Breaking: Nelson caves, Senate passes pro-abortion bill tonight

I've been deluged with emails this weekend keeping me up to date on the rapid developments taking place in the health care debate.

The most important news to absorb is that Senator Nelson - at this point - has caved and is promising to support Senator Reid's pro-abortion bill when it is voted upon at 1AM tonight {update - he did cave and became the 60th and final vote for Reid's pro-abortion bill.}

He refused to listen to pro-life groups who were attempting to support him, opting instead to strike a backroom deal with Senator Reid which saves his state of Nebraska $100 million over the next decade, as I report on the APP blog.

Others have noted the implications of Nelson's "sweetheart" deal:

"Deacon Keith Fournier describes this as Nelson’s “bag of silver.”  Fournier explains, “If Senator Ben Nelson actually sold his vote for a bag of silver for Nebraska then this has become a ‘Judas moment’ not a ‘Thomas More moment’ and its implications are evil.”

The Casey-Nelson solution is unacceptable. The National Right to Life Committee is crystal clear :

"The manager’s amendment [= Casey-Nelson compromise] is light years removed from the Stupak-Pitts Amendment that was approved by the House of Representatives on November 8 by a bipartisan vote of 240-194.  The new abortion language solves none of the fundamental abortion-related problems with the Senate bill, and it actually creates some new abortion-related problems."

The message from the US bishops, when briefed about Nelson's decision, is uncompromising:

The Senate health reform bill should not move forward in its current form, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, New York, and Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City said December 19, as senators proceeded closer to a vote.

... [the bill] should be opposed unless and until such serious concerns have been addressed. The bishops' conference continues to study that 383-page amendment's implications from the perspective of all the bishops' moral concerns -- protection of life and conscience, affordable access to health care, and fairness to immigrants.

Deal Hudson - who has been very active in this debate through his new innitiative the Catholic Advocate - picks up on an argument I made last week during my EWTN appearance last week: "A Vote for Cloture Is a Vote for Abortion" (basically, anyone who votes for the current legislation is voting to create and expand federal sponsorship of abortion, in opposition to long-standing policy). Deal also writes :

The fight over federal funding for abortion will now move back to the House where 62 Democrats voted for the Stupak-Pitts amendment — it remains to be seen how many of those Democrats will follow in the footsteps of Sen. Ben Nelson.

Once again the bright light will fall on Cong. Bart Stupak (D-MI) who stood up against immense pressure last month to get his amendment passed.

Deal is absolutely right - presuming the bill is passed out of the Senate - everything hinges on Rep. Stupak and his coalition of pro-life Democrats in the House. That's our last cause for hope.

As further background, the Catholic Health Association came out in support of the Casey-Nelson compromise, and Steven Ertelt picks apart why they probably did so. Shame on them. The Catholic Medical Association, meanwhile, is strongly against the bill. Good for them.


I will update this post as I find out more information.


Update 1:15 AM - the Senate ended debate and passed the bill on a party line vote of 60-40. All 58 Democrats and 2 Independents voted on the bill, not a single Republican voted for the bill. Senators Casey and Nelson both supported the pro-abortion bill. A sad day for America and the protection of unborn human life, but the fight is not over.

Open thread: 2009 Elections

I have to turn in and snatch some sleep soon, but I wanted to jump-start an open thread discussing tonight's election results.

First and foremost, Thank you for all of your efforts in these important races. Here's where they stand as of 12:30 AM EST:

• Pro-life, pro-family Catholic Republican candidate for governor Bob McDonnell won by almost 20 points. His excellent Catholic AG Ken Cuccinelli won by a similar margin. Awesome news.
• Pro-life, pro-family Catholic Republican Chris Christie won a hard, uphill race against incumbent governor Jon Corzine, despite Corzine's advantage of having a personal fortune, and having President Obama campaigning for him a record number of times. More awesome news.
• Traditional Marriage appears to have won in Maine, by a margin of about 3/4%. This is wonderful, important news which I will reflect upon at a later point. It has a huge impact on the national narrative on this issue which has important social and religious freedom ramifications. I was blogging about this issue today on National Review Online: Here, and Here, and Here and Here.
• Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman has conceded a close, crazy race. But the fact that he made it so close is very revealing for several reasons, which I will also go into at some point. Suffice it to say: the pro-abortion, anti-marriage Scozzafava completely crashed and burned, and went on to endorse the Democrat candidate. I hope this serves as a lesson to the GOP that they ought not to abandon their social and economic conservative base in 2010.

