Blogging Religiously

When I was writing something last week about the Al Smith Dinner, I noted that Bush and Kerry were not invited four years ago—in all likelihood, because Kerry is a pro-choice Catholic.

In the back of mind, I was wondering why it makes such a difference. Yes, Kerry is Catholic. But plenty of pro-choice pols who are not Catholic are invited to the big dinner, including (this year alone) Chuck Schumer (Jewish), Hillary Clinton (Methodist) and, of course,  Obama (UCC).

I thought about Cardinal Egan’s anti-abortion statement that was directed at Nancy Pelosi, which said: “Anyone who dares to defend that (the unborn) may be legitimately killed because another human being ‘chooses’ to do so or for any other equally ridiculous reason should not be providing leadership in a civilized democracy worthy of the name.”

That would seem to cover Obama, too. But there he was at the dinner, at Egan’s side.

But no one brought it up.

Until after the dinner. Conservative Catholic pundit Deal Hudson wrote a column for InsideCatholic.com that made this point: “The sight of Obama and the cardinal palling around sends the message—whether intentional or not—that the pro-choice senator is fine in Egan’s eyes.”

The column seems to be getting some traction in the Catholic blogosphere.

CatholicsForMcCain says: “So, the Cardinal says that pro-abortion politicians should not be providing leadership in our country, yet will sit at a black-tie dinner and share laughs with a man who has supported infanticide and partial-birth abortion?”

Another blogger points out: “One line in particular, though, struck me as odd. During his remarks, Senator Obama stated that he “shared the politics of Alfred E. Smith and the ears of Alfred E. Newman.” Now, obviously, the worst thing you can do with a joke is overanalyze it, but I had to wonder: exactly what were the politics that Barack Obama thought he had in common with Al Smith? Presumably he was not referring to his positions on social issues such as abortion or homosexual unions, which were not major issues in Al Smith’s time, but on which he no doubt would have differed from Senator Obama.”

And the writer of ClericalWhispers gives a nice overview on where abortion fits into overall Catholic politics. He writes:

In a year like 2008, when the economy trumps social issues, Catholics are most likely to return to their roots in the Democratic Party. And that’s particularly true when they hear fellow Catholics arguing that Democrats reflect their religious values. McCain may have gotten a longer standing ovation on his way to the podium at the Al Smith Dinner and dropped references to “defending the rights of the unborn” in among his jokes. But it was Obama who won over Al Smith IV, the event’s emcee and great-grandson of the historic candidate. “Awesome,” Smith told Obama after the Democrat had finished speaking. “That was just awesome!”

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