"Obama's position on abortion is not perfect; it's exactly contrary to the teaching of the Catholic Church. The candidate Kmiec is touting as pro-life is the most extreme pro-abortion presidential nominee in the history of American politics."
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WASHINGTON, D.C. (Inside Catholic) - Just when this presidential election could not get any stranger, David Brody reports the launching of a "Pro-Life Pro-Obama" Web site. When is the "John McCain, Pacifist" Web site going to show up?
The effort to sell Obama as a pro-life candidate is being spearheaded by a group called the Matthew 25 Network, a PAC created by former Democratic political operative Mara Vanderslice. Vanderslice was director of religious outreach for the Kerry campaign in 2004 but was "silenced" when Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, publicized her connection with various far-left political groups.
Window readers might also remember the Matthew 25 organization from my story on the "non-partisan" convention in Philadelphia rallying Catholics to political involvement. The Matthew 25 booth featured a prominent picture of Obama along with words from Matthew 25:38, "I was hungry and you gave me something to eat," made to look like they belonged to Obama, not Jesus.
The "Pro-Life Pro-Obama" Web site confirms what I wrote yesterday: Doug Kmiec has become the Catholic outreach of the Obama campaign. The first thing you notice when the site opens is a prominent "Welcome from Doug Kmiec."
Kmiec's message is the one we have been hearing from Obama's Catholics since the beginning of the campaign -- that overturning Roe v. Wade is not an effective way to reduce abortions:
But after 35 years, a new approach is needed. Too many unborn lives are being lost as we wait for judges to get it right. Barack Obama's strengthening of support for prenatal care, health care, maternity leave, and adoption will make the difference. Studies confirm it.
Doug Johnson, legislative director of National Right to Life, has already written a devastating critique of Obama's abortion reduction promises. But even Kmiec's claims about Obama's concern for prenatal care don't comport with the facts. Steve Ertelt at LifeNews reported two days ago that Obama voted against an amendment extending a health care program to cover prenatal care.
This vote came in the midst of a congressional debate over the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The defeat of SCHIP was taken up by pro-Obama Catholic groups like Catholics United to accuse various Republicans, including John McCain, of not being pro-life.
Obama supported SCHIP but opposed adding an amendment that would have, arguably, made it into an explicitly pro-life legislation.
Now that Kmiec has become the poster-boy for Obama's Catholic efforts, his claims on behalf of his candidate grow ever larger. Apart from anchoring the "Pro-Life Pro-Obama" Web site, Kmiec is quoted from an interview with John Allen:
Conceding that Obama does not have "a perfect Catholic position on abortion," Kmiec, nonetheless, insisted that voting for the Democrat is "not inconsistent with the teaching of the church."
No, Obama's position on abortion is not perfect; it's exactly contrary to the teaching of the Catholic Church. The candidate Kmiec is touting as pro-life is the most extreme pro-abortion presidential nominee in the history of American politics.
The "Pro-Life Pro-Obama" Web site represents not only increasingly hyperbolic claims for the Democratic candidate, but also a joining together of Catholic and Protestant efforts in support of the Obama campaign. The collaboration of Protestant Vanderslice with Catholic Kmiec reveals the intimate and active cooperation of Obama surrogates with outside groups such as the Matthew 25 PAC. Their determination to sell Obama to pro-life voters is admirable, while being completely ludicrous.
Deal W. Hudson is the director of InsideCatholic.com and the author of Onward, Christian Soldiers: The Growing Political Power of Catholics and Evangelicals in the United States (Simon and Schuster).
Comments
Every country leader has own political agenda under his presidency. There are lots of changes expected to be happening in the government system. I know the reality of how much people think about their political choices is less than studied. Many of you may even have studied more about whether you should take out a payday advance than who to vote for. As a case in point, check out this brief audio snippet from a recent episode of “The Howard Stern Show,” posted courtesy of BPM Deejays of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Roving Reporter Sal sought the opinions of men and women on the street, to see whether they supported Barack Obama or John McCain for President. Admittedly, they were attempting to gauge whether African-Americans would automatically vote for Obama simply because he’s black. That point is driven home by the location Sal obtains his samples from: Harlem, New York.
