bride and groom as king and queen of creation, making a new life together so that life can flow through them to the future.

William and Catherine, you have chosen to be married in the sight of a generous God who so loved the world that he gave himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ.

In the Spirit of this generous God, husband and wife are to give themselves to one another.

Spiritual life grows as love finds its centre beyond ourselves. Faithful and committed relationships offer a door into the mystery of spiritual life in which we discover that the more we give of self, the richer we become in soul; the more we go beyond ourselves in love, the more we become our true selves and our spiritual beauty is more fully revealed. In marriage we are seeking to bring one another into fuller life.

It is of course hard to wean ourselves away from self-centredness. People can dream of such a thing but the hope will not be fulfilled without a solemn decision that, whatever the difficulties, we are committed to the way of generous love.

You have both made your decision today - "I will" - and by making this new relationship, you have aligned yourselves with what we believe is the way in which life is spiritually evolving, and which will lead to a creative future for the human race.

We stand looking forward to a century which is full of promise and full of peril. Human beings are confronting the question of how to use wisely the power which has been given to us through the discoveries of the last century. We shall not be converted to the promise of the future by more knowledge, but rather by an increase of loving wisdom and reverence, for life, for the earth and for one another.

Marriage should transform, as husband and wife make one another their work of art. This transformation is possible as long as we do not harbour ambitions to reform our partner. There must be no coercion if the Spirit is to flow; each must give the other space and freedom. Chaucer, the London poet, sums it up in a pithy phrase:

"Whan maistrie [mastery] comth, the God of Love anon, Beteth his wynges, and farewell, he is gon." As the reality of God has faded from so many lives in the West, there has been a corresponding inflation of expectations that personal relations alone will supply meaning and happiness in life. This is to load our partner with too great a burden. We are all incomplete: we all need the love which is secure, rather than oppressive, and mutual forgiveness, to thrive.

As we move towards our partner in love, following the example of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is quickened within us and can increasingly fill our lives with light. This leads to a family life which offers the best conditions in which the next generation can practise and exchange those gifts which can overcome fear and division and incubate the coming world of the Spirit, whose fruits are love and joy and peace.

I pray that every one present and the many millions watching this ceremony and sharing in your joy today will do everything in their power to support and uphold you in your new life. I pray that God will bless you in the way of life you have chosen, a way which is expressed in the prayer that you have written together in preparation for this day:

God our Father, we thank you for our families; for the love that we share and for the joy of our marriage. In the busyness of each day keep our eyes fixed on what is real and important in life and help us to be generous with our time and love and energy. Strengthened by our union help us to serve and comfort those who suffer. We ask this in the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

---The Rt. Rev. Richard Chartres is the Bishop of London

I Don't See Myself Blogging on This Topic Across Five Aprils

I suppose I shouldn't let April pass without making at least one comment on the 150th anniversary of the War Between the States. This will probably be it, though. The great conflagration that took over 600,000 lives just isn't really my cup of tea when it comes to American history. I find the entire topic to be altogether depressing. I'll never forget leaving Gettysburg completely overtaken by melancholy - a feeling of depression that didn't leave me for days.

If you really want some excellent commentary on the War, generally with some great insights from a Catholic perspective, then I recommend you follow the posts on the subject by my friend Don McClarey at The American Catholic.

For my part, I will just leave it at my general philosophy about the conflict between North and South:

I am, by virtue of having spent most of my life in those states, both a Texan and a Virginian, although I am now exiled to the land of Grant and Sherman. Nevertheless, I would like to think that, had I lived back then, I would have opposed secession. But once the decision was made, my loyalty would have been to my home states.

Of course, slavery and secession were unjustifiable blights on America's history. But, in my view, so was Lincoln's decision to make war against the populations of those states once they decided they no longer wished to be associated with the Union. There is nothing sacrosanct about an America undivided, and such an exalted notion does not justify making war against the populations of the Southern states.

