Steven P. BarrettEVANGELICAL PRO-LIFERS TO TAKE ON PRO-ABORTS ON DEM PARTY PLATFORM PLANK
August 5th 2008 15:17
By Steven Barrett
Here's a rarity for you: Jim Wallis and Tony Campolo, two prominent liberal evangelical Protestant ministers will be going to plead for the unborn during the Democratic Party's Convention Platform Hearings -- and they'll be going up against two every ex-catholic women who remain quite prominent in the abortion rights movement: National Abortion Rights Action League Pro-Choice America's (NARAL) Kate Michelman, and retired head of Catholics for a Free Choice, Frances Kissling.
At one time, the Democrats used to be THE party for the "little guy." No longer -- well, at least insofar as the Hollywood/Academia Democrats running the party into an ideologically-based sewer are concerned. They don't see where they're taking the party so I'm sure they and their staunchest advocates will think I'm being unbearably harsh here. Hell, I haven't even warmed up yet. But I'll save that for another moment.
Michelman and Kissling are quite upset that two erstwhile very liberal and prominent evangelical ministers like Wallis and Compolo would be so brash to ruin their party's party and coronation of its most radical pro-abortion candidate yet to be nominated. In a recent article they co-wrote for Salon.com, these two renegade and very small-c "catholics" admitted the Party's married at the hip approach towards abortion is hurting them:
Spare us the croccodile tears you're shedding for Hillary, ladies. You had your butcher knives shoved down her back long before writing this alarmist epistle. Then aiming their guns at Wallis, they keep crabbing:
Of course, Wallis' aide was probably stalling for time before the Denver convention so at least could get there before having their credentials removed ahead of time and get Casey'd. (Oh, how could I forget ... the late Pennsylvania Pro -Life, albeit strong pro-labor lunchbucket liberal Governor and father of yet another ambitious junior first-term U.S. Senator, William Casey of Pennyslvania -- who's backing Obama to the hilt.) The elder Casey was prevented from even speaking to the 1992 Democratic Convention in New York. It's neither disengenuous or sneaky to back off in a vague way when you know that the other side is clearly disambiguous when it comes to pulling every low blow tactic it can to defend its indefensible war against the weakest and most defenseless people of all: unborn children.
Wallis and Campolo don't expect to win. But they're no fools when it comes to knowing the Democrats will do whatever they can to to keep them ashore to prevent the Party from continually playing Blackbeard for making the reverends "walk the plankl" for trying to (even reduce, if not stop) legalized baby killing on pro-aborts' long bloody watch.
Really Long Link
If "reducing the need for abortion is sound policy" and they've spent so much time doing so, then why is it so important to have it? That's like saying reducing alcoholism makes sense but telling problem drinkers to only drink half as much. You can't have it both ways, at least not when the issue touches on moral grounds.
This is where the fun begins. (If slavery been argued solely along economic lines nobody knows when it would've been abolished. Anybody who says slavery wasn't economical never examined the enormous profitability behind it, (especially where the major factory-like cotton plantations located on the Mississippi Delta were concerned.)
NARAL, Catholics For Free Choice (CFFC) and the National Organization of Women (NOW) have even bigger problems than the slavers: They have the blood of millions and millions of unborn babies -- human children -- on their blood sotted "consciences" to reckon with. Don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen.
How clever. These women hold out the carrot of the Democratic Party's historic committment to social safety net programs, which, arguably have helped reduce the number of abortions, beginning during the Clinton years, oddly enough. BUT -- and this is a major "BUT" -- they keep that stick close by and it's a 2 x 4. Conjuring up a possible Obama sit-down session with Wallis and Campolo, these old and tired femi-warrior women pulled this ragged argument out for a test ride:
After ripping into Wallis for his (religiously-grounded) views on contraception, they have the gall to goad him into joining Obama on "family planning"? Perhaps because Michelman and Kissling are among the nation's most virulent anti-catholic bigots, take offense at the idea of any minister -- much less an evangelical Protestant, no less, minister -- approaching their new church, the radicalized Democratic Party elite at prayer, they just had to let all hell break loose before the rodeo opens in Colorado. Cultural catholicism or any "ism" that speaks louder than the Faith it's supposed to more fully emulate in spiritual terms) always seems to reek from such people who use their old church as some form of ID tag to give them access to where they don't belong long after they've handed in their papers.
Thanks to such "cultural catholics" -- it's damn nigh impossible for any Catholic who takes his or her Church and its teachings seriously -- to participate in the Democratic Party as it's presently constituted today. So we're happy to have friends and allies wherever and whenever we can find them. Probably THIS is what sticks deeper in their craws. Let it.
For more on this story, take a look at this interesting article by Steven Waldman in the Wall Street Journal: Really Long Link
Jim Wallis
Tony Campolo
Kate Michaelman
Frances Kissling
Michelman and Kissling are quite upset that two erstwhile very liberal and prominent evangelical ministers like Wallis and Compolo would be so brash to ruin their party's party and coronation of its most radical pro-abortion candidate yet to be nominated. In a recent article they co-wrote for Salon.com, these two renegade and very small-c "catholics" admitted the Party's married at the hip approach towards abortion is hurting them:
Suddenly, almost unexpectedly, with many Democratic women restless and anxious, the concerns of women are once again important. So far the party's strategy in dealing with disaffected Clinton supporters, in particular, involves focusing on women's understandable fears that a John McCain administration would limit abortion rights and even overturn Roe v. Wade, and promising that Democrats will clearly do better.
