MICHELANGELO SIGNORILE | nypress.com

By MICHELANGELO SIGNORILE
Apr. 27, 2004

WHEN DEVOUTLY Methodist, pro-life Elizabeth Dole campaigned for the Republican presidential nomination—and later went on to win a bid to become a senator in North Carolina—she courted all of the usual Christian conservatives and got the backing of nearly every national and local Christian-right leader. Did any of them accuse her of engaging in sex solely for the purpose of lusty, filthy self-enjoyment, and then commercially promoting such debauchery to others? Surely not. Jerry Falwell praised Dole as a model of Christian morality even after her husband Bob announced to the world, via his Viagra endorsements, that 60-plus Liddy and 80-plus Bob were humping for reasons that had nothing to do with procreation, which the Christian right of course sees as the only reason for sexual intercourse.

And who could forget the lascivious Bob Dole appearing in a Pepsi ad in 2001, getting aroused by a then-adolescent Britney Spears? ("Easy boy," he said to his, um, dog, as his eyes bulged when he caught a glimpse of Spears' skin.) Certainly we didn't hear conservative politicians and religious leaders railing that candidate Elizabeth Dole had a pedophilic husband who was jumping her bones every night during druggy sex romps while fantasizing about teen pop stars.

I think of this now as the Vatican attacks John Kerry and as Christian leaders and conservative politicians are calling Kerry a hypocrite for being a practicing Catholic who receives communion and yet supports abortion rights and equality for gays. There seems to be a double standard for Democrats who don't follow the full tenets of their churches—or the edicts of conservative politicians—and for Republicans who flout the moral teachings of the faith to which they claim to belong. That double standard goes for the media too, which eats up the "politician in defiance of the Vatican" story and plays it big when the politician in question is a liberal Democrat, but seems to forget all about Republican Catholics who don't take their orders from the Pope.

"The Vatican issued a series of rules Friday aimed at stopping what it called 'habitual abuses' of traditional church practices in the celebration of the Roman Catholic Mass," the Los Angeles Times reported last week. "[T]he senior prelate responsible for the instructions said politicians who support legalized abortion must be denied Holy Communion."

Does that mean Cardinal Egan is going to turn away Rudy Giuliani? Is George Pataki going to be barred from the church doors? Fascinating stories—but not according to our media. By the end of the week, CNN, Fox and most newspaper reports didn't seem to even think of the fact that there were many pro-choice Republican politicians across the country. To them, the only story here was about John Kerry, even though the Vatican itself didn't mention him.

"Cardinal Francis Arinze, a top Vatican official, would not single out U.S. Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry by name," the Los Angeles Times continued in its report, which somehow missed the angle that the governor of California is a famous pro-choice Catholic—and a Republican. "But when asked in general terms whether a priest should refuse to give Communion to a Catholic politician who supports abortion rights, as Kerry does, Arinze replied with an emphatic yes." They couldn't stop telling us that Arnold Schwarzenegger was "pro-choice" and "pro-gay" when they were pumping up his candidacy. But all of a sudden, when Vatican officials are once again jumping into American politics, they seem to get amnesia.

Sure, Kerry is running for president—the first Catholic candidate since John F. Kennedy—and he's been avidly pro-choice and spoke out in favor of abortion rights as a major march took place in Washington over the weekend. But the story of Catholic politicians and abortion is an old one, as are the Vatican's condemnations and statements on morality. It seems odd when these old stories suddenly play big again; when they omit Republicans who are pro-choice, it becomes downright suspect. Responding to Kerry's statements supporting a woman's right to choose, a Bush campaign flack said Kerry's views are "outside the mainstream.'' Is that what Bush thinks about Arnie, Rudy, Pataki, Christie Todd Whitman and Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge? That would certainly be a good story—if the media actually pursued it.

Conservative commentators weighed in against Kerry, some practically calling for excommunication, and, again, without saying a thing about pro-choice Catholic Republican politicians. But it wasn't just the rabid conservatives playing this game.

"Pro-choice supporters of Sen. John Kerry may feel the Catholic Church is meddling in the U.S. presidential election after yesterday's directive against Communion for Catholic politicians who support abortion rights. They would be wrong," the Daily News pontificated in an editorial. "Francis Cardinal Arinze, who issued the directive from the Vatican, didn't mention Kerry by name—but even if he had, the church has every right to declare what its moral teachings are and how it desires its flock to follow them."

Arinze didn't mention Pataki either—the Republican governor of New York—and for some reason the Daily News didn't see a reason to bring him up.

And what about all of the other issues the Catholic Church views as priorities? Why don't we see Catholic Republican politicians criticized on some of them (such as the death penalty or the Iraq war) or see Catholic Democrats touted for being model politicians regarding a few of them? According to the Hill newspaper, last week two members of Congress, Rosa DeLauro (Dem-CT) and Nicholas Lampson (Dem-TX), produced a paper showing that, when it comes to voting in the House, Catholic Democrats follow church teaching more than Catholic Republicans. The issues they focused on in their research paper included taxes, cloning and the minimum wage, in addition to abortion and same-sex marriage. The 67 Catholic House Democrats voted with the church's positions 76 percent of the time; the 49 Catholic Republicans averaged 64 percent.

