More Catholic Than The Pope

E. J. Dionne has an op-ed in today's Washington Post examining the opposition to President Obama delivering the commencement address and receiving an honorary degree from Notre Dame University. I think what his column shows that the Bush Administration era "Either you are for us or against us" mentality lives on in the Christian right.

We now know that the reaction of right-wing Catholics to Notre Dame's invitation to President Obama falls into the category of "more Catholic than the pope."

To the dismay of many conservatives, the Vatican's own newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, has offered what one antiabortion Catholic blog called "a surprisingly positive assessment of the new president's approach to life issues" -- so positive, in fact, that a spokesman for the National Right to Life Committee was moved to criticize Pope Benedict XVI's daily.

The Vatican newspaper offered its analysis as Catholic liberals and conservatives are battling fiercely over Notre Dame's decision to invite the president as this year's commencement speaker and to grant him an honorary degree. The article will strengthen the liberal claim that the Catholic right's over-the-top response is rooted at least as much in Republican and conservative politics as in concern over the abortion question.

The April 29 essay by Giuseppe Fiorentino, L'Osservatore's frequent foreign affairs contributor, painted Obama as a moderate on many fronts. "Some have accused him of practicing excessive statism," Fiorentino wrote, "if not even of making the country drift toward socialism." But "a calmer analysis," he said, suggests that Obama "has moved with caution." (I rely here on a translation of the article posted yesterday on the Vatican's official Web site.)

On abortion and the other life issues, the article concluded that Obama "does not seem to have established the radical changes that he had aired."

In loosening the rules on federal funding of stem-cell research, the paper noted, Obama did not go as far as many in the antiabortion movement feared he would. "The new guidelines regarding embryonic stem cell research do not in fact follow the [prospective] change of route laid out months ago," Fiorentino wrote. "They do not allow for the creation of new embryos for research or therapy purposes, for cloning or reproductive ends; and federal funds can only be used for experimentation with surplus embryos."

Then came a carefully worded sentence declaring that "these measures do not eliminate the reasons for criticism in the face of unacceptable forms of bioengineering that work against the embryo's human identity, but the new regulations are less permissive than expected."

This restrained view contrasts with charges that Obama is the "most radical pro-abortion president in history," words used earlier this year on the Christian Coalition's Web site. During the campaign, Robert P. George, a Princeton professor who is a leading Catholic conservative intellectual, called Obama "the most extreme pro-abortion candidate ever to seek the office of president of the United States."

The consternation on the right over the Vatican article was immediate. Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee in the United States, told LifeSiteNews.com that L'Osservatore's assessment was "not helpful" and that "there's nothing middle of the road about the substantive policies that this administration is pursuing on life issues."

It has gotten so bad for Christian conservatives that they are now trying to tell the Pope how to feel about "life issues". That is classic tail wagging the dog mentality that the Bush Administration's "War on Terror" has wrought. And the sad thing is that these people really believe that someone disagreeing with them is all the evidence they need that the other person is wrong. The air must be pretty thin way up there on top of that big ass moral pedestal that these people have created for themselves.


(h/t dkos)

Why Does Glenn Beck Hate Nancy Reagan?

Contrast the Nancy Reagan's statement on President Obama overturning the ban on embryonic stem cell research funding with Glenn Becks'.

Nancy Reagan:

“I'm very grateful that President Obama has lifted the restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. These new rules will now make it possible for scientists to move forward. I urge researchers to make use of the opportunities that are available to them, and to do all they can to fulfill the promise that stem cell research offers. Countless people, suffering from many different diseases, stand to benefit from the answers stem cell research can provide. We owe it to ourselves and to our children to do everything in our power to find cures for these diseases -- and soon. As I've said before, time is short, and life is precious.

Glenn Beck:

So here you have Barack Obama going in and spending the money on embryonic stem cell research, and then some, fundamentally changing – remember, those great progressive doctors are the ones who brought us Eugenics. It was the progressive movement and it science. Let’s put science truly in her place. If evolution is right, why don’t we just help out evolution? That was the idea. And sane people agreed with it!

