Making your point by preventing the opposition from making theirs

A somewhat vague post title, to be sure, but there's nothing vague in this post by Ed Peters:

I have nothing against platitudes. Though simplistic, platitudes tend to be true, and these days many people need to have simple truths reiterated. To the extent that the Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good statement, A Catholic Call to Observe Civility in Political Debate, simply reiterates some obvious truths about needing to observe "civility" in public discourse, I say fine. But there is more to the CACG statement than that. Despite their genteel demeanor and above-the-fray tone, I suggest that the CACG is firmly supporting one side in a crucial "partisan" debate (the wrong side, at that) and that they are discouraging Catholics from exercising some fundamental canonical rights.

[Get the particular by reading the rest.]