Monday, August 25, 2008
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George Weigel On The Pelosi Deception
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Posted by:
Hugh Hewitt at
10:08 PM
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From George Weigel, biographer of John Paul II and Benedict XVI, one of the most prominent Catholic public intellectuals:
In her "Meet the Press" appearance Aug. 24, Pelosi was asked by Tom Brokaw whether she agreed with Senator Obama's statements on abortion at Saddleback. Pelosi, declaring herself an "ardent, practicing Catholic," told Brokaw that "this is an issue that I have studied for a long time"—and then got herself into a deep muddle, in which she seemed to confuse St. Augustine with St. Thomas Aquinas (neither of whom, in any case, knew anything about modern embryology); misrepresented the settled (and scientifically informed) judgment of the Catholic Church on when life begins by declaring it an open question, and concluded by suggesting that none of this really makes a difference, because what the scientists, theologians, and philosophers say "... shouldn't have an impact on a the woman's right to choose." The Speaker then misrepresented the legal impact of Roe v. Wade, arguing that the Supreme Court hadn't created a right to "abortion on demand"—which will come as news to those on both sides of the ongoing debates over partial-birth abortion and other late-term abortion procedures, parental- and spousal-notifications laws and regulatory oversight of abortion clinics.
Be sure to read the entire piece.
Pelosi's Meet the Press deception has triggered unprecedented, forceful responses from the American Roman Catholic hierarchy.
Has even one member of the MSM asked the Speaker for a response, a clarification, or an apology?
The attention Pelosi triggered on the abortion rights radicalism of her party is a gift to the pro-life cause, just as Obama's stunningly stupid decision to bring up Ayers (HT: RobinsonandLong.com) is a gift to people concerned that the extent of Obama's ties to the unrepentant terrorist receive full review by the voters.
The Pelosi abortion deception and the attempt by Obama to downplay his long and significant association with Ayers are both attempts to head-fake the electorate in an era when such blatant evasions will not fly. Inside the Pepsi Center they may be unaware of the fact that both the nominee and the Speaker have stepped in it, and the MSM may be helping to keep the Dems misinformed.
But big lies don't work in the age of new media. The Dems big week is off to an awful start.
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I don't know Hugh. I'm thinking "The One" is an idiot savant after this past weekend. I used to give him credit for being an unfilled suit versus an empty one, but I beginning to think he's most definitely the latter. To follow-up selecting Joe Biden, whom no one outside liberal circles thinks is very smart, to drawing attention to Bill Ayers, welll.... There's shooting oneself in the foot, and then there's shooting off a VERY sensitive body part fumbling to get the gun out of the hip holster if you get my drift... |
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I haven't heard this emphasized:
She says: ". . .none of this really makes a difference, because what the scientists, theologians, and philosophers say "... shouldn't have an impact on a the woman's right to choose."
Misrepresenting the teachings of the Catholic Church strikes me as really diabolical. . .but she seems to be saying that regardless, it shouldn't matter. Woman's right to kill her unborn baby trumps everything. This needs to be discussed as well. |
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Did we have some sidearm issues when we were active duty....? :-) |
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HA! Nope. All equipment functioning as designed! |
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Who's signing the fitreps these days....? :-) |
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...if the untruth teller is smart enough to know better. I think that Nancy, although she grew up in Baltimore and now lives in San Francisco, just might be a Steeler fan. |
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I think it's one of the great ironies of modern political history that a person who sticks her foot in her mouth and makes herself seem a total idiot every time she speaks should have been awarded a title/position with the designation of "speaker" in it!
I've recently been looking for the quote, but haven't found it, where Pelosi said that the Iraq invasion (which she typified as something like 'an invasion of a sovereign nation not at war with us') was unprecedented in all of American history. My first, shocked, reaction was to wonder if this "representative of the people" had never heard of Tripoli, Philippines, Cuba, WWI, Granada, Somalia, ....
But then, she's not the first politician (of either party, unfortunately) to "get the facts wrong" (aka "lie"?, aka "being dumb"?). But she and Biden seem to be vying for the championship. |
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Hillary 2012!!
Hillary 2012!!
Hillary 2012!!
Hillary 2012!! |
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I think you're spot on. Ms. Pelosi's statement is just plain evil, in the sense of trying to overthrow Religion and God is evil.
These people are not religious out of conviction, but out of convenience. It gives them another way to appear like everyone else, but the appearance is intended as a deception.
There are only two kinds of government in the world: legitimate and illegitimate. Legitimate statesmen do not need to deceive people to attract their votes. In fact, they would never engage in such wickedness. |
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As I said earlier, what Nancy Pelosi said seems to be very close to what I remember learning my senior year at the Catholic school that I went to, essentially that Church doctrine has not always been what it is now concerning abortion.