Okay - a day full of meetings for me tomorrow. Time to get some rest!

On the radar: Elections on Tuesday, Health Care on Thu/Fri

This is going to be an interesting week, politically.

On Tuesday there will be several ballots Catholics should care about:

• Doug Hoffman in NY's 23rd district - who I've been rooting for
• A pro-marriage amendment in Maine - which we should support
• Bob McDonnell for Virginia governor, and Ken Cuccinelli for Virginia attorney general - both faithful Catholics, both worthy of your support
• Chris Christie, pro-life and pro-family Catholic trying to unseat the Democrat incumbent governor Jon Corzine in New Jersey - who is running a very negative campaign

On Thursday or Friday - the big one:

• it is believed that Pelosi will bring her health care bill to a vote in the House of Representatives this week. I am strongly against this bill and so are the US bishops. Please visit usccb.org/action to contact your representatives demanding they VOTE NO on it!

The Tuesday elections look very good for pro-life, pro-family causes, but Marriage in Maine is going to be down to the wire (so please focus your efforts there!).

The Thursday or Friday vote on Health Care looks very bad right now, so it's imperative that Catholics mobilize and prevent this fatally flawed legislation from passing!

Action: Donate to Help Elect a Pro-Lifer in NY-23 (who has a good chance!)

I've written before about the situation in New York's 23rd congressional district which goes to the polls next Tuesday.

My friends have been hard at work getting the word out about the pro-life candidate, Doug Hoffman, with a photo and an article in today's New York Times.

The Catholic Family Association has endorsed Hoffman:

CFA Executive Director: "Doug Hoffman embodies what our group promotes: pro-family stances on every important issue--from taxes to healthcare to abortion--facing Americans. Given the radicalism of his opponents, the choice is clear in NY-23."

The latest polls show Hoffman pulling into the lead, but with only days to go, we ought to help the pro-life, pro-family organizations on the ground seal the deal.

This is a local race with national consequences, for the reasons I've explained before, so if you can do anything to help out the efforts in NY-23, especially by donating any amount through the Susan B. Anthony List, it would be a good thing.

Let's send a message to the politicians in Washington DC that pro-life, pro-family, and economically-responsible candidates are the way to win in future elections. Let's start now.

On the radar: NY 23

Last week I wrote:

In New York's 23rd congressional district, Doug Hoffman is the only pro-life candidate in a race which includes a democrat and an extremely liberal, pro-abortion, pro-homosexual marriage republican. It's an important race for the national scene, for several reasons.

Let me briefly lay out those "several reasons":

• NY23 is the only congressional race this election cycle, so everyone is watching it, making the stakes very high.
• The pro-life republican candidate (Hoffman) is gaining far more grassroots support than the liberal, pro-abortion republican candidate (Scozzafava). He is a classic underdog, come-from-behind candidate. Now he has to beat the pro-abortion democrat (Owens).
• if Hoffman beats Scozzafava and Owens, it sends a strong message to the Republican Party about what kind of candidate will win in upcoming elections, namely, one who is strong on "social issues" like traditional marriage and pro-life. It says that "RINOs" (Republicans in Name Only) is not the way to go. People are more passionate about issues and the integrity of their representatives than they are about the letter behind a person's name.

Steve Ertelt at LifeNews is talking about this race, and I'd like to see it garner more Catholic attention.

If you are in upstate New York and want to help out, please drop me an email. Thanks!

4 things for Catholics to support before November 4th

As a Catholic active in politics, there are four races I'm following in the lead up to this November 4th.

If you have money or resources to help any of these races, they definitely deserve your attention!

• In Virginia, Catholic pro-life candidate for Governor Bob McDonnell is running against pro-choice Democrat Creigh Deeds. McDonnell is slightly ahead but needs help across the finish line. Deeds has gone after McDonnell aggressively for McDonnell's Catholic viewpoints on current issues.
• In New Jersey, Catholic pro-life candidate for Governor Chris Christie is running against pro-choice Democrat incumbent Jon Corzine. Christie is ahead but Corzine has been running a very mean, 100% negative campaign which is doing damage to Christie, including attacking his pro-life positions.
• In Maine, traditional marriage is on the ballot. StandForMarriageMaine is doing great work side-by-side with the bishop in Maine, despite advertisements from the other side which try to deceive Catholics, and the other side committing acts of vandalism.
• Finally, in New York's 23rd congressional district, Doug Hoffman is the only pro-life candidate in a race which includes a democrat and an extremely liberal, pro-abortion, pro-homosexual marriage republican. It's an important race for the national scene, for several reasons.