But Deal Hudson, publisher of the conservative Catholic magazine Crisis, told the Hill that the results were "absurd," because other positions "do not matter as much" as abortion and "life issues." Ah, that explains why the "pro-life" Liddy Dole and her husband Bob can screw like rabbits—while he pops pills and makes commercials promoting recreational sex and man-on-teen-girl-action—and still be considered models of morality by Christian conservatives.

www.smirkingchimp.com Comments...

Re: M. Signorile: 'Dole gets wood, Pope doesn't blink, but Kerry's a bad Catholic' (Score: 1)
by Euromutt on Wednesday, April 28 @ 10:46:58 EDT
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I wonder if holy communion is also denied to all those priests who bugger alter boys? The church should clean up the mess in it's own kitchen before it starts dabbling in politics.

As for the "fair and balanced" press, well they know they already have a warm seat in Hades, communion or not!


Re: M. Signorile: 'Dole gets wood, Pope doesn't blink, but Kerry's a bad Catholic' (Score: 1)
by Awesome on Wednesday, April 28 @ 11:07:20 EDT
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I agree with much of what Signorle says, the church has a long way to go on sexual matters, but Rove will have a field day with the "Catholic" problem. Rove must be licking his chops; he knows he already has wide anti-papist support in the country, it is after all, the acceptable American predjudice, and he can now, unbelievable as it may seem, appear as a defender of Catholics. They did the same thing last time around, send Bush to Bob Jones University, and then make a courtesy call on Cardinal O'Connor. Democrats must be careful, this is a hornets nest, unless they want to take the approach of Bartcop, a vicious anti-Catholic, and disregard 60,000,000 Catholics. And, by the way, it is convenient to think that child molestation is a uniquely Catholic thing, and as Father Greely points out, that is how this whole scandalous mess is framed by the press.

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Re: M. Signorile: 'Dole gets wood, Pope doesn't blink, but Kerry's a bad Catholic' (Score: 1)
by jigen on Wednesday, April 28 @ 12:18:54 EDT
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This is the sadness of American politics.

One of the glories of the Roman Empire is that it governed and legislated without regard to theological considerations.

I can't believe, in this allegedly the most advanced civilized empire in the history of humanity, that we still allow the followers of fossilized mythologies dictate the terms of debate. How can we still expect our citizens to swear in court an oath on a book that insists on the reality of animals such as angels and devils? For serious life advice, how can we turn to men who take vows of celibacy and avoid many facets of contemporary life?

Religion is fine and dandy but it should have no more intrusion into politics than other bland distractions like drug use or sports fandom. Marginal pasttimes should remain in the margin.

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Re: M. Signorile: 'Dole gets wood, Pope doesn't blink, but Kerry's a bad Catholic' (Score: 1)
by Noram on Wednesday, April 28 @ 14:04:02 EDT
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Here's the thing that makes me screamingly crazy about this "issue": who the hell are all these people who are trying to paint Kerry as a Bad Catholic? Are they Catholics themselves? Or are they fundamentalists (whether they call themselves that or not) who believe that all Papists are going straight to hell anyway?

It's one thing if it's the Catholics criticizing Kerry (though I would remind my fellow Catholics of Jesus' statement: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone"; I'd bet that most female Catholics have used birth control other than the rhythm method, which is also a sin); it's another thing if a bunch of people who (a) know little or nothing of Catholic doctrine, (b) think all Catholics are the antichrist anyway and (c) don't give a damn about any of the other teachings of the Catholic church (social justice, anyone?) are making a big deal of this to smear Kerry.

Our forefathers refused to set up an official religion for a reason. And guess what? We only keep proving they were smarter than the current crop of politicians and reporters.

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Re: M. Signorile: 'Dole gets wood, Pope doesn't blink, but Kerry's a bad Catholic' (Score: 1)
by sweetiepie on Wednesday, April 28 @ 14:39:24 EDT
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Another article containing attacks on the Christian faith. If Bartcop is anti-Catholic smirkingchimp is the reigning champ of anti-christian and on the progressive internet that is saying a lot.

People at PNAC planned the rearrangement of the middle east. They got access to the White HOuse and are carrying out their plan.

They are Bush's handlers. They told him, "talk about Jesus, mention him often".

Now they get to sit back and get a chuckle out of the fact that no one is allowed to point out that they are behind the Iraqi holocaust because that would be anti-semitic. They get a real belly laugh that Christians are now taking a beating courtesy of them.


