Professor Douglas Kmiec
Posted on 01/13/2009 9:34:33 AM PST by NYer
.- In his first lengthy article explaining his position after the election of President Barack Obama, Professor Douglas Kmiec is accusing “right wing Catholic bloggers" of distorting his position, attacking him personally, and potentially poisoning the relationship between the Holy See and the future administration of President Barack Obama.
In the article entitled “A Tangled Web. The Election & the Blogosphere,” written for Commonweal magazine, Professor Kmiec explains that “as the author of a book whose title asked Can a Catholic Support Him? –and whose contents answered with an enthusiastic ‘Yes, we can!’- I have felt the animosity of those with an insatiable desire for political payback.”
“I’ve been subjected to unrelenting personal attacks launched from right-wing Catholic keyboards-blogs (and bloggers) so coarse and uncivil they make the insults of talk radio sound like actual journalism,” writes the law professor.
“Further –he argues- the lack of civility that rules the right-wing Catholic blogosphere has infected mainstream Catholic journalism as well. In a syndicated assessment of the 2008 election, one usually thoughtful conservative columnist employed the following descriptions of Catholic Obama supporters: ‘decadent,’ ‘tribal,’ ‘immoral,’ ‘certainly stupid,’ ‘mindless,’ and in need of basic ‘adult education.’ And those were all in a single paragraph! Such highly concentrated rhetorical venom is not calculated to invite discussion.”
“My online tormentors,” Kmiec continues, “like to claim that their beef with me is my alleged abandonment of the prolife cause or willful misstatement of church teaching. Neither charge is true. I remain unabashedly prolife and I have never consciously misstated the doctrine of the church.”
“This essay,” Professor Kmiec further explains, “is not about abortion, but at least this much must be said: blog lies to the contrary, there is no real legislative interest in FOCA. The attempt to use FOCA to drive a wedge between the church and the incoming administration is unjustified”. He then warns the U.S. bishops: “the bishops, having stated clearly their opposition to FOCA-and rightly so-should not allow the right wing to obscure what Obama shares with the church: concern for the poor; support for the average family; a commitment to ending an unjust war; and respect for our environment.”
“Unless the sore losers of November 4 manage to poison the well, the Holy See and the Obama administration should be working more closely together in service to others than any administration in modern memory,” he opines.
Going back to his criticism of Catholic bloggers, Kmiec writes that “the scurrilous remarks of conservative bloggers missed the point, which was that I and millions of others who voted for Obama did so not despite our Catholic faith but because of it.”
“A hate-filled blogosphere,” argues Kmiec, after defending the sincerity of Obama’s religious beliefs, “feeds a politics of odium, misleading people of faith and good will, diminishing and at times obliterating our ability to know one another.
“Sadly, neighbor-love is not what has overwhelmed my in-box since my Obama endorsement. Instead, right-wing blogs and their readers have launched missiles of hate, delivering ad hominem invective of an astonishing vehemence and crassness.”
Professor Kmiec later laments in his essay that “to be remade by a hateful blogosphere has its price, I’ve learned. I worry that such invitations to speak at Catholic colleges, and the fruitful exchanges these invitations make possible, will be fewer.”
“One member –he says- of the U.S. hierarchy whom I greatly admire has renounced our past association, writing, ‘We are not friends, professor,’ and answering my invocation of Christian brotherhood with a curt retort: ‘I do see you as a brother in Christ –a brother who is serving an evil end.’ The greatest personal price I have paid is the loss of old-and the preemption of new-friendships.”
Kmiec also confesses that when America Magazine’s blogger Michael Sean Winters speculated that the Obama administration might name him as ambassador to the Holy See, he was “flattered” and started seriously thinking about the possibility.
But he claims that “neither God nor the president-elect had an opportunity to answer before the blogs were recycling their various calumnies, and adding now an anonymous voice allegedly saying ‘it would never happen.’”
Kmiec doesn’t reserve blame to “right wing” Catholic bloggers alone. In his essay, he says a role were played by “unfortunate remarks,” like the ones of Archbishop Raymond Burke calling the Democratic Party “the party of death,” and of Cardinal Francis Stafford at The Catholic University of America “describing some of the policies of the president-elect as ‘aggressive, disruptive, and apocalyptic.’”