I do not deny (nor am I proud of) the fact that the Southern states seceded to preserve the systematic enslavement of their fellow man. But I DO deny that the average Confederate soldier (or even General Lee and General Jackson, for that matter) was fighting for the preservation of slavery - they were fighting because what they considered their "country" (i.e. the states of their birth) had been invaded.

Glorified Peer Pressure: "The Wrong Side of History"

Quote of the day:

“…the wrong side of history” is one of the most pernicious phrases in the vernacular nowadays. It is meant to intimidate; it’s old-fashioned high school peer pressure as applied by influential progressives. Even in the face of every popular vote to date (as opposed to non-binding opinion polls) going against same-sex marriage, it’s institution and acceptance is commonly treated in the mainstream media as a fait accompli. What is actually meant when “You’re on the wrong side of history” is said is “Eventually, we will win, and when we do, we’ll make certain you and your reputation will be punished for being on the losing side. So you might as well give up right now, and spare yourself the wrath we might wreak upon you.”

Epitomizing such attitudes when it comes to same-sex marriage is Sean Penn’s acceptance speech when he won the Academy Award for his role in the Harvey Milk biopic:

“I think that it is a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect, and anticipate their great shame, and the shame in their grandchildren’s eyes if they continue that way of support.”

Hear that, America? Your precious grandkids that give you those big hugs now will hate your freakin’ guts when we convince them you are all hateful bigots...

Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Outside the Asylum: "How the Next Civil War Will Begin"

Archbishop Chaput: "Systematic Discrimination Against Church Now Seems Inevitable"

Pope Critical of Labour’s "Unjust" Equality Laws Ahead of UK Visit

Same-Sex "Marriage" and Religious Liberty

Bork Predicts “Terrible Conflict” Will Endanger U.S. Catholics’ Religious Freedom

Same-Sex "Marriage" and the Persecution of Civil Society

InsideCatholic on "The Unintended Consequences of Gay Marriage"

Secularist Attacks on the Catholic Church in Britain

Regular Guy Paul on What's Next for Same-Sex "Marriage"

Catholic Provocation?

Federal Judge: Catholic Church’s Position Against Homosexual Adoptions Justifies Government Hostility Towards Church

San Francisco's Hateful Anti-Catholic Resolution Prompts Lawsuit by Thomas More Center

Catholic League Says Gay Adoption Issue Spurring Anti-Catholic Bigotry

9th Circuit Rules Okay to Censor Terms "Marriage" and "Family Values" as Hate Speech

UK Catholic Schools Endangered by Sexual Orientation Regulations

Official Anti-Catholic Bigotry Returns to British Parliament

"A Charter for Suing Christians"

A Catholic Londoner on "The Last Acceptable Prejudice"

British Bishops: U.K. Sex Equality Law "Threatens Catholic Adoption Agencies"

UK: Churches "Could be Forced to Bless Gay Weddings"

The Coming Persecution of Churches Over "Gay Marriage"

The Coming Conflict Between Same-Sex "Marriage" and Religious Liberty

The Dominican Friars' Inspiring New Vocations Video

(Hat tip: Creative Minority Report)




The priest speaking at the very beginning of the video, Fr. Brian Mulcahy, O.P., is the Prior Provincial of the Dominican Province of St. Joseph. 7 years ago, when he was pastor at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Charlottesville, Virginia, Fr. Brian brought Sarah and me into the Catholic Church.

My 9-year-old son, Jamie, wants to be a Dominican priest, and nothing would make his mother and father more proud.

Our family just spent a fair amount of time among the Dominicans of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Charlottesville during Holy Week while we were back visiting family in The Old Dominion. In addition to outstanding liturgies and providing an orthodox Catholic presence at the University of Virginia, here is what the Dominicans in C'ville are up to these days.