However, the trick Sal employs in his interviews is telling. By reversing the candidates’ positions on issues like the pro-life argument, stem cell research, the war in Iraq and who Sarah Palin is – attributing McCain’s positions to Obama – Sal gets people to admit that they support all kinds of ideas that Obama wants little or nothing to do with. He exposes the ugly truth that many of us are ignorant when it comes to the issues. We parrot popular opinions and flow along with our peer groups. But when it comes to things like presidential elections and your vote, I hope you thought about it considerably. Please read on the following links for more results.
" First, according to Cafardi, Catholics have, as a matter of law, "lost the abortion battle ... and I believe that we have lost it permanently." Second, abortion is not the only "intrinsic evil" of the day; the Bush administration has been guilty of committing acts that are "intrinsically evil" in its policies on interrogation of terrorist suspects, in its failures after Hurricane Katrina and in its detention of terrorism suspects at Guantánamo Bay. Third, Senator Obama "supports government action that would reduce the number of abortions," including an "adequate social safety net for poor women who might otherwise have abortions."
The argument, in sum: the constitutional and legal arguments that have raged since Roe vs. Wade are over, and Catholics have lost; there are many other "intrinsic evils" that Catholics are morally bound to oppose, and Republicans tend to ignore those evils; liberalized social-welfare policies will drive down the absolute numbers of abortions and Senator Obama is an unabashed liberal on these matters. Therefore, a vote for Obama is the "real" pro-life vote.
The argument is, some might contend, a bold one. Yet it is also counterintuitive, running up against the fact that, by most measures and despite his rhetoric about reducing the incidence of abortion, Barack Obama has an unalloyed record of support for abortion on demand. Moreover, he seems to understand Roe vs. Wade and subsequent Supreme Court decisions as having defined abortion as a fundamental liberty right essential for women's equality, meaning that government must guarantee access to abortion in law and by financial assistance—a moral judgment and a policy prescription the pro-life Catholic Obama boosters say they reject."(newsweek)
We should be voting based on all the issues not a few micro-issues. Abortion is not the only intristically evil how about the death penalty, freedom of due process, and freedom of innocents until proven guilty?
Obama is a better choice. He had indicated to try to lower the number of abortions, whereas you can see a lot of Bush's policy never try to do the first step which is to at least lower the numbers. We see that abolishment of anything takes time look at slavery. It takes small steps before something big can happen. I do not agree with professor Cafardi since I believe in the future abortion and the death penalty can be won. As in the movie "what about bob?" we need to take baby steps. I think Obama wants to protect the rights of the women in the sense of economics and their own life. Although it is not right people will still carry out the horrific acts. The church has created groups to provide help for these people. I think obama wants to lower the numbers in a different way and yes that one issue is not inline with the church but you have to look at the current administration taking our god given rights away. We have to look past the one issue and look at how many more issues this administration has done. We need to remember that all mortal sin are the same in god's eyes wither it is the death penalty or abortion so lets vote on the other issues since they both fail at what we believe. JP2 had said that the death penalty is as bad as abortion. So if we want to say who is evil the only person that would have my vote as a Catholic would have been Ron Paul since he was anti-abortion and anti-death penalty, but we have either choice and today we do need change and my choice is Obama. I don't care that you think I may be less catholic that is for me and god to talk about.
Catholic Chump | 10/15/2008
Keit Tran,
Doug Kmeic understands, unlike may Catholics, that just because someone is pro-choice does not make them a bad person. In fact I would dare to say that Mr. Kmeic understands that and is willing to look past it. The country is looking for a new direction as evidence by the approval rating for Mr. Bush. I am a college student Republican and a member of the armed forces and I flat out refuse to vote for McCain this election. He offers no hope, and hope is something all Catholics should be looking for.
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