Wednesday, May 28, 2008

LA Slimes Columnist Defends Sebelius Against Bob Novak Op/Ed; Calls Opus Dei "Sinister" Organization with Fascist Ties

(Hat tip: Custos Fidei)

We've already noted it before, but boy, are the donks REALLY angry over the increasing unlikelihood that Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius will be of use to them in winning over the Catholic vote as Obama's running mate. Witness this hit piece in today's Los Angeles Slimes:
... Now, because of Sen. Barack Obama's perceived problems with blue-collar Catholic voters in the late Democratic primaries, some on the right think they see an opportunity to hammer once more on the abortion wedge. Their most public target is Kansas' second-term governor, Kathleen Sebelius, who many believe is the front-runner for the vice presidential slot if Obama secures the nomination.

Sebelius would help the Illinois senator in several obvious ways -- she's a woman, a Catholic and a Democratic officeholder who has successfully reached across the aisle to make strong Republican allies in a deeply red state.

***
Recently, however, she has run afoul of Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas. As the Catholic News Service reported earlier this month, the bishop has told the governor that she "should stop receiving Communion until she publicly repudiates her support of abortion and makes a 'worthy sacramental confession.' "

***
Now there's about as nasty and as utterly avoidable a church-state confrontation as you're likely to see.

That's probably why it was gleefully seized on this week by redoubtable right-wing hit man Robert Novak, who denounced Sebelius in a column titled "A Pro-Choicer's Dream Veep." In the column published in the Washington Post, Novak asserted that Sebelius' "positions are necessary for Democratic politicians to pass their party's pro-choice litmus test, but Sebelius' connection with abortion is more intimate. ... There is substantial evidence she has been involved in what pro-life advocates term 'laundering' abortion industry money for distribution to Kansas Democrats."

The source of those allegations?

Operation Rescue.

***
But hey, guilt by association is fun to play -- and almost nobody is as practiced at it as Novak -- so why not take it in a different direction? Novak is a relatively recent convert to Catholicism, and the priest who helped him into the church is Father C. John McCloskey, who also has been instrumental in obtaining the conversions of, among others, Alfred Regnery, the country's foremost publisher of extreme right-wing literature; Lewis Lehrman, the former New York gubernatorial candidate and conservative think-tank impresario; former GOP presidential hopeful Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas; and economist and CNBC host Lawrence Kudlow.

McCloskey also happens to be a priest of the ultra-conservative and secretive -- some would say sinister -- Catholic organization Opus Dei. You don't have to buy into Dan Brown's preposterous caricature of Opus Dei in "The Da Vinci Code" to know that it really never has fallen all that far from its roots in Francisco Franco's Spain.

So, does that make Novak's rhetorical shivving of Sebelius part of a right-wing plot to bring the United States under the sway of neo-fascist clericism?


[More]
(emphasis added)

My Comments:
By the way, here are some photos posted by Operation Rescue of Sebelius with infamous late-term abortionist George Tiller:



Yeah, these photos, coupled with Archbishop Naumann's telling Sebelius to refrain from receiving Communion, ought to pretty much end the Obama camp's hopes of making Sebelius his running mate ... at least if they're serious about winning the Catholic vote.

And THAT is why the donks are mad enough to engage in the sort of Catholic-baiting nonsense like attacking certain Bishops as part of a right-wing cabal and labeling Opus Dei as a "sinister" organization with ties to fascism.


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Robert Novak on the Possibility of Sebelius as Obama's Running Mate: "A Vice President for Abortion"

Q and A With Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann

Bill Donohue: "Catholic Left Hangs Itself"

Archbishop Chaput: Thoughts on “Roman Catholics for Obama ’08”

"Catholic Democrats" Attack "Registered Republican Archbishop of Kansas City" for "Using Communion" to "Take Down" Sebelius

"Scandalous"

Archbishop Naumann to Kansas Gov. Sebelius: Stop Taking Communion, Publicly Apologize [UPDATED]

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8 Comments:

At 5/29/2008 5:55 AM, Blogger Rick Lugari said...

...to know that it [O.D.] really never has fallen all that far from its roots in Francisco Franco's Spain.