Easter Rising - 95th Anniversary

Birth of the Irish Republic by Walter Paget, depicting the General Post Office in Dublin during the shelling by British troops

Prayers for a Friday of Lent

The following prayers appear in The Sadness of Christ, by St. Thomas More - the last book written by the martyred English saint while he awaited his execution in the Tower of London:

Psalm on Detachment

Give me thy grace, good Lord:
To set the world at nought;
To set my mind fast upon thee,
And not to hang upon the blast of men’s mouths;
To be content to be solitary,
Not to long for worldly company;
Little and little utterly to cast off the world,
And rid my mind of all the business thereof;
Not to long to hear of any worldly things,
But that the hearing of worldly phantasies may be to me displeasant;
Gladly to be thinking of God,
Piteously to call for his help;
To lean unto the comfort of God,
Busily to labor to love him;
To know mine own vility and wretchedness,
To humble and meeken myself under the mighty hand of God;
To bewail my sins passed,
For the purging of them patiently to suffer adversity;
Gladly to bear my purgatory here,
To be joyful of tribulations;
To walk the narrow way that leadeth to life,
To bear the cross with Christ;
To have the last thing in remembrance,
To have ever afore mine eye my death that is ever at hand;
To make death no stranger to me,
To foresee and consider the everlasting fire of hell;
To pray for pardon before the judge come,
To have continually in mind the passion that Christ suffered for me;
For his benefits uncessantly to give him thanks,
To buy the time again that I before have lost;
To abstain from vain confabulations,
To eschew light foolish mirth and gladness;
Recreations not necessary — to cut off;
Of worldly substance, friends, liberty, life and all, to set the loss
at right nought for the winning of Christ;
To think my most enemies my best friends,
For the brethren of Joseph could never have done him so much good
with their love and favor as they did him with their malice and hatred.

These minds are more to be desired of every man than all the treasure
of all the princes and kings, Christian and heathen, were it
gathered and laid together all upon one heap .

~ St. Thomas More, Written while imprisoned in the Tower of London, 1534

A Devout Prayer

O HOLY TRINITY, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, three equal and coeternal Persons, and one Almighty God, have mercy on me, vile, abject, abominable, sinful wretch: meekly knowledging before thine High Majesty my long-continued sinful life, even from my very childhood hitherto.

In my childhood, in this point and that point, etc. After my childhood in this point and that point, and so forth by every age, etc.

Now, good gracious Lord, as thou givest me thy grace to knowledge them, so give me thy grace, not in only word but in heart also with very sorrowful contrition to repent them and utterly to forsake them. And forgive me those sins also, in which by mine own default, through evil affections and evil custom, my reason is with sensuality so blinded that I cannot discern them for sin. And illumine, good Lord, mine heart, and give me thy grace to know them, and forgive me my sins negligently forgotten, and bring them to my mind with grace to be purely confessed of them.

Glorious God, give me from henceforth thy grace, with little respect unto the world, so to set and fix firmly mine heart upon thee, that I may say with thy blessed apostle St Paul: Mundus mihi crucifixus est et ego mundo. Mihi vivere Christus est, et mori lucrum. Cupio dissolvi et esse cum Christo. [The world is crucified to me and I to the world’ (Gal. 6, 14). ‘To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain’ (Phil. 1, 21 ). ‘I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ’ (ibid. 23).]

Give me thy grace to amend my life, and to have an eye to mine end without grudge of death, which to them that die in thee, good Lord, is the gate of a wealthy life.

Almighty God, Doce me facere voluntatem tuam. Fac me currere in odore unguentorum tuorum. Apprehende manum meam dexteram, et deduc me in via recta propter inimicos meos. Trahe me post te. In chamo et freno maxillas meas constringe, quum non approximo ad te. [‘Teach me to do thy will’ (Ps. 143, 10). ‘Make me to run after thee to the odour of thy ointments’ (Cant. 1, 3). ‘Take thou my right hand and guide me in the straight path because of my enemies’ (Passages from the Psalms). ‘Draw me after thee’ (Cant. 1, 3 ). ‘With bit and bridle bind fast my jaws when I come not near unto thee’ (Ps. 31, 9).]

