The revenge of Bob Casey

Here is a real surprise. An article in the National Catholic Reporter that I totally agree with. I checked twice to see if it might actually be from the National Catholic Register instead.

...In his 1996 autobiography, Casey warned: "Many people discount the power of the so-called 'cultural issues' -- and especially the abortion issue. I see it the other way around. These issues are central to the resurgence of the Republicans, central to the national implosion of the Democrats, central to the question of whether there will be a third party. ...[The] Democrats' national decline - or, better, their national disintegration -- will continue relentlessly and inexorably until they come to grips with these values issues, primarily abortion."

Bob Casey isn't around to see the 32-state crater his party left in this year's election. He died in 2000, loyal -- to the end -- to his party, his Catholic faith and his convictions about the dignity of all human life, born and unborn.

But is anybody left to learn from Casey's warning? Don't count on it. Hundreds of thousands of traditional Democrats, barred from any real voice in the party, have simply left. And the tumor within the party has only worsened as the culture war has widened from abortion to the nature of marriage.

California's Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein warns cluelessly that gay marriage was pushed too fast -- as if the troglodytes in the red states (and oh, yeah, in Oregon) need more time to see the light. Others point to Bush's personality, or Karl Rove's evil genius, or John Kerry's bumbling campaign team. The list of excuses is endless.

The 2004 election wasn't about "personality." It was about character -- the Bob Casey, moral values kind. Democrats used to be able to tell the difference. That they no longer can is why my Democrat wife, and millions of people just like her, had no trouble at all pulling the lever for Republicans on Nov. 2.

It is a short article and the beginning is also worth reading.