The Democrats Got Religion, At Huge Cost: Faith outreach a craven quest for more votes.

[Shallah Kali]

http://www.religiondispatches.org/blog/2032/the_democrats_got_religion,_at_huge_cost
http://www.religiondispatches.org/dialogs/print/?id=2032

Former NARAL Pro-Choice America president Kate Michelman and our own Frances Kissling have an excellent op-ed http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/opinion/12michelman.html?ref=opinion in today's New York Times, arguing that the setback for womens' reproductive freedom in the Stupak amendment is a result of the Democratic Party's pandering to religion as much as it is a product of religious right lobbying. In its quest to "get religion" and build a larger majority in Congress by recruiting anti-choice candidates to run in conservative districts, the party has cravenly punted on womens' freedom and health.

snip

We were told, repeatedly, that the Democratic Party's outreach to these religious "centrists" was about a "broader agenda" than the culture wars. They wanted a new president to address poverty, health care reform, and global warming. But it was clear, nonetheless, that these leaders and the constituency they supposedly represented still demanded that Democrats stop being so strident on abortion.

By August, then, Democrats agreed to let Rick Warren be the arbiter http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=08&year=2008&base_name=saddleback_fallout_for_democra&11 of the candidates' faith cred; Obama cringed at abortion questions and told Warren that the question about whether life begins at conception was "above his paygrade." Later in the month, at the Democratic National Convention, the Rev. Charles Blake, the head of the Church of God in Christ, lambasted http://blog.sojo.net/2008/08/27/bishop-charles-blakes-remarks-at-dnc-interfaith-service/ the party for its abortion stance at an interfaith gathering. During one of several faith panels, journalist Steven Waldman http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081027/posner declared, "Catholics and evangelicals agree with Barack Obama on 80 percent of issues, but the thing that's holding them up is they think he's an extremist on abortion." Sojourners president Jim Wallis took to the op-ed page http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=08&year=2008&base_name=the_moving_to_the_right_on_abo&13 of the Wall Street Journal to ask whether Democrats could count votes, and insisting they had to move to the right on abortion or lose elections.

Warren was rewarded http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081229/posner with an invitation to give the invocation at Obama's inauguration. Blake and Wallis were rewarded with seats on the Advisory Council to Obama's Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. More recently, Waldman left his position as editor-in-chief of Beliefnet to become a senior advisor http://blog.beliefnet.com/stevenwaldman/2009/10/steven-waldman-named-to-lead-c.html to the chair of the Federal Communications Commission.

snip

*UPDATE: Speaking of bold and unequivocal, while I said in this post that Obama came out against Stupak, upon re-reading his comments, I note that he didn't use the phrase "Stupak amendment" and only made vague references to "strong feelings on both sides" and that the final House bill didn't preserve the "status quo." What Obama would be satisfied with as preserving the "status quo" (code for no federal funding for abortions) is unclear — and more to the point, what he would be willing to capitulate to is equally unclear.

[dschis]

1. While I can't support abortion

A person I know got 2 while I was in the Military. I paid for them out of my pocket. She got an earful from me about that, it was her request. If I could repeat history the babies would here, damn the consequences

[laconicsax]

2. So you should have dominion over someone else's body?

If I could repeat history the babies would here, damn the consequences

:puke:

[puebloknot]

3. Correct, and another example of Obama's "Post-Partisan Politics." And ...

... an attempt to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

My disappointment with Obama grows apace.

[OHdem10]

4. David Gergen, CNN, 11/12/09: This is an irony--Rahm Immanuel

deliberately looked and recruited Pro-Life Candidates in
the last election. It appears this may have come back to bite him.

[Demeter]

5. If We Have to Pass Some Kind of Religious Obedience Test--I'm Outta Here

How many mistakes must we repeat before we are allowed to go forward?

Shall we also eat the brains of our beloved dead as a gesture of respect, and develop kuru?