O glorious God, all sinful fear, all sinful sorrow and pensiveness, all sinful hope, all sinful mirth, and gladness take from me. And on the other side concerning such fear, such sorrow, such heaviness, such comfort, consolation and gladness as shall be profitable for my soul: Fac mecum secundum magnam bonitatem tuam Domine. [Deal with me according to thy great goodness, O Lord’ (cf. Ps. 118, 124).]

Good Lord, give me the grace, in all my fear and agony, to have recourse to that great fear and wonderful agony that thou, my sweet Saviour, hadst at the Mount of Olivet before thy most bitter passion, and in the meditation thereof, to conceive ghostly comfort and consolation profitable for my soul.

Almighty God, take from me all vainglorious minds, all appetites of mine own praise, all envy, covetise, gluttony, sloth, and lechery, all wrathful affections, all appetite of revenging, all desire or delight of other folks’ harm, all pleasure in provoking any person to wrath and anger, all delight of exprobation or insultation against any person in their affliction and calamity.

And give me, good Lord, an humble, lowly, quiet, peaceable, patient, charitable, kind, tender, and pitiful mind, with all my works, and all my words, and all my thoughts, to have a taste of thy holy, blessed Spirit.

Give me, good Lord, a full faith, a firm hope, and a fervent charity, a love to the good Lord incomparable above the love to myself; and that I love nothing to thy displeasure, but everything in an order to thee.

Give me, good Lord, a longing to be with thee, not for the avoiding of the calamities of this wretched world, nor so much for the avoiding of the pains of purgatory, nor of the pains of hell neither, nor so much for the attaining of the joys of heaven, in respect of mine own commodity, as even for a very love to thee.

And bear me, good Lord, thy love and favour, which thing my love to theeward (were it never so great) could not but of thy great goodness deserve.

And pardon me, good Lord, that I am so bold to ask so high petitions, being so vile a sin-ful wretch, and so unworthy to attain the lowest. But yet, good Lord, such they be, as I am bounden to wish and should be nearer the effectual desire of them, if my manifold sins were not the let. From which, O glorious Trinity, vouchsafe of thy goodness to wash me, with that blessed blood that issued out of thy tender body, O sweet Saviour Christ, in the divers torments of thy most bitter passion.

Take from me, good Lord, this lukewarm fashion, or rather key-cold manner of meditation and this dullness in praying unto thee. And give me warmth, delight and quickness in thinking upon thee. And give me thy grace to long for thine holy sacraments, and specially to rejoice in the presence of thy very blessed body Sweet Saviour Christ, in the holy sacrament of the altar, and duly to thank thee for thy gracious visitation therewith, and at that high memorial, with tender compassion, to remember and consider thy most bitter passion.

Make us all, good Lord, virtually participant of that holy sacrament this day, and every day make us all lively members, sweet Saviour Christ, of thine holy mystical body, thy Catholic Church.

Dignare, Domine, die isto sine peccato nos custodire. Miserere nostri, Domine, miserere nostri.
Fiat misericordia tua, Domine, super nos quemadmodum speravimus in te.
In te, Domine, speravi, non confundar in aeternum.
[‘Deign, O Lord, to keep us on that day without sin. Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us. Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, as we have hoped in thee. In thee, O Lord, have I hoped, let me not be confounded for ever’ ( From the Te Deum ).]

V. Ora pro nobis, sancta Dei Genitrix.
R. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.
[‘Pray for us, O holy mother of God. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.’]

PRO AMICIS [For Friends]

ALMIGHTY GOD, have mercy on N. and N. (with special meditation and consideration of every friend, as godly affection and occasion requireth)

PRO INIMICIS [For Enemies]

ALMIGHTY GOD, have mercy on N. and N., and on all that bear me evil will, and would me harm, and their faults and mine together, by such easy, tender, merciful means, as thine infinite wisdom best can devise, vouch-safe to amend and redress, and make us saved souls in heaven together where we may ever live and love together with thee and thy blessed saints. O glorious Trinity, for the bitter passion of our sweet Saviour Christ. Amen.

