In a week that saw a spate of anti-Catholic rumination by the
media on the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court,
others in the political spectrum were also concerned with religious
issues. In their continuing confusion regarding these matters, some
Democrats seek to placate the faithful, while others look to
eliminate religion from the public sphere altogether.
One of the former — sort of — is 2008 White House hopeful
Senator Joseph Biden. The Delaware Democrat — whose presidential
run in 1987 was tripped up by plagiarism charges — recently took
to the hustings of Kentucky to convince voters there
that he really was one of them. In a state where President Bush
beat John Kerry by twenty points in 2004, Biden acknowledged the
problem:
“We have put up too many candidates who can’t connect with
middle-class Americans. In the last two [presidential elections],
the Democratic Party has lost its base, the middle-class
votes….And we have played into the hands of the Republicans.
We’ve allowed so-called social issues to be so divisive.”
Religion is one of the issues that divide liberals from folks in
red states like Kentucky. Once a dependable part of the “Solid
South” that voted exclusively for Democrats, it’s now a Republican
stronghold. Part of the reason is that Kentuckians, like most
Americans, take their religion seriously.
Yet in a state that is overwhelmingly Christian, including over
half a million Catholics, you’d think Biden would stay away from
comments like, “If I’m the nominee, Republicans will be sorry. The
next Republican that tells me I’m not religious, I’m going to shove
my rosary beads down their throat.”
Mr. Biden’s charming and reverent reference to his Marian
devotion aside, his comments illustrate the anger and bewilderment
many in his party feel toward the “religious right.” The secular
left simply doesn’t comprehend that it takes more than just a
politician’s profession of faith to win the votes of those for whom
religion is not merely a so-called social issue.
Biden, like many Catholic politicians, tries to separate his
religion from his job. And as any Christian knows, this is not an
option; if the two are in conflict, you have to renounce one or the
other. Biden actually alluded to this last year in referring to some Republicans as “a
little like me as a Roman Catholic denying the existence of the
Trinity. It is not possible to do.”
What he does find possible however, is to deny other basic
precepts of the Code of Canon Law of his religion, such as
unalterable opposition to abortion, euthanasia and same-sex
marriage; the last of which he calls “inevitable.” He continues, “It’s going to be
something we have to go through as part of the maturation process
of the nation.”
Last year, Biden and his liberal brethren tried
to pooh-pooh the abortion issue by claiming they voted “Catholic”
on issues like the death penalty, immigration, gun-control, and
increasing the minimum wage; none of which are covered by Canon
Law. Said Dick Durbin with a straight face, “Unfortunately, recent
media attention has focused on one or two priorities of the
Catholic Church, while obscuring others.”
It seems all wings of the Democratic Party — while still
officially endorsing the practice of killing infants in
the womb — wish the word “abortion” would simply disappear.
Interviewer Chris Matthews was amazed last week
when DNC Chairman Howard Dean even balked at uttering the
politically-correct term “pro-choice”: “Now, you’re getting
hesitant on the war and hesitant on abortion rights. It’s very hard
to get clarity from your party.”
After seven attempts by Matthews to clarify the party’s
position on abortion, what was Dean’s final response? “A woman and
a family have a right to make up their own minds about their health
care without government interference. That’s our position.”
Abortion as health care and same-sex marriage as a maturation
process. These are precisely the types of euphemistic deceptions
that only widen the gap between Democrats and voters concerned with
so-called social issues.
Meanwhile, back in Kentucky, State Senator and former Democrat
Governor Julian Carroll bravely maintained, “If we define who we
are, the middle class will vote Democratic again.”
They’d better start saying their prayers.
Lisa
Fabrizio is a columnist who hails from Connecticut. You may
write her here.