And that is supposed to be a slam?

Yeah, these photos, coupled with Archbishop Naumann's telling Sebelius to refrain from receiving Communion, ought to pretty much end the Obama camp's hopes of making Sebelius his running mate ... at least if they're serious about winning the Catholic vote.

I don't think so - well, maybe the Obama camp may perceive it as dashing their greatest hope for the Catholic vote - but the reality is that the type of Catholic who is likely to vote for someone like Sebelius is already the type who would vote for Obama. There's no real moral distinction between the two.

We've already read a number of Catholics fawning over the ObamaMassiah, somehow I don't think they will change their mind because his running mate ran afoul of her bishop or that she was photographed with a poster child for the Culture of Death. I mean, Tiller may do the dirtywork, but Obama supports his deeds 101% and will do everything in his power (and maybe more) to allow Tiller to continue.

 
At 5/29/2008 8:09 AM, Blogger Pro Ecclesia said...

But Obama's not Catholic. What made John Kerry so unpalatable to many Catholics (as witnessed by Bush winning the Catholic vote in 2004 after losing it to Gore in 2000) is the very fact that he was Catholic but bucked the teachings of his Church.

I think many Catholics who are considering a vote for Obama out of concerns over things like the war and in spite of his record on abortion, might have some pause about supporting a ticket with a Catholic who is in open opposition to her Bishop and in bed with one of the most notorious abortionists in business.

 
At 5/29/2008 8:19 AM, Blogger Pro Ecclesia said...

There's a SurveyUSA poll out showing that adding Sebelius to the ticket actually HURTS Obama in Pennsylvania. We know it's not sexism since Hillary would win PA in a landslide were she the nominee.

Has the news gotten out to the Catholics there in PA about her Bishop telling her to refrain from Communion?

 
At 5/29/2008 8:36 AM, Blogger Tito Edwards said...

The LAT article is a juvenile rant and slander. It's amazing what type of credentials one needs to get a job in such an 'esteemed' paper as the LA Times.

 
At 5/29/2008 8:42 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mr. Anderson,

My name is Steve. I'm a 24-year-old Catholic in Madison, WI.

Fr. McCloskey was my spiritual director last summer. I'm always intrigued to see him slammed in the press because the depictions of him don't even resemble anything remotely linked to reality.

He's a calm, gentle man who was willing to make time for a bum like me at the drop of a hat when I was doubting my faith. He encouraged me to explore my doubts because he knew if I did so with an open heart I would only find the Truth. (He might also be the smartest man I've ever met.)

As someone who's spent time with him, I can say with full confidence that the only way to paint him as some sort of evil, shadowy figure is to have one'sr mind made up in advance. (I guess this is why we call satan the prince of lies.)

Keep up the good work.

Steve

 
At 5/29/2008 12:23 PM, Blogger Rick Lugari said...

...is the very fact that he was Catholic but bucked the teachings of his Church.

But do we really know that is why he lost some Gore Catholics? I'm not so sure given that many Catholics still voted for him in the Presidential election and that he and Kennedy are continually elected to the Senate in large part by Catholics. Perhaps other factor weighed into Kerry's slip in the Catholic count (i.e. his constant flipping and lying, a perception of Bush still being preferable, or possibly that the Catholic vote as a whole is gradually becoming a little more consistent on life issues). I just can't see Catholics who overlook the fundamental life issues like abortion when voting being too terribly concerned about a candidates "bad Catholic" perception - in fact many Catholics on the left consider such episcopal actions to be nothing but partisan abuses (much like the author of does).

 
At 5/29/2008 1:24 PM, Blogger Terry said...

McCloskey also happens to be a priest of the ultra-conservative and secretive -- some would say sinister -- Catholic organization Opus Dei. You don't have to buy into Dan Brown's preposterous caricature of Opus Dei in "The Da Vinci Code" to know that it really never has fallen all that far from its roots in Francisco Franco's Spain.

Scott Hahn's a Carlist? Who knew?

 
At 5/29/2008 4:42 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Secret party in honour of an abortionist?

Don't forget that she's "personally opposed."

 

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