I know it was a long, long, time ago, but it did leave an impression on me. |
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Maybe they'll invite Al Franken to talk about whether we should actually be paying the taxes they impose on us? |
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played like a banjo during the Fall Campaign. Does anyone--ANYONE--think that a KKK bomber in McCain's past wouldn't be hounded daily by our hard-working, diligent press punks? Thank you, Ayers, you slime-sucking seditionist worm, for having the unrepentant arrogance to pose for the cover of Chicago Magazine standing on Old Glory--in Wartime. Get used to that dandy color photo, Dems. You'll be seeing thousands of times on Repub 527 ads this Fall. Promise. |
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As a Christian I have been taught that there is a time when I will stand before Christ and be judged. (Judgement seat of Christ) At that time I will account for my actions. Abortion is the worst moral failing our country has ever permitted. Can you imagine the conversation pro-choice politicians will have at that moment. God I know what you said but the polls...
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Just a followup thought. Does ANYONE honestly believe--for even one second--that, had McCain launched his political career from the living room of a former--yet UNREPENTANT--KKK Grand PooBah, and kept associating with same for years thereafter, that the MSM Press wouldn't be camped on that KKKers doorstep, 24/7..?????
OR, does ANYONE honestly believe, that McCain would have had ANY political career IF he'd done the above?
No wonder newspaper revenues are dropping like an anchor! NOBODY believes their act anymore. Shameful. |
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A love of Obama, hatred of the US, a total historical illiteracy, and a free pass in the press. |
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mistake in going hard after Pelosi on abortion during this election. All you are going to do is motivate the feminist Hillary Clinton voters to fort up with the Obama voters, and circle the wagons, and then elect the most pro-abortion President in the history of this republic.
Not only will you force the Dems to unite, but you will also alienate the independent swing voters too, of whom a consistent majority has been pro choice ever since Roe v. Wade was decided. Polls consistently show also that abortion overall is a very low priority compared to other issues of the day (defense, taxes, gov't regulation, etc.), according to the reliable polling organizations like Gallup and Pew.
Therefore, the less said about abortion in this election the better.
I guess it depends upon what your goals and expectations are ... if you just want to make a lot of noise about your pet issue, but don't really care if pro abortion politicians get elected and cause many more actual abortions to take place, then by all means, keep shooting your mouths off about this Pelosi abortion thing.
On the other hand, if you want to elect a Republican pro life President, and maybe give him enough Senators to filibuster Dem attempts to promote abortions and surrender to the rest of the world, then maybe you oughta pipe down.
But in the meantime I am going to be very PO'd at you if you cause my Commander in Chief candidate to go down to flaming defeat because you managed to singlehandedly unite a fractious Dem party.
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worry. It's not going to be stressed compared to the other BIG issues. I agree that pounding them non-stop on the abortion thing profits us nil. I know McCain's camp won't and the Repub 527s won't as opposed to..say...Billy & Sweet Bernardine Ayers. And, Bammy's Defeatism, Pacifism, Far-Left opinions on nanny stating our preschoolers, Socialist Medicine, etc. |
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assurances, but with all due respect, I don't.
The average voter votes his or her feelings, and doesn't go through a twenty-item issues checklist in the voting booth when picking a President. Most elections turn on the average voter's overall feelings about and trust toward a candidate and the party, period.
If the Catholic theocrats turn this election into an abortion rights referendum, and thus make this election look like a blatant Republican attempt to impose Roman Catholic teachings on the United States of America (by stripping away a woman's right to govern her own body and make very personal choices about her own family), then "say hello" to permanent Democrat dominance.
If the rabid Roman Catholic pro lifers like Hewitt and the NROniks are successful in their never-ending quest to turn the Republican Party into the Roman Catholic Encyclical Pro Life Party, then we can kiss our Republican as*ses goodbye as a governing majority.
I have nothing against Catholics, or pro lifers per se - to each their own. But I really resent their acting like they now own the Republican Party, and their constant threats to take their damn balls and go home if anyone dares challenge their Roman Catholic orthodoxy (i.e., their recent ranting about "how dare John McCain even consider a pro choice VP!!").
All theocrats are to be mistrusted with our government - it doesn't matter if the theology involved is Roman Catholic or Mormon, Southern Baptist, Scientologist, or Wahhabist Muslim ... it's all the same crap that's intended by the theocrat to shove the personal beliefs of a minority down the throats of the non-believing majority.