But he takes again on “right-wing Catholic bloggers,” which “acting as a thinly disguised political front for the GOP, remain fixated on the goal of precipitating an unnecessary war between the Holy See and America’s next administration. It is dismaying to see a few American prelates and their ‘anonymous’ Vatican commentators acting as witting or unwitting coconspirators in this divisive action.”
Nevertheless, Professor Kmiec takes solace in the fact that “blogs have not closed the mind of the new president and, like Lincoln, he bears ‘malice toward none’ and manifests ‘charity for all’.”
“Even spinning a pervasive web of falsehood, the right-wing Catholic blogosphere is no match for the self-evident truth of that golden rule-nor would its bloggers want to be, were they to indulge a microsecond of charitable thought before hitting the send button,” he concludes.
Indeed ... he has even lined up a female pastor to deliver the sermon at the traditional National Prayer Service on January 21, the day after Barack Obama is sworn in as president. In an attempt to be 'inclusive', he has left out the other major religous groups ... what - no rabbi or imam!
Do you think he’ll be able to find a Catholic?
Fr. Andrew Greeley comes to mind but he is still recovering from injuries sustained in a freak fall late last year. Perhaps the omission is intentional to be interpreted as a snub towards Benedict XVI :-0 Personally, I am not offended as I plan to snub his inauguration and presidency.
Wouldn’t it be kind of bad for a Catholic to suggest that the Pope is not in fact the rightful communicator of God’s message for the church, but is instead an easily-misled consumer of speculative internet postings?
The acid test to be a Democratic candidate or judical nominee is “how you stand on Roe -v- Wade”
No the poor or what ever else.
The Democrats are a one issue party - Abortion.
All real Catholics would be called ‘Right-Wing”, and proudly so, by this Pharasee.
This essay,” Professor Kmiec further explains, “is not about abortion, but at least this much must be said: blog lies to the contrary, there is no real legislative interest in FOCA
Obama said otherwise himself, and his voting record is clear. You were played for the fool you are at best, and at worst, are a fraud.
Exactly and precisely. No ifs, ands, or buts. There is NO excuse for what Kmiec did. All he can do now is pray for forgiveness.
What a big cry baby. Doug, it is okay to sit on your pity potty every now and then. Just be sure to flush when you are done!
Looks like you've swallowed a little propaganda whole, professor.
Sure: “Father” Pleger! He’s a great “Catholic.” (/s)
I think the Pope and his aides can be misled by propaganda, ie, bloggers, “news” orgs, and even terrorists.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5473588.ece
Cardinal Martino, one of the Pope’s closest aides, said: “Defenceless populations are always the ones who pay. Look at the conditions in Gaza: more and more, it resembles a big concentration camp.”
Has it ever occurred to this joker that he is the one who is out of step? Nah, it would never cross his narcissistic mind that he is simply WRONG. Did he get some token job with the O administration yet for his attempt to spread propaganda, or was it all for nothing?
I know. I have had a Dr. friend, almost family, for years. One day he decides he believes in Socialized Medicine. HELLO?
Obama has done a pretty good job of that himself with his global abortion, depopulation, and embryonic stem cell policies and appointing the pro-death Schiavo lawyer.
Smart people are sometimes erratic or eccentric in their thinking. Truly brilliant people are better at watching the road dividers.
Professor Douglas Kmiec, apologist for the Party of Death.
So the “devout” Roman Catholic voted for the champion of sodomy and abortion? His actions speak for themsleves.
I plan to maintain total media silence that day! I think I’ll go out and spend it in the country with my horse.
Greely would probably be willing to do it. I wonder if any of the bishops would permit it, though. I’m a little worried that Wuerl, who is somewhat shaky in dealing with politicos, might let himself be used by Obama.
You left out the obvious explanation: the Devil like a roaring lion goes about seeking whom he may devour.
Hanssen was a sociopath, so he doesn’t count; Kmiec is probably just a very vain man who wants to be in with the in-crowd. That may seem insignificant, but for some people, it’s enough of a motivator to be their 30 pieces of silver (also not a huge sum!). The Devil finds a man’s weakness and uses it.
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