October 01, 2008
“Pro-Life, Pro-Obama” website launched
As proof that “the best lie is a bold lie,” I give you the quote of the day:
“Can you be pro-life and support Senator Obama? The answer - upon even a moment’s reflection - is ‘unequivocally yes.’” (Doug Kmiec, ProLife-ProObama)
Kmiec has jumped the shark. He had once crafted perhaps the single best justification argument for a pro-Obama vote, but now this … this is all-out vote pandering.
The idea that Catholics can honestly determine that Obama is pro-life “upon even a moment’s reflection” is simply absurd beyond argument, looking at the facts. And deciding after a moment’s reflection? I’m positive that claim does not even apply to Kmiec himself!
Kmiec surely took more than a moment’s reflection to support Obama. In fact, he took years.
Kmiec is throwing all of his eggs into the Obama basket to win over the “Catholic vote,” including his previous record: “As Ronald Reagan’s legal counsel and as a dean and professor at Catholic University and Notre Dame, I have worked to put the law on the side of life where it belongs.”
The point? “Catholic University and Notre Dame hired me! See? I’m Catholic. You can trust me.”
Kmiec is the face of Obama’s Catholic support. And I’m exasperated by him using his faith to deceive fellow Catholics and make his (arguable) conclusions obligatory upon the rest of us. He is systematically challenging and making a mockery out of every Catholic voter’s guide issued by the American bishops, he also makes a shambles of the process by which Catholics are called to inform their conscience, and frankly … he demonstrates either a deep ignorance or a pathological inability to admit the shortcomings of his candidate.
Kmiec is essentially saying that Catholics must vote for a candidate who can only be called “pro-life” despite his own intention to unequivocally support universal access to abortion. If Obama doesn’t want to be pro-life in the proper sense, how are we being pro-life in the proper sense by voting for him?
Let me be very clear: what I take issue with here, specifically, is Kmiec’s claim that Obama is somehow a natural or obvious choice for Catholic voters. To say that, one must simply dissent from the Church’s teaching that abortion, and the legal support of abortion is gravely wrong.
If Kmiec claims to be a Catholic in good standing, a Catholic to whom other Catholics can look with confidence, I’d like to see one example where he has read the recent writings of Catholic bishops on this and related topics.
Endlessly complaining about the persecution one has received from lay Catholics is an empty self-martyrdom if one continues to obstinately avoid dialogue with the shepherds of the Church.
Catholics know this, and Kmiec should know better. If his position is so obviously the Catholic one, why is he scared to approach the shepherds of the Church - the guardians of what truly is Catholic - with his argument?
I predict we can expect a well-organized media onslaught of Kmiec-clone arguments in the remaining weeks leading up to the election. Sadly PACs and grassroots political organizations frequently have better access to the Catholic faithful than do our own priests and bishops.
But don’t be fooled, don’t just trust the “experts” - listen to what the bishops are saying. I would challenge anyone to find what Doug Kmiec is saying, printed-up in a voting guide issued by the U.S. Bishops this year.
You won’t.
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