We are a constitutional Republic founded upon, among other notions, the doctrine of separation of Church and State. |
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We'll just cordially disagree on this one. I'm one of those Old School guys who've always--until recent years--been mildly pro-abortion. I can well remember the fear that girls used to go through, when unmarried, about whether to get a $500 illegal abortion from a quietly cooperative physician. Friends and contemporaries of mine in college and grad school. That said, I've lived long enough to regret my first wife's legal abortions('therapeutic aborts' in California in the early 70s)and the knowledge that, at 64, I have no natural child or grandchild. I'm neither a Catholic nor an Evangelical nor a churchgoer, though I respect and honor them all. It ain't just a religious issue at all. Technology can now measure heartbeats at 10-days in a fetus...and, brainwaves not long after that. I don't know of any physiology prof claiming that isn't human life.
That said, I would not have a problem with Rudy Guliani as Veep. I enthusiastically supported him, then Mitt. Not Juan until he got the delegates. |
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That either this woman is too stupid to understand clear Catholic Doctrine on this issue or she's lying.
Either way, she's clearly unqualified to be Speaker of the House or to serve in Congress.
Shouldn't you have to demonstrate SOME semblance of mental competence and also have to tell the truth at least SOME of the time, to serve in an office where you can force people to live according to what you legislate?
It's been a low bar for years, but Pelosi can't even make it over a bar that's sitting on the floor. Pelosi's pathetic. |
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or anyone else on abortion per se.
I am disagreeing with the campaign by the religious right - which is predominantly Roman Catholic, but also features some evangelical Christians as well - on foisting their RELIGIOUS beliefs on all people, regardless of individual religious belief.
The whole point of the post to which we are responding (actually, a series of four straight posts by host Hewitt) is Hewitt's touting of a religious (i.e, Roman Catholic) fight with Pelosi over US abortion law and Catholic doctrine.
Hewitt's abortion rants are not and should not be a POLITICAL issue or discussion - this discussion belongs strictly to religious media, not political media designed to affect who governs our nation.
Most American voters couldn't care less what the Roman Catholic Church and its leaders and deep thinkers say one way or the other about the legal rights of American citizens under the US Constitution. That issue was settled 221 years ago when our Constitution was ratified. The separation of Church and State was the specific reaction of our Founders to the horror of thousands of years of violent religious warfare and persecution between Catholics and Protestants, and between Muslims and Christians and Hindus, etc. etc.
As to the particulars of abortion policy, I will not debate you or anybody else about what is in fact a matter of personal choice, and not a matter fit for governmental interference. Legalized abortion, under certain restrictions, is the law of the land in the USA, and shall remain the law of the land unless and until the theocrats take over and impose their religious will upon the rest of us.
With all due respect, I don't need to be told "take it easy", because defense of our constitutional secular democracy is nothing to take easy, ever.
Just ask all those unfortunates who have lived and suffered and died in non-secular theocracies around the world just how easy they should have taken it.
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Promise I wasn't being patronizing. (*Though, now, it's darn tempting. :-)
Roe V. Wade WRONGLY made abortion a Privacy Issue. If McCain is elected, I'm guessing we'll see Roe overturned with one more Justice on SCOTUS. It is NOT Theocratic. It's BAD Law. It'll be tossed to the states, where it always should have been, and some will legalize it and some won't. Ba-Da-Bing. GOOD Law. |
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Lied on Catholic teaching,
has nothing to do with pro-lifer going hard on her.
It is what the Catholic Church teaches on Human Rights of a person, and Mrs. Pelosi, completely lied on behalf of the Church and she should be corrected. |
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Bingo, MaryStella!
Myth: Clinton was impeached for having sex with an intern (and btw, impeached by people no less guilty).
Truth: Clinton (no matter how reprehensible his "morality") was impeached for lying under oath and thus violating law.
Myth: Pelosi's sin on "Meet the Press" was to support "Right to Choose".
Truth: Pelosi's sin was to combine her declaration of being a strong Roman Catholic with an inaccurate statement of the church's official position on abortion.
Myth: Any criticism of Obama is racism.
Truth: Any representation by a Daley Machine hack that he's going to change the status quo in any way is just plain hard to believe.
Myth: The Republicans are wealthy people catering to the wealthy at the cost of the middle class, whereas the Democrats are "just plain folk" who will stick it to the rich (who deserve to be stuck).
Truth: Show me one "regular person" in power in either party! Just plain, middle-class folk like the Kennedys, Mr. Maria Heinz, the Clintons (even before their book sales), "good ol' boy" Carter (wealthy agri-businessman and nuclear scientist), and so on, and they're going to "soak the rich"?! I don't think so!
And we could go on.
Rule #1 when you're in the wrong: Change the subject. |
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