Smearing Democratic VP Selections

The effort to smear John Edwards was pretty coordinated. The smear merchants who are trying to sabotage Kathleen Sebelius have to work harder to come up with something better than this:

Beyond her decision not to "speak Catholic," Sebelius has a politically thorny relationship with her bishop. In April, she vetoed legislation that would have beefed up efforts to enforce restrictions on abortion providers in Kansas. The law was aimed squarely at Dr. George Tiller, one of the nation's fiercest defenders of late-term abortions. Sebelius said she vetoed the law because it was clearly unconstitutional and would invite frivolous lawsuits, a position that was supported by the Kansas City Star and various women's organizations. Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City — Sebelius's own bishop — saw it differently: He went public with his request that the governor refrain from presenting herself for communion. In a column in his diocesan paper, the archbishop called her behavior "scandalous" before going on to say, "The spiritually lethal message, communicated by our governor, as well as many other high-profile Catholics in public life, has been in effect: 'The church's teaching on abortion is optional.'" Sebelius did not offer any public response to the archbishop's edict.

Archbishop Naumann is one of a number of conservative prelates who have decided to use the communion rail as a bludgeon in the culture war. (The most famous example came in 2004, when Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis forbade John Kerry from receiving communion within his jurisdiction; another was when Douglas Kmiec, a former Department of Justice official in the Reagan administration, was denied communion for his support of Obama this year.) Naumann has been published in the conservative Catholic journal First Things, a magazine that often mimics White House talking points more faithfully than it follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. And he has participated in the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, an annual event that's meant to bring Catholics together with (mostly Republican) political leaders. In the event that Obama selects Sebelius, we can expect Naumann to take to the airwaves, and Obama's campaign could be forced into a high-profile and unwelcome skirmish with a religious figure.

Sounds devastating! But it's not. Sounds like Sebelius is out. But she isn't.

Not only do most Americans disagree with the good bishop, so do most Catholics, depending on who asks the questions and who frames them. Not only would the American people react with indifference and confusion to something like this, there's a pretty good chance they'll see it for what it is and embrace Sebelius as a good leader. When people see what a demagogue the bishop is, they'll quickly reject what he has to say. Public policy should not be dictated by religious leaders in this country and that's exactly how Sebelius has governed. That means she passes the test of being a good leader.

And that means she's qualified. No politician who separates faith from public policy should have any kind of "problem."

--WS

PZ Myers Needs Your Help

Actually, he needs you to have a good laugh at the expense of Bill Donohue, the raging, out of control Super Catholic who protects America:

So far today, I have received 39 pieces of personal hate mail of varying degrees of literacy, all because I was rude to a cracker. Four of them have included death threats, a personal one day record. Thirty-four of them have demanded that I be fired. Twenty-five of them have told me to desecrate a copy of the Koran, instead, or in some similar way offend Muslims, because — in a multiplicity of ironic cluelessness — apparently only some religious icons must be protected, and I would only offend Catholics because they are all so nice that none of them would wish me harm. I even have one email that says I should be fired, that the author would like to kill me, and that I only criticize because Catholics are so gentle and kind.

Oh, and of course, the university president's office has also received lots of mail demanding my immediate ouster (keep in mind, though…Catholics are no threat to anyone at all.) I don't know how much, but since Donohue published the president's email address and not mine, I imagine it's much greater than what I've seen. Those lovely Dark Age fanatics at the Catholic League have started a write-in campaign to start up an inquisition.

So no poll-crashing today. Instead, I would appreciate it if you would write a short note to President Robert Bruininks in support (he's going to hate me for this). I have to ask for a few constraints, though: only do so if you are willing to sign a real name to it — most of the complaint mail I'm getting uses fake names, making it much less persuasive — and that, unlike the religious screeds I'm seeing, you take the time to proofread and send him something that at least looks like a high school graduate wrote it, which will put you way above the level of the hate mail. Be polite and rational, too!

If you really want to impress, send him regular mail at this address:

President Robert H. Bruininks
202 Morrill Hall
100 Church Street S.E.
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN 55455

All of this started because Myers wanted to be mean to a cracker. Isn't it five minutes past the time when someone was supposed to report Donohue to the police for having public sex with an animal while wearing a nun's habit?

Update below the fold:


BG writes a letter in support of Dr. Myers:

I know first-hand the foam-flecked idiocy his detractors are capable of. I have been threatened, stalked, and at one point...pelted with rosaries as I walked across the quad to the Science and Technology building, and lemme tell ya - that can hurt!

My most recent bit of difficulty came after a panel discussion on ESCR - having a functioning scientific brain, I'm for it - one of the religious whackos on the panel tried to talk science with me. In mid rant I asked him to stop, I had a question - Could he tell me what a telomere is, and why it is important? He was at a loss, and he stammered and stuttered and tried to shift the topic, stopping just short of pointing and screaming "Witch! Burn her!"

I am certain that I gave the chancellor heartburn when I zeroed in for the kill and maybe engaged in a little more mockery than was absolutely necessary (but not much) and utterly humiliated that poor fool who thought he could vanquish my science - and my mean streak - with a bible. I left the panel discussion, and trotted off to engage in the valiant struggle of attempting to force some semblance of understanding of Cellular Biology to stick in the eensy little brains of the future nursing students who will, upon receiving licenses, inspire me to consider bleedings and leeches when I need health care. Back at my crummy little grad-student office after class, about an hour and a half after the panel ended, I had tens of emails and my voicemail box was full of the stupidest, most illiterate spewings you have ever seen, some rising to the level of death threat.

I corrected them for grammar, spelling, proper sentence syntax, etc and sent them back, with a nice little note explaining why they should try to come off literate, and I agreed, I am a monster who must be stopped, but they were going to have to step up their game a bit.

Aren't you glad we don't both work for you?

I even signed it with my professional name and included a gaggle of initials off to the right...

Oh - and here is Bill Donohue's cell phone number if you want to give him a jingle: 917-838-1057.