If Catholics across the country support these individuals and causes, we can have something significant to celebrate and be proud about in three short weeks! Thanks so much for spreading the word.

Update: Two more pro-life defeats in the Senate

Steven Ertelt does an exceptionally good job on keeping us up-to-date on the exceptionally bad things happening in Congress these days:

• Senate Panel Defeats Amendment to Protect Pro-Life Medical Workers on Abortion
• Senate Panel Rejects Amendment to Cut Abortion Funding From Baucus Health Care Bill

Remember - Catholics elected the people who are making these anti-life decisions.

My thoughts on the Van Jones "green jobs czar" resignation

I've posted them over at the American Principles Project blog.

As I wrote in my APP post, I think Mr. Obama's science czar, John Holdren, is the next official appointed by Mr. Obama whose previous statements and record require serious public examination and discussion.

It's pretty clear to me that Van Jones is crazy, but John Holdren is just. plain. scary.

Active on APP

I have a few posts up on APP today if folks are interested

• When in doubt: blame Bush?
  
• Video: Not So Sure on Healthcare Reform
  
• Alert: APP founder Robert George on Glenn Beck today
  
• Summary of APP Topics - July 28

Gilgoff: Sotomayor staying mum on abortion views

Dan Gilgoff reports:

On the abortion front, I'm struck by two dynamics at work in Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings. One: Republicans are attacking the idea of a constitutional right to abortion with a unity and forthrightness not seen in years, grilling Sotomayor on how the Constitution could be construed to contain such a right.

Two: As Republicans lift their voices on the issue, Sotomayor is evading all questions about her personal views on abortion. While recognizing that she considers Roe v. Wade to be settled law, Sotomayor has gone out of her way to obscure her personal position, disavowing signs that abortion rights supporters and opponents have taken as evidence of her pro-abortion rights views.

... Sotomayor is not going to vote to overturn Roe. But her obfuscating on other abortion-related questions raises questions about how she'd rule on restrictions on late-term abortions and on consent laws. And those are the kind of cases—as opposed to direct challenges to Roe—that would be more likely to come before her on the Supreme Court.

I'm sure her team of advisors have taken note that her personal position on abortion is seriously out-of-touch with mainstream America. So much for that oath to tell the whole truth to the American people. How can she single-out abortion (and its many related issues) as a topic upon which she has no opinion besides the "settled law" of the land? As a Supreme Court justice she will be charged with making the law of the land!

Furthermore, there is clearly interest on this topic. The AP's story on the subject was the top story on Yahoo! News yesterday (the largest internet news portal in the U.S.).

I'm looking forward to today's testimony by Charmaine Yoest at Sotomayor's Senate confirmation hearings. She's the lone representative from a pro-life organization to be invited.

Politics: Thoughts on Sarah Palin's resignation from AK governor's seat

Um, what just happened?

I heard the news via Twitter on Friday, but felt pardoned from having to talk about it at least until today.

My simple take is that she should not have stepped down from the office she was elected to hold.

So just what does she have planned next? The Associated Press:

Even for a nonconformist, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin defies political logic with her sudden, stunning announcement to leave office more than a year early.

Supporters and critics alike say the former GOP vice presidential candidate's resignation, announced Friday afternoon and effective July 26, is an inexplicable move for a high profile Republican widely seen as a contender for a White House run in 2012. A half-term governor campaigning for president?

Um ... it didn't appear to hurt Obama too bad that he was a half-termed Senator. Good call, AP.

More hints about her plans on her Facebook page (yes, it's actually her).

Curiouser and Curiouser, hints that her attorneys are now actively combating "defamatory material".

"Defamatory material" that Ross Douthat summarizes well in the New York Times:

Here are lessons of the Sarah Palin experience, for any aspiring politician who shares her background and her sex. Your children will go through the tabloid wringer. Your religion will be mocked and misrepresented. Your political record will be distorted, to better parody your family and your faith. (And no, gentle reader, Palin did not insist on abstinence-only sex education, slash funds for special-needs children or inject creationism into public schools.)

