Posted on 04/12/2008 6:13:13 AM PDT by rhema
Pro-abortion Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is expected to announce the formation of a Catholic Advisory Council today that he will likely use to try to make inroads among pro-life Catholic voters.
However, whether Obama's position in favor of unlimited abortions funded with taxpayer dollars goes over with Catholic voters is another question.
Senator Bob Casey and former Congressman Tim Roemer will participate in the Friday afternoon conference call to announce the formation of the advisory group.
The participation and leadership of the two pro-life politicians is an obvious clue that Obama wants to siphon some of the pro-life Catholic vote away from eventual Republican nominee John McCain.
"Obama has two high profile pro-lifers in prominent roles on this Council," CBN News correspondent David Brody observes.
"[They] have taken flack from the Democratic Party in the past because they are not pro-choice. The Obama campaign is clearly trying to send a message," he explains. "They want Catholics and evangelicals to know that while Obama may be pro-choice, the pro-life point of view is not going to be so easily discounted."
The timing of the announcement of the Catholic advisory group comes just before a weekend debate at Messiah College in Pennsylvania featuring Obama and Hillary Clinton that will focus on faith issues.
For his part, John McCain has already received the endorsement of pro-life Catholic stalwarts and has his own Catholic outreach group.
In mid-March, McCain released a list of more than 100 prominent Catholic pro-life advocates who have endorsed his campaign.
The list includes Dr. Jack Willke, the former president and founder of the National Right to Life Committee and Dominos Pizza and Ave Maria University founder Tom Monaghan.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, the head of the Susan B. Anthony List, a top pro-life political group, has endorsed McCain as has her husband Martin Dannenfelser, a former Family Research Council vice president.
Austin Ruse, president of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, and Cathy Ruse, the former pro-life spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops are McCain supporters as well.
Sen. Sam Brownback heads up the Catholics for McCain effort and he said the long list of pro-life advocates supporting the Arizona senator is a result of his support for "faith, freedom, and families."
"Committed to the protection of innocent human life, he is a leader Catholics will be proud to support," Brownback said.
"John McCain knows from experience what it means when a society tramples on the truth of the value of the human person. He is committed to defending the dignity and value of every person, regardless of their status," Brownback added.
Meanwhile, Wendy Wright, the president of Concerned Women for America, tells LifeNews.com that Obama can't expect to get the votes of pro-life advocates just because a handful of Catholics endorse him.
“Pro-lifers have learned from painful past experience not to assume or expect that a candidate will be faithful to his – or his endorsers’ – religious affiliations," she told LifeNews.com. "Our litmus test is: Show us the beef. What is the candidate’s record?”
“but those who take the Church’s teachings seriously”
the key phrase. I wonder what the ratio is between those catholics who pay attention, and to those who don’t.
thanks for the warning.
My 1 yr. old has taken to moving chairs so he can climb to places he doesn’t belong and get himself into alot of trouble.
I’ve been referring to him as the “chimp”
“The REAL returns started to come in and they had to ignore the talking points they’d received from the DNC offices.”
Didn’t they also report early-in-the-day exit polling as decisive proof of democrat victory as well?
Didn’t bother to wait for working folks to finish their work day before they voted.
Yes.
To be fair—not any ACTUAL pro-life Catholics. Just the millions who have always voted for pro-abortion Democrats.
He can procure some prolife Catholic votes because a lot of voters do not know that he backs abortions in all circumstances. It’s just a lack of being informed by the hapless Catholics (and Protestants too).
Sadly, speaking as a Catholic, I would say it's about 50/50. That's speaking off the top of my head. The habit of voting democrat is almost in their genes. It comes from a mixture of feeling like outsiders and feeling "ethnically loyal." An old Hungarian fellow who fled from Hungary in '56 and has lived in the U.S. since once told me that he tried to talk to some of the oldsters at his parish about pro-life candidates and Church teachings, and one of them said, "I've voted democrat all my life, so don't go confusing me with facts!" It was meant to be a little tongue and cheek, but there is a lot of truth to it.
I am praying that Pope Benedict's visit will have some effect. I'm praying that he will say something like, "Yes, Catholics really are morally obligated to find out the facts and support pro-life candidates. There are no exceptions when it comes to abortion."
The good news is, the really committed Catholics--those who practice their faith seriously--are likely to vote, and vote heavily for pro-life candidates. That almost always means republicans.
In any case, pro-life Catholics already know where Obama stands on these issues. He doesn't have the proverbial "snow-ball's chance" with them. In fact, the notion of reaching out to voters with whom he has ABSOLUTELY NO COMMON GROUND on these issues is either delusional or a piece of effrontery.
If he wants to waste his time and money on trying to persuade them on non-negotiables, let him. The naivete and sillyness of this effort is breathtaking. The man is in way over his head.
Obama's had a tough week. He's showing that he's as tin-eared as Hillary. I wonder how long it will take Hillary to fumble away her advantages again? It's like watching a football game where neither side really wants to win.
?
What is that supposed to mean?
Catholics are forbidden to support abortion or pro-choice policies so the Obamists can go jump in a lake.
This, coming from the POS who’s in favor of infanticide?
If I said what I really want to say, I’d be banned.
Nothing, really. It's so semantically nuanced and neutered that it promises nothing, and Obama will deliver exactly that: nothing.
I vote for the pairing of the adjective and the noun: delusional effrontery.
There is NO way that any PRACTICING Catholic can support Senator Obama for president.
The sad part is that he got two allegedly pro-life Catholic congresmen to go aloing with this charade. Even sadder is that the Bishops dont step in and admonish these two.
Some say it would be better for him to win because he'll be ineffective. I don't know. There's an old saying that goes, "More evil comes into the world throught stupidity than malign intent." I don't know who would be more inept: Hillary or Obama.
Sadly, I see a lot of Obama and Hillary bumper stickers in the parking lot at my wife's parish. Many local Catholics I have talked to say "Well, he CARES about the Poor so I can over look his pro choice stand." Every once in a while I ask who is more poor than an unborn child.
Still, it would be great if it happened.
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