Kerry Loses His Faith

TAS ^ | 11/5/2004 | Paul Kengor

[swilhelm73]

It is said that George W. Bush won the 2004 presidential election because of religious voters, especially evangelical Protestants. What is not said is that John F. Kerry lost the election because he failed not only to win religious voters generally but Catholics specifically. Because he lost Catholics -- an amazing fact when one considers that Kerry himself is Catholic -- he lost the race.

Put differently, Catholics voted for the Protestant, George W. Bush, and did so in large part because they agree more with him than Kerry on moral issues, such as abortion, closest to Catholic hearts. Just as Al Gore did not win the Electoral College in 2000 because he couldn't carry his home state of Tennessee, John Kerry failed because he couldn't bring a natural constituency from his own church.

According to CNN's exit poll data, 27% of those who voted on Tuesday were Catholic, which equated to roughly 31 million of 115 million voters. How these Catholics voted is striking: They voted for Bush over Kerry by 51 to 48%. In other words, they mirrored the popular vote to the exact number.

Kerry lost the Catholic vote to Bush by at least a million. A Catholic with a major party nomination should have won the Catholic vote by several million. Another Democratic senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy, once won an extremely close election because he overwhelmingly took the Catholic vote.

The numbers diverge more sharply when one considers devout Catholics compared to those who find their way to church only for weddings and Christmas. Catholics who attend Mass weekly voted for Bush by 55% to 44%.

The breakdown among states is most interesting. Bush remained close to Kerry in Pennsylvania, a state with millions of pro-life Catholic Democrats, which went for Kerry 52 to 48%, because he carried Catholics who go to Mass weekly by 52 to 48%. In New Hampshire, which barely went for Kerry, Bush took Catholics who attend Mass weekly by 63 to 35%.

Most impressive, Catholics played a key role in Florida and Ohio. In Florida, they comprised 28% of voters, and went for Bush 57 to 42%. In Ohio, they made up 26% and went to Bush 55 to 44%. The margin was even wider for Catholics who attend Mass weekly: In Florida, they went to Bush by almost two to one, 66 to 34%, and in Ohio they supported Bush by 65 to 35%.

In fact, Catholics for Bush made it unnecessary to begin counting provisional ballots in Ohio. Ohio Catholics cast 780,000 votes for Bush and 624,000 for Kerry, a difference of 156,000 votes. Compare that to the overall vote difference for all Ohio ballots: which was 136,000. Thus it can be asserted that Kerry lost Ohio, and therefore the election, because he couldn't get the support of people of his own faith in Ohio.

The Catholic vote kept Bush competitive in the liberal East, where the 41% of voters who are Catholic went for the Protestant president by 52 to 47%, and those who attend Mass weekly supported him by 56 to 42%. Bush actually won the Catholic vote in New York by 51 to 48%. Those Catholics were offset by the 12% of New Yorkers who claimed no religion at all; these atheists eagerly voted for Kerry by 78 to 19%. Kerry actually almost lost the Catholic vote in his own liberal home state of Massachusetts, where Catholics gave him the nod by a paltry 50 to 49%.

THE ISSUE BEHIND THIS Catholic snub was abortion. Pro-life Catholics were aghast at the prospect of a Catholic president becoming the greatest champion of legalized abortion ever to step foot in the Oval Office, as Kerry would have been. Kerry could speak all day about how his piety would prompt him to boost the minimum wage. Catholics could care less; they wanted him to defend babies in the womb.

The Democratic Party has ditched pro-life Catholic Democrats (like my grandmother in the mountains of Pennsylvania), pursuing instead the pro-choice feminist driving an SUV through the suburbs of Maryland. In so doing, it has lost the votes of millions of people who long voted Democrat. By bowing before the altar of the feminist church, liberals like John Kerry have ceded a huge constituency. It cost the Democrats the 2004 election, and may do so again in 2008.

Liberals will bellyache about how Karl Rove took the vote by mass-mobilizing evangelical Protestants. What they will not talk about is how they, and a presidential nominee named John F. Kerry, drove both evangelicals and Catholics toward Bush. Kerry did more for Protestant-Catholic unity in America than the churches themselves could accomplish. The fact is that moderate to conservative Catholics had nowhere to go but to George W. Bush.

