Democratic party tries to woo back Catholics

Via a link from another blog, bettnet.com, comes this interesting story on how the Democratic party is hiring a "Catholic Outreach Coordinator" to try to strengthen its Catholic vote.

That basically means they are going to try to go after the pro-life contingency, as that is what basically won Bush his two terms in office. Why this probably won't work is best explained in the following article excerpt:

Catholic Democrats in the House of Representatives, both pro-life and pro-choice, issued a “Statement of Catholic Principles” Feb. 28 ( NCR, March 10). “We envision a world in which every child belongs to a loving family and agree with the Catholic church about the value of human life and the undesirability of abortion,” said the statement, signed by 55 House Democrats. “Each of us is committed to reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies and creating an environment with policies that encourage pregnancies to be carried to term. We believe this includes promoting alternatives to abortion, such as adoption, and improving access to children’s health care and child-care, as well as policies that encourage paternal and maternal responsibility.”

Pro-life Catholics who lean more with Democrat party lines but have recently voted Republican are not going to come back with open-ended statements like that. It's not what is said, but what isn't said. Underlying all of that is their refusal to give up the woman's right to choose an abortion; instead they'll provide alternatives, too. If Catholic Democrats were unequivocal about the evil of abortion, that would sway back a lot of voters. This is part of the problem I've found with the statement of the 55 House Democrats. They never come out and say abortion is evil and should never be performed. They say they want policies that "encourage paternal and maternal responsibility." What pro-life Catholics want are policies that don't "encourage" but rather "demand" paternal and maternal responsibility. "Encourage" is too soft and safe a word for those they are trying to swing back into the fold.

This post is by no means an endorsement of the Republican party, as there is as much hypocrisy with life issues over there, too. In fact, it drives me crazy how Catholic principles are often divided into Republican and Democrat camps (i.e. if you're pro-life, you're labeled Republican; if you're passionate about social justice issues, you're labeled Democrat). If Catholics have swung toward the Republican side, it's in large part because of that party's effort to overturn Roe v. Wade. If more Democrats came out with stronger pro-life stances and expressed a sincere desire to overturn Roe v. Wade, then we may start to see a big swing. In fact, with the Republican party struggling to find a standout presidential candidate, a landslide victory for the Democratic party could be a reality.