Spare us the croccodile tears you're shedding for Hillary, ladies. You had your butcher knives shoved down her back long before writing this alarmist epistle. Then aiming their guns at Wallis, they keep crabbing:
That's why it's so remarkable that in recent weeks, Democrats, including Sojourners founder Jim Wallis, have suggested that the party may need to take another crack at tempering its strong platform support for abortion rights by making "abortion reduction ... a central Democratic Party plank in this election." In a recent interview with ABC News, Wallis said he planned to talk to his "good friend" Barack Obama about an abortion reduction plank, and said he had discussed the idea with party chairman Howard Dean and had the support of at least one member of the Platform Committee, the Rev. Tony Campolo. "Abortion reduction should be a central Democratic Party plank in this election," Wallis told ABC News. "I'll just say that flat out."
While a Wallis spokesperson quickly backpedaled and said Wallis was "not actively campaigning" for an abortion reduction plank, the idea of a Democratic "third way" on abortion is bound to come up again. This time around, party officials and Democratic candidates will be well advised to tread carefully.
While a Wallis spokesperson quickly backpedaled and said Wallis was "not actively campaigning" for an abortion reduction plank, the idea of a Democratic "third way" on abortion is bound to come up again. This time around, party officials and Democratic candidates will be well advised to tread carefully.
Of course, Wallis' aide was probably stalling for time before the Denver convention so at least could get there before having their credentials removed ahead of time and get Casey'd. (Oh, how could I forget ... the late Pennsylvania Pro -Life, albeit strong pro-labor lunchbucket liberal Governor and father of yet another ambitious junior first-term U.S. Senator, William Casey of Pennyslvania -- who's backing Obama to the hilt.) The elder Casey was prevented from even speaking to the 1992 Democratic Convention in New York. It's neither disengenuous or sneaky to back off in a vague way when you know that the other side is clearly disambiguous when it comes to pulling every low blow tactic it can to defend its indefensible war against the weakest and most defenseless people of all: unborn children.
Wallis and Campolo don't expect to win. But they're no fools when it comes to knowing the Democrats will do whatever they can to to keep them ashore to prevent the Party from continually playing Blackbeard for making the reverends "walk the plankl" for trying to (even reduce, if not stop) legalized baby killing on pro-aborts' long bloody watch.
Let us be clear: Reducing the need for abortion is sound policy, and we have both worked in our careers to do so. The pro-choice movement has been promoting such an agenda for the better part of two decades -- often, and ironically, over the opposition of the very people who now claim to espouse it. In fact, Sojourners, the organization headed by Wallis, does not include contraception as part of its abortion reduction strategy, and Democrats for Life, the political group most vocal about abortion reduction, refused to endorse the family-planning provisions of the bill it initiated, "Reducing the Need for Abortion Initiative," also known as the Ryan-DeLauro bill.
Really Long Link
If "reducing the need for abortion is sound policy" and they've spent so much time doing so, then why is it so important to have it? That's like saying reducing alcoholism makes sense but telling problem drinkers to only drink half as much. You can't have it both ways, at least not when the issue touches on moral grounds.
This is where the fun begins. (If slavery been argued solely along economic lines nobody knows when it would've been abolished. Anybody who says slavery wasn't economical never examined the enormous profitability behind it, (especially where the major factory-like cotton plantations located on the Mississippi Delta were concerned.)
NARAL, Catholics For Free Choice (CFFC) and the National Organization of Women (NOW) have even bigger problems than the slavers: They have the blood of millions and millions of unborn babies -- human children -- on their blood sotted "consciences" to reckon with. Don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen.
How clever. These women hold out the carrot of the Democratic Party's historic committment to social safety net programs, which, arguably have helped reduce the number of abortions, beginning during the Clinton years, oddly enough. BUT -- and this is a major "BUT" -- they keep that stick close by and it's a 2 x 4. Conjuring up a possible Obama sit-down session with Wallis and Campolo, these old and tired femi-warrior women pulled this ragged argument out for a test ride:
Sen. Obama will also have opportunities to show leadership. If and when Wallis approaches him to talk about abortion reduction, Obama should point him to the record of the Democratic Party on preventing pregnancy, honoring a woman's right to choose and supporting women who need economic help in raising children. That's worthy of praise, not criticism. He could call on Wallis to become a supporter of family planning for all women, and to defend the progress women have made on their journey to full and equal rights.
After ripping into Wallis for his (religiously-grounded) views on contraception, they have the gall to goad him into joining Obama on "family planning"? Perhaps because Michelman and Kissling are among the nation's most virulent anti-catholic bigots, take offense at the idea of any minister -- much less an evangelical Protestant, no less, minister -- approaching their new church, the radicalized Democratic Party elite at prayer, they just had to let all hell break loose before the rodeo opens in Colorado. Cultural catholicism or any "ism" that speaks louder than the Faith it's supposed to more fully emulate in spiritual terms) always seems to reek from such people who use their old church as some form of ID tag to give them access to where they don't belong long after they've handed in their papers.
Thanks to such "cultural catholics" -- it's damn nigh impossible for any Catholic who takes his or her Church and its teachings seriously -- to participate in the Democratic Party as it's presently constituted today. So we're happy to have friends and allies wherever and whenever we can find them. Probably THIS is what sticks deeper in their craws. Let it.
For more on this story, take a look at this interesting article by Steven Waldman in the Wall Street Journal: Really Long Link
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Comment by Anonymous
One friend and former co-worker said the Dems in Mass are just too used to pulling the tail of the jackass and don't know any better. Have to admit it's true becauus so many of them DON"T think until it's too late.