Disturbed people sometimes take refuge in self-harm and this is becoming a characteristic of the Democrats in the presidential campaign.Joe Biden's astonishing observation re Hillary Clinton that "quite frankly, it might have been a better pick than me" was only the overture.
One of the reasons Biden was brought onto the ticket was the supposition that he ticked the box labelled 'Catholic'. This was typical Democrat arrogance and lack of contact with reality.
Historically, American Catholics mainly voted Democrat. That loyalty, however, is being eroded by the party's relentless support of abortion, stem cell experimentation, homosexual partnerships, etc. Biden is a classic Democrat 'Catholic' in that he long ago abandoned the doctrines of his Church in favour of posturing liberalism.
He and his like only got away with this for so long because the American Catholic bishops, like their British counterparts, have less backbone than a jellyfish. If you want a fearless, ringing denunciation of environmental abuse, racism, sexism or any other modish taboo, they are your men; but do not ask them to pronounce with any degree of confidence on such challenging doctrinal issues as how many persons there are in the Blessed Trinity.
Suddenly that has changed. The bishops have at last found their voice and they are denouncing this hypocrisy. Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver has demanded that politicians "who describe themselves as Catholic" should begin to "act accordingly". This followed Biden's claim, on a radio programme, that the question of when life begins was a "personal and private issue".
Following similar remarks by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Justin Cardinal Rigali and Bishop William Lord, both chairmen of relevant episcopal committees, have said her views "misrepresented the history and nature of the authentic teaching of the Catholic Church against abortion". Similar condemnations of Democrat pseudo-Catholic politicians are now flooding in from Archbishop Wuerl of Washington, Cardinal Egan, Archbishop of New York, Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago, and the equivalent prelates in San Francisco, Fargo, and St Paul and Minneapolis.
That is a formidable barrage and, even in these lax days, it will have some effect. It also seems certain that these politicians are now banned from receiving communion in Catholic churches, having excommunicated themselves latae sententiae by contradicting the Church's teaching. Why have the supine US bishops suddenly stirred themselves? Word is, B16 is kicking butt. The private meetings during the Pope's recent visit may have been more robust than the anaemic public image.
Can we take as read all the "believers are talking to an imaginary friend" knee-jerk blog comment and recall we are talking about the likely outcome of an election? This is seriously bad news for the Democrats. The bishops have real influence and this will damage Obama. It is not Sarah Palin who now looks like a dangerous "vee-pee pick", but Joe Biden.
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Sotto Voce
(Source: TO)