Blogs For Victory

The US Bishops refuse to back down:

e U.S. Catholic bishops have come out in a united front in a statement on abortion and politics, warning politicians not to misinterpret the election results as “a referendum on abortion,” and that “aggressively pro-abortion policies, legislation and executive orders will permanently alienate tens of millions of Americans.”

Cardinal Francis George, writing on behalf of all the U.S. bishops, begins his statement by heralding the historic election of Barack Obama as president and saying that the bishops look forward to working “for the common good of all” with the new government.

After listing priorities such as immigration, education, health care and religious freedom, the bishops state that the “fundamental good is life itself, a gift from God and our parents.”

Yet, they note that, “Legal protection for those members of the human family waiting to be born in this country was removed when the Supreme Court decided Roe vs. Wade in 1973. This was bad law.”

Of particular concern, the bishops say, is that “a bad court decision will be enshrined in bad legislation that is more radical than the 1973 Supreme Court decision itself,” referring to the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA).se

The Act would “outlaw any ‘interference’ in providing abortion at will. It would deprive the American people in all fifty states of the freedom they now have to enact modest restraints and regulations on the abortion industry,” according to the U.S. prelates.

We’ll swiftly find out how smart Obama really is – if he tries to ram through a series of leftwing programs, he’ll likely set himself up for a Clintonesque Congressional defeat in 2010. The fraudulently named “Freedom of Choice Act” (which actually takes away the choices of the American people) is a litmus test of the kook left, and Obama embraced it early on, but then he went and flip flopped on a host of issues, and might realize that FOCA is a losing issue. In addition to this in the the leftwing wish-list is “Card Check” (taking away the right of workers to vote on unionization), “Fairness Doctrine” (an attempt to get rid of Rush and the rest of conservative talk radio) and various criminal investigations of the Bush Administration the left has it’s heart set on. Any one of these, singly or in combination, would be political suicide – the only worse thing Obama could do for himself is to also try a gun ban of some sort. A smart Obama will make noises about these issues and then place them firmly on the back burner.

It should be kept in mind that 2002 was an strange event – the White House party gaining seats in the mid terms is almost unheard of. All else being equal, the Democrats can probably look to a 15-20 seat House loss right out the gate. Can Obama turn this around and duplicate Bush’s 2002 effort? Perhaps – but only if there’s a major turn around in the economy and/or the GOP really screws up badly (and never count us out on that – we’re not called “the stupid party” for nothing, ya know?). The Good news for Obama and his Democrats is that they built themselves a nice cushion in 2008 – the Senate looks entirely out of GOP reach any time before 2012 (when the first of all those new Democrats from 2006 come up for re-election, thus giving the GOP a good shot at significant gains), but if Obama makes people mad enough and adds to it a sluggish or recessionary economy, then 2010 could wind up being a GOP blowout. No need to fan the flames by giving the GOP a series of excellent wedge issues to hammer the Democrats with.

Of course, the GOP will also need to come up with a plan of action and a serious effort to act anew and think anew – can’t beat something with nothing. But in this rebuilding effort, the strong statement from the Catholic Bishops becomes a vital pivot point for the GOP – not a quixotic battle against Roe (out of reach until we recapture the White House, at the earliest), but a battle for the rights of the people. The people have passed – directly or through their State legislatures – various common sense restrictions on abortion, and the left – via FOCA – wants to undo all that and force abortion on demand back down America’s throat. People are wary of anything smacking of a ban on abortion, but they are even more wary of the usurpation of their rights.

We can do no better than relaunching ourselves on the side of Life and Liberty – core American values, core conservative values, and issues we simply blow the Democrats out of the water with.