Catholic Conservatives Cheerleading Vengeful Warmongering Texans?!?

Stephen Hand (who blogs at TCRMusings) provides a lengthy quote from a soon-to-be-published article by Thomas Herron (Culture Wars) on Catholic Senator Eugene McCarthy (not to be confused with the infamous anti-communist Sen. Joe McCarthy). Stephen's citation contains a passing reference -- I would say mischaracterization -- of this particular blogging collective:

". . . His opposition to the Vietnam War, as he recounts in his The Year of the People (1969) was based on an application of the Catholic Just War Theory to our involvement in Big Muddy. Also the witness of Clergy and Laity Concerned About Vietnam which had been founded in 1966 by a young Lutheran clergyman from Brooklyn, Richard John Neuhaus, was influential in his thinking.

"He knew he was committing political suicide by challenging the vengeful Texan who occupied the White House and going against the leadership of his party which controlled both houses of Congress. But for Eugene McCarthy, a published Commonweal Catholic, the principles he was educated in were of paramount importance. It also didn't hurt that the blue collar French and Irish Catholic voters of Manchester, New Hampshire, confused him with that other Senator McCarthy and asked him why he wasn't talking so much about the Commie Menace anymore . . .

"These days there is a clique of young Catholic conservatives who like to talk about Catholics in the Public Square. In fact that is the name of one of their web sites although it really is little-more than cheer-leading for another vengeful warmongering Texan in the White House and his Catholic servants in Congress like Sam Brownback and Rick Santorum. It would behoove young Catholics who wish to really understand the application of Catholic social principles to American politics to fully examine the life of Eugene J. McCarthy. His roots in Catholic social teachings and the Catholic Revival are deep and we should honor him for his courageous attempt to end the Vietnam War in 1968. We should also ask ourselves why the Catholics in Congress can't bring forth his like to oppose this immoral war. As Patrick Buchanan and Scott McConnell have recently commented in The American Conservative where have you gone Gene McCarthy?"

My colleagues can respond to the charges (as well as the larger issue of Sen. McCarthy as role model) if they wish. But I personally found this characterization amusing, since the focus of this particular blog is by and large the relationship of Catholic legislators to the Church and their fidelity to Catholic teaching -- and to my knowledge, whatever our personal opinions on U.S. foreign policy in Iraq, we've engaged in precious little if any "cheerleading for vengeful warmongering Texans."

Perhaps I may be partly at fault in bringing down the wrath of these critics, having maintained another website and blog devoted to the issue of the war in Iraq and the just war tradition. And while I've never met Thomas Herron personally, I had been chastised previously in the pages of Culture Wars for my "rabid support of the current American occupation of Iraq" and sympathy for "the Jewish tribe," whoever they are (see Response to Thomas J. Herron Against The Grain Sept. 13, 2005 for the sordid details).

Culture Wars, if you can guess, is not very high on my reading list, so I appreciate the kindness of Stephen Hand for bringing this criticism to light.

* * *

Meanwhile, I'd like to take the opportunity to remind our readers that David Schrader has devoted much time and effort in compiling a detailed and very useful report on the Catholics in Congress, based on their voting record on abortion, euthanasia, human cloning, embryonic stem cell research (ESCR), torture, and same-sex marriage (SSM). In defense of Senator Rick Santorum and Senator Brownback, they have commendable records (compare them with some of the other infamous Catholic legislators -- Senators Kennedy and Kerry, for instance), and so I gladly join David in his support.