Lord, give me patience in tribulation and grace in everything to conform my will to thine: that I may truly say: Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in coelo et in terra. [‘Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.’]

The things, good Lord, that I pray for, give me thy grace to labour for. Amen.

~ St. Thomas More, "A Devout Prayer [before Dying]", July 1535

On the Budget Deal ...

... just a general sense on my part that Speaker Boehner got the better of the deal and that, despite agreeing to drop the Pence Amendment from the final continuing budget resolution, the pro-life ball has nevertheless been advanced. My cautiously optimistic belief is that this commenter seems to have it about right:

Have you noticed that all the pro-life groups in the forefront of the fight to de-fund are ecstatic?

That's because they understand this was a nice step forward in momentum. With all due respect, this is an appropriations bill to get us through the end of the fiscal year --which is just September. That's not much defunding. The real battle is over what gets funded in an actual budget, not a mere continuing resolution...and no one shuts down the whole government over a mere rider, however desirable.

The important thing is the Dems, who hold all the cards still, since they have one house and the Presidency, blinked. They gave pro-life concessions and they threw their moderate members under the bus, exposing them to the uncomfortable position of having to vote up or down on both Planned Parenthood on Thursday and Obamacare repeal (also a pro-life vote) going into an election year.

Don't you see that it's far more valuable, when the momentum is on our side, to force people to vote for Planned Parenthood, rather than for an appropriation where the pro-life nature of the vote is obscured? Do you want them defunded and discredited for good, or just til September?

In this, I am in accord with my friend, Paul Zummo.

Alas, that means I part company with two bloggers for whom I have high regard: one with whom I am almost always in accord on matters both theological and political; and another whose credentials as an apologist for the Catholic faith I hold to be impeccable, but who seems to be a hyperbolic fool when it comes to commenting on politics (please do read in the comments to that post my friend Don McClarey's excellent retort to such making-the-perfect-the-enemy-of-the-good hyperbole).

I think it's too early in the game to pronounce who "won" and who "lost" at this point. Again, my gut feeling is that Boehner has moved us in the right direction on both abortion and fiscal responsibility, but more work obviously remains to be done. But, all in all, I think it's a fairly promising start for the devoutly Catholic, ardently pro-life Speaker of the House who, we must remember, leads only 1/2 of 1/3 of the branches of the Federal government.

UPDATE

More from Opinionated Catholic.

Catholic Blogger Asks God-Hating Libertarian If He's Supposed to Be Outraged by Low-Income Family's Large Tax Refund

Because I'm NOT outraged by it. I think it's great. I'd much rather see tax money go to this family to reimburse them for their costs of adopting and caring for special needs kids than going to Planned Parenthood to make sure such children never get born.

Notre Dame vs. Texas A & M

No, I'm not talking about tonight's NCAA women's basketball final.

At which institution does your kid have a better chance of retaining and growing in his or her Catholic faith and identity?

I'm not asking that rhetorically; I'd really be interested in knowing. Both schools are in my top 3 "wish list" of colleges to encourage my children to attend (the other being the University of Virginia, with it's strong Dominican presence; Providence is also under consideration).

What do you think? Any other suggestions?

Obama Culture of Death Update™: A Compilation of President Obama’s Pro-Abortion Record

LifeNews has compiled a list of President Obama's numerous pro-abortion actions since he announced his decision to run for President 4 years ago:

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — The following is a compilation of bill signings, speeches, appointments and other actions that President Barack Obama has engaged in that have promoted abortion before and during his presidency.

While Obama has promised to reduce abortions and some of his supporters believe that will happen, this long list proves his only agenda is promoting more abortions.

[Read the whole thing]

This Obama Culture of Death Update™ has been brought to you by Douglas Kmiec, all the fine folks at Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good / Catholics United / Catholic Democrats, and countless other Catholics for whom "Hope" and "Change" trumped LIFE.

