1115.org

Why is John Kerry being singled out by the Catholic Church for his pro-choice stance? It’s not like there aren’t other politicians who are Catholic and pro-choice. Atrios has been pointing out some who should be mentioned, but haven’t been yet. Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, New York Governor George Pataki, former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and many others hold the same views on abortion as Kerry, but have escaped the calls for excommunication. What’s the difference? Oh, those other guys are Republicans.

The Catholic church is also steadfastly against the death penalty. In his time as Governor of Texas, George W. Bush presided over 152 executions. The Pope came out strongly against the war in Iraq. The President went to war anyway. Catholic lawmakers went along on both matters.

Bush’s own Methodist church was officially against the war, but he has not faced any sanction.

The only argument for holding simultaneous anti-abortion and pro-death penalty views is that you are protecting innocent life while handing out the ultimate punishment to the rest. But doesn’t the bible say that only God can make that decision?

Still, it seems clear from the timing that the Catholic church is pro-Bush and anti-Kerry.

But what else could be expected from an institution who enables priests to sexually abuse children and then tries to cover these acts up by moving them to other parishes? This sounds like a Team Bush policy all the way.

If it feels like the deck is stacked, that’s because it is.