Male commentators will attack you for parading your children. Female commentators will attack you for not staying home with them. You’ll be sneered at for how you talk and how many colleges you attended. You’ll endure gibes about your “slutty” looks and your “white trash concupiscence,” while a prominent female academic declares that your “greatest hypocrisy” is the “pretense” that you’re a woman. And eight months after the election, the professionals who pressed you into the service of a gimmicky, dreary, idea-free campaign will still be blaming you for their defeat.

All of this had something to do with ordinary partisan politics. But it had everything to do with Palin’s gender and her social class.

Sarah Palin is beloved by millions because her rise suggested, however temporarily, that the old American aphorism about how anyone can grow up to be president might actually be true.

But her unhappy sojourn on the national stage has had a different moral: Don’t even think about it.

And, as if on queue, liberal pundit Maureen Dowd goes there.

Al Kresta, meanwhile, has a very good commentary on what these Palin haters are trying to do.

What a crazy ten months.

Justice Souter to step down in June, pro-abort replacement a given

It's all across the internet.

Politico: "Supreme Court Justice David Souter plans to retire this year – giving President Barack Obama his first chance to shape the court in his image, according to Democratic sources."

New York Times:

"Justice Souter, who was appointed in 1990 by a Republican president, the first George Bush, but became one of the most reliable members of the court’s liberal wing, has grown increasingly sour on Washington and intends to return to his home state, New Hampshire, according to the people briefed on his plans. One officials said the decision might be announced as early as Friday."

... During a campaign debate last fall, Mr. Obama said the selection of a new justice would be “one of the most consequential decisions of the next president.”

... On the always explosive issue of abortion, he said he would “not provide a litmus test,” but added, “I am somebody who believes that Roe versus wade was rightly decided.”

So we can expect someone in the mold of another Souter. Obama will continue his track record of not being at all "conflicted" about abortion "rights" when it comes to practical decisions like Supreme Court nominees.

{update - Blogger Thomas More thinks this could be good news.}
{update 2 - changed "pro-choice" to "pro-abort" in blog title. Thanks for the catch.}
{update 3 - "Specter's Defection Could Help Republicans Block a Nominee to Replace Souter"}

Graphic: Obama's approval rating from January to Now

Source: Rasmussen.

Also: Give President Obama a Grade poll at MSNBC.

Jindal is preparing for a 2012 run

Mark my words, Bobby Jindal's increasing national presence is a preparation for a Presidential run in 2012. If others have not said this before, you heard it here first. Oh, and I should also mention he's Catholic.

Get ready.

Hillary Clinton appointed Sec. of State

Chickens coming home to roost:

Obama introduced Clinton first, saying of his former presidential rival, "She possesses an extraordinary intelligence and toughness, and a remarkable work ethic. ... She is an American of tremendous stature who will have my complete confidence, who knows many of the world's leaders, who will command respect in every capital, and who will clearly have the ability to advance our interests around the world."

Clinton will give up her seat as a senator from New York to join the Obama Cabinet. Her appointment was preceded by lengthy negotiations involving her husband, the former president, whose international business connections posed potential conflicts of interests.

The former president also agreed to disclose the donors to the foundation that built his library, as well as contributors to his international foundation.

She said to Obama, in a brief turn at the lectern, "I am proud to join you ... and may God bless you and our great country."

Sen. Clinton had scarcely finished speaking when her husband issued a written statement. "She is the right person for the job of helping to restore America's image abroad, end the war in Iraq, advance peace and increase our security, by building a future for our children with more partners and fewer adversaries, one of shared responsibilities and opportunities," he said. (AP)

Oh the drama we can expect.

Obama hasn't been to Church since Nov. 4th

Politico:

President-elect Barack Obama has yet to attend church services since winning the White House earlier this month, a departure from the example of his two immediate predecessors.

On the three Sundays since his election, Obama has instead used his free time to get in workouts at a Chicago gym.

Asked about the president-elect's decision to not attend church, a transition aide noted that the Obamas valued their faith experience in Chicago but were concerned about the impact their large retinue may have on other parishioners.

"Because they have a great deal of respect for places of worship, they do not want to draw unwelcome or inappropriate attention to a church not used to the attention their attendance would draw," said the aide.

Both President-elect George W. Bush and President-elect Bill Clinton managed to attend church in the weeks after they were elected.

Doug Kmiec was quoted over the weekend as saying Obama has "far more in common with our great faith tradition than any political administration in recent memory."

Well sadly, if our legacy is "skipping out on Church whenever possible" then ... yes, yes Obama does.