Digest of Today's Posts (1 April 2011)

"Cristiada" Movie Trailer

Our Lady of Walsingham - 950th Anniversary [UPDATED]

The Myth of the "Fiscally Conservative", Socially "Moderate"/Liberal Republican (or Scott Brown Lied, Fiscal Responsibility Died)

(Digest of Yesterday's Posts (31 March 2011))

"Cristiada" Movie Trailer

(Hat tip: Creative Minority Report)

For more on this movie, go to the official website.

¡Viva Cristo Rey y la Virgen de Guadalupe!

Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Vivan Los Cristeros!

Me Gusta Mucho!

Our Lady of Walsingham - 950th Anniversary [UPDATED]

Stephanie Mann of the excellent English-Reformation-themed blog Supremacy and Survival reports that the 950th anniversary of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham is being commemorated this year.

Stephanie links to a blog post by John Whitehead on the same topic, in which he describes the Mass he attended at Westminster Cathedral that kicks off 6 months of celebration leading up to the feast day of Our Lady of Walsingham on September 24.

Our Lady of Walsingham is the patroness of our family's household, and I have written extensively on the subject at this blog (including describing my pilgrimage to the Shrine for the feast of Our Lady of Walsingham 5-and-a-half years ago), and will be blogging on the topic even more this year during the 950th anniversary celebration. For my past writing on the topic, just click on the "Walsingham" label below.

UPDATE More information on the 950th can be found at the Shrine's website, including a brochure of events and activities commemorating the anniversary.

The Myth of the "Fiscally Conservative", Socially "Moderate"/Liberal Republican (or Scott Brown Lied, Fiscal Responsibility Died)

One year ago, Sen. Scott Brown (RINO-MA) declared:

And make no mistake, I am a fiscal conservative. And when it comes to issues affecting people’s pockets, and pocketbooks, and wallets, I’ll be with the Republicans if they are in fact pushing those initiatives.

Liar.

They all are. From Schwarzenegger to Crist to Murkowski to the Maine Twins to ... you name it. If some politician proclaims himself or herself to be a "fiscal conservative" but social "moderate", that person is a LIAR because that person is neither. That person is, in fact, a LIBERAL. Maybe not as liberal as the Dems, but nevertheless liberal enough to support the wholesale slaughter of the unborn, the destruction of the institution of marriage, and the picking of your pocket to support the size and scope of our overbloated federal government (including the taxpayer funding of the organization that engages in most of the wholesale slaughter of the unborn).

A few months back, I did a post concurring with Sen. Jim DeMint's assessment that "you can't be a fiscal conservative and NOT be a social conservative". In that post, I quoted extensively from a piece written by my friend, Paul Zummo. Here's an excerpt:

... anyone who has paid any amount of attention to politics over the past couple of decades should recognize that the people who label themselves fiscally conservative and socially moderate or liberal – let’s call them cafeteria conservatives – are the first people to betray the cause of limited government on economic issues. A prime example of this is Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger...

[...]

John Hawkins did a bit of analysis that shows a fairly strong correlation between fiscal and social conservatism. Though the measuring device is a bit crude, it shows that when it comes to economic issues, social conservatives are the most reliable votes in favor of fiscal conservatism.

Prior to that, I had written another post on the topic of Sen. DeMint and social conservatism vs. fiscal conservatism:

... social conservatives don't tend to compartmentalize their conservatism as do, say, so-called "fiscally conservative/socially liberal" types - in fact, social conservatives tend to be more consistently fiscally conservative than the self-described fiscal conservatives ...

[...]

Show me someone who claims to be a "fiscal conservative" and a social liberal, and I'll show you either:

(1) a plain-old liberal who thinks his taxes are a little high;

(2) someone whose alleged "fiscal conservatism" is malleable to whatever his social liberalism dictates; or

(3) someone who is so preoccupied with what other liberals think of him (which is why ha adopts the socially liberal mantra in the first place), that at the first sign of left-wing horror over the alleged real-world repercussions of his fiscally conservative policy preferences, he will drop said fiscal conservatism like a hot potato.

In short, don't believe the myth of the "fiscally conservative", but socially "moderate" Republican. It's a damned lie.