And it was from America. Progressive movement in America. Eugenics. In case you don’t know what Eugenics led us to: the Final Solution. A master race! A perfect person. …. The stuff that we are facing is absolutely frightening. So I guess I have to put my name on yes, I hope Barack Obama fails. But I just want his policies to fail; I want America to wake up.

Just for the hell of it I will include some prominent Republican reactions also.

Mitch McConnell:

"The administration's announcement on embryonic stem cell research represents a troubling shift in U.S. policy. With this announcement, the government is, for the first time, incentivizing the creation and destruction of human embryos at the expense of the U.S. taxpayer. I support biomedical research and I believe the administration would be far better served by directing taxpayer funds to research on non-embryonic stem cells, which is both effective and ethical."

John Boehner:

This decision runs counter to President Obama's promise to be a president for all Americans. For a third time in his young presidency, the President has rolled back important protections for innocent life, further dividing our nation at a time when we need greater unity to tackle the challenges before us. I fully support stem cell research, but I draw the line at taxpayer-funded research that requires the destruction of human embryos, and millions of Americans feel similarly. As we move forward, I am hopeful that the President will re-evaluate this and other controversial decisions that put government at odds with the sanctity of human life. Non-embryonic stem cell research is not only showing great promise in the laboratory, but its applications are already being used to treat scores of diseases and medical conditions. Indeed, science and respect for human life can coexist. Politicians in Washington would be well-served to recognize this fact before they ask taxpayers to subsidize the destruction of innocent human life simply to advance a particular agenda. Instead of asking taxpayers to pay for efforts that destroy life, Congress and the Administration should support bipartisan solutions like Rep. Randy Forbes' Patients First Act, which would promote stem cell research that is actually getting results."

The Party of Reagan eh? Evidently not Nancy Reagan.

For any readers who have family that trust Glenn Beck, perhaps this might help them to turn away from him. Just a thought.

Please Please Please Keep These Fools Talking

I keep hearing from conservatives that Eric Cantor is their new shining star. If by that they mean that he is out of touch, tone deaf, and pretty damn stupid I would say they have a point.

President Obama’s impending reversal of the restrictions on embryonic stem cell research is meant to distract from the economy, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) suggested Sunday.

“There’s a reason it’s coming up this week,” Cantor said during an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union." “Why are we going and distracting ourselves from the economy? This is job No. 1, let’s focus on what needs to be done.”

President Obama is set to sign an executive order on Monday that would reverse limits on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research established early in the Bush administration.

“Let’s take care of business first – people are out of jobs,” Cantor, an opponent of embryonic stem cell research, told the network’s John King. “And again, there is a reason why all of this is happening right now.”

What are there, like 5 people in the country who don't support stem cell research at this point? And for people dealing with family members with special needs how much do you think they appreciate being told overturning the ban on stem cell research funding is just a "distraction from the economy". If there was ever going to be a book written about how to maintain political irrelevance and ensure it for years to come it would probably be based on everything the GOP is doing these days. What would possess him to even speak on an issue that he is totally out of step with most Americans on?

Stem Cell Funding

Breaking news from the Washington Post

President Obama is planning to sign an executive order on Monday rolling back restrictions on federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research, according to sources close to the issue.

Although the exact wording of the order has not been revealed, the
White House plans an 11 a.m. ceremony to sign the order repealing one of the most controversial steps taken by his predecessor, fulfilling one of Obama's eagerly anticipated campaign promises.

The move, long sought by scientists and patient advocates and opposed by religious groups, would enable the National Institutes of Health to consider requests from scientists to study hundreds of lines of cells that have been developed since the limitations were put in place -- lines that scientists and patient advocate say hold great hope for leading to cures for a host of major ailments.

Not much to say other than great job Mr President!