Liberal Christians like Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi say that Democratic politicians are "faith-filled" people as well; they read the Bible and Matthew's gospel. However, if church-going Democrats want to win the church-going population, the solution is obvious: it's about abortion, stupid -- an answer they do not want to hear. Call us club-carrying troglodytes, but us simple-minded Christians in the hinterland just can't countenance that Jesus would be a champion of legalized abortion. And until Democrats recognize that, they will never win the churchgoers they need to drive them to the White House.

[reg45]

Double Ditto!

[hardhead]

In my opinion, the map does not reflect religious affiliation as much as it reflects those areas that are hard-core 'benefits-oriented' - cities, dense population areas, havens for illegals and others who do not contribute to the system.

[NYer]

Actually, it looks like it is in the Orthodox style. Perhaps it was a gift from Putin. Putin may be a tyrant, but he *is* a believer.

This makes the most sense. It is probably a contemporized version of Our Lady of Kazan. The ikon was found in a garden in 1579 in the city of Kazan and therefore, all copies of the ikon must be painted from that date forward. The original ikon was carried by Prince Pozharsky into battle against the Poles and it began to take on a militantly nationalistic reputation.

(It's a Russian thing.)

Icons began in the Middle East. After the death and resurrection of Christ the new faith spread rapidly throughout the Roman world and the Near East. The stories of the Apostles and early witnesses who had seen and known Christ Himself were eagerly listened to by converts to the new faith. Naturally, people who had seen Christ asked for descriptions of His appearance. At some point people began to create and distribute paintings of Christ.

In early Christian times there were two images of Christ that were more or less standardized. One was of a young, idealized and clean shaven "hero" type. The second was the image we are familiar with today - a man in his late 20's or early 30's with long hair tied at the back, a smooth beard, high forehead, long nose, and dressed in a loose, long robe and cloak.

Christ Pantocrator

Source: Ikons: Windows Into Heaven

[Jaded]

Honestly, if there were more Catholics that practiced actually being Catholic the margin for Bush would have been much greater.

[Fiddlstix]

Good Info
Bump

[m4629]

Kerry way underestimated common sense of the people regardless of their religious affiliation.

God, country, and family.

Kerry has betrayed his God and Catholic Faith on many counts.

He has also betrayed his family, as he left his first wife without an annulment.

Now, you think the people would trust him NOT to betray the nation? Duh.

Interesting thread. Thank you.

[EDINVA]

the OTHER big Catholic loser because of abortion was Tom Daschle. We should never underestimate his loss.

[Paulus Invictus]

It's difficult for me to understand why so many 'good" Catholics voted for pro-abortion Kerry. It appears to me they did not heed their Pope or American bishops. Can someone explain this anomaly to us?

[MegaSilver]

Another Democratic senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy, once won stole an extremely close election because he overwhelmingly took the Catholic vote got Mayor Daley and other cronies to manipulate the count.

[Salvation]

Using the correct colors here --- The areas were supposed to be switched this year but the lamestream media insisted on keeping the red for Republicans.

Here is a link to the correct color maps, and I think we should all start using them on FR.

Use the correct colors, blue=Republican ------- Red=Democrat -- 2004

State and County maps also available on this site.

[26lemoncharlie]

I have expressed my views to the Bishop in thie diocese. I am a Sede Vecante and he knows how I feel about all of the Novus Ordo positions and their buildings.

I do not attend Buildings but have my own at home. Tapes of the Traditional Tridentine Mass are available from various websites that have them available.

[ELS]

Thanks for that link.

[MeekOneGOP]

Thank you.

[pray4liberty]

Thus it can be asserted that Kerry lost Ohio, and therefore the election, because he couldn't get the support of people of his own faith in Ohio.

John Kerry is God in his own mind.

[NYer]

the OTHER big Catholic loser because of abortion was Tom Daschle. We should never underestimate his loss.

Excellent point! Thank you for posting it!

[kittymyrib]

I'm sure the liberal "Christians" voted overwhelmingly for Kerry, but since they are a vanishing species, it doesn't matter.

[bert]

CINO!

[kittymyrib]

Is Salazar, the new senator from CO, one of those CINOs too, who say they are personally against the murder of babies but don't want their faith to stand in the way of the killing? I heard he "shares Kerry's stand on abortion" and was wondering what he told the voters of CO during the campaign.