Re: M. Signorile: 'Dole gets wood, Pope doesn't blink, but Kerry's a bad Catholic' (Score: 1)
by superdem on Wednesday, April 28 @ 15:08:34 EDT
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I wish I'd been born in an enlightened age instead of this one, instead NASCAR and Viagra make millions of dollars while people die of AIDS and wars across the planet. Every plant knows to face the sun, Earth's only source of heat and light, still the most highly evolved ape devotes time and energy parsing the meaning of ancient writings and pointing accusing fingers at each others' piety. All humans everywhere must reject religions, starting with their own. The world will not end - the new age will begin. Stop looking for the Son of God, and understand that the Sun IS God.


Re: M. Signorile: 'Dole gets wood, Pope doesn't blink, but Kerry's a bad Catholic' (Score: 1)
by sweetiepie on Wednesday, April 28 @ 17:16:40 EDT
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Well allow me to show you the proper way to treat people who don't belive the same way you do. you don't attack them. You don't belittle them or their beliefs. You condone them and allow them the same freedom of belief that you excercise.

Not everyone thinks the way you do. People should not attack Jews or their religion. People should not attack Christians or their religion.

As a democrat I don't like the Christian right myself but the attacks on Christianity have become so prevasive that I feel sites like smirkingchimp and its readers might find it helpful to visit David Duke's site and compare it to the daily articles at sc. There is more hate speech here then at Duke's site.

The right uses religion to get support and that makes it fair game. However, smirkingchimp and people like you should remember that millions of democrats are also Christian and they don't appreciate the constant attacks and bigory against them and they don't deserve to be insulted everytime they come online and attempt to get progressive news and chat with other democrats.

It is clear that liberal sites out of the northeast and CA hate Christians and cannot be tolerant toward them long enough to win an election. Pretty soon they are going to become worst then the objects of their hatred. I have been driven by the constant attacks against christians and southern people to defend christians. I can imagine that many have been driven right into the republican party. We shouldn't be our own worse enemy since democrats already have enough problems.



Re: M. Signorile: 'Dole gets wood, Pope doesn't blink, but K (Score: 1)
by Anonymous on Wednesday, April 28 @ 17:51:49 EDT
Relax everyone. This is not the first time that the Catholic church has conspired with Nazis. Think about it...they want to get rid of Kerry and keep Scalia. The Catholic church has been a TOTAL LOSS since the Council of Nicea.



Re: M. Signorile: 'Dole gets wood, Pope doesn't blink, but Kerry's a bad Catholic' (Score: 1)
by jelly_belly on Wednesday, April 28 @ 17:59:27 EDT
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jigen wrote:

"I can't believe, in this allegedly the most advanced civilized empire in the history of humanity, that we still allow the followers of fossilized mythologies dictate the terms of debate. How can we still expect our citizens to swear in court an oath on a book that insists on the reality of animals such as angels and devils?"



SURPRISE!

Unfortunately, more than half of all Americans share a common fundamentalist dementia that's downright scary. America has become a fool's paradise.


"...President Bush has said that he doesn't believe in evolution (he thinks the jury is still out). President Ronald Reagan felt the same way, and such views are typically American. A new Gallup poll shows that 48 percent of Americans believe in creationism, and only 28 percent in evolution (most of the rest aren't sure or lean toward creationism). According to recent Gallup Tuesday briefings, Americans are more than twice as likely to believe in the devil (68 percent) as in evolution..."

God, Satan and the Media By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/04/opinion/04KRIS.html



Re: M. Signorile: 'Dole gets wood, Pope doesn't blink, but Kerry's a bad Catholic' (Score: 1)
by Moket on Thursday, April 29 @ 01:19:36 EDT
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Let's get a few things straight, boys and girls, since it seems that the Catholic church and good Catholic politicians like John Kerry are being taken to task for what is a truely LEGALISTIC matter. The church does state that(in short) killing is wrong, which includes capital punishment,abortion, murder and yes, unmandated war. Since John Kerry is a senator, he represents his constituancy and their view of how the law should reflect, WHICH IS THE SEPERATION OF THE CHURCH AND STATE!!!! The bozochimpsters in DC and in our media want us to think that he is the only one out of step with the Vatican, but in this matter, he is not. On the same topic, I find it very interesting that bartcop might say some of the thing that have been said; I might pose back what our priest said during our christmas service-"I don't think that I, as an Irishman, need to remind you Americans of the importance of peace, and the need to work for peace in the world today". I realize that all of us christians seem to have this big neon sign above us that says, "Hey, we're christians and the posterchildren for the right-wing Revelation gangsters, and it's our goal to try to bring about the end of the world". Sorry, the God I believe in(and I don't think I am alone here) emplores me to "Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living".

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* Re: M. Signorile: 'Dole gets wood, Pope doesn't blink, but Kerry's a bad Catholic'
by TCall2002 on Friday, April 30 @ 11:06:35 EDT

Re: M. Signorile: 'Dole gets wood, Pope doesn't blink, but Kerry's a bad Catholic' (Score: 1)
by TCall2002 on Friday, April 30 @ 10:46:46 EDT
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When they start sticking their noses into politics, all churches should be taxed.

But we won't see that under THIS administration because the religious nuts are all in bed with the Halliburton White House.