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Flynn: Dems ignore Catholics
Boston Herald ^
| December 31, 2003
| David R. Guarino
Posted on 01/01/2004 3:53:55 PM PST by NYer
Former Vatican Ambassador Raymond L. Flynn yesterday accused Democrats of ignoring a ``swing'' bloc of Catholic voters who could hand President Bush re-election next year.
As Democratic presidential candidates spent another day criticizing Howard Dean as ill-prepared for the White House, Flynn chastised them for ``ducking'' real issues such as abortion and gay marriage.
``There is a forum for the black voters, there's another forum for the feminists and women voters, there's another candidate forum for organized labor,'' Flynn told the Herald. ``That doesn't happen with the most significant voting bloc in the country, the Catholic vote.''
Flynn, in an opinion column published in the Manchester Union-Leader, said Democrats are writing off more than 40 percent of the Granite State's voters by ignoring Catholics.
He said the Democrats skirt delicate issues such as government aid to parochial schools. ``They don't want these kinds of issues raised in a political campaign, so they ignore it,'' Flynn said.
But Andrew Smith of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center said, ``Catholics don't vote as a bloc, they are as varied as Protestant voters or any other voters.''
Meanwhile, Democratic challengers to Dean spent another day nit-picking the leader of the pack. In Iowa, U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry slammed Dean for mischaracterizing a vote he took on farm subsidies - claiming Dean mixed up Kerry with ex-Sen. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska.
And U.S. Rep. Richard Gephardt took on the former Vermont governor's claim to be the only candidate from a ``farm state'' - noting that his native Missouri has far more farms than Vermont.
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2004; catholic; catholicvote; christianvote; dems; election; gop; president; rayflynn; votingblock
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To: NYer
The democrats cannot address Catholic issues, because doing so would alienate too many of the democratic party's core constituency groups (esp the feminists)
21
posted on
01/01/2004 4:36:03 PM PST
by
Paleoguy
To: Salvation
Thanks for the invite, but I'm completely through with any organized religion. No being powerful enough to create the universe, and set up all the mechanisms necessary to keep it running, needs me to do, say, or believe anything to keep it all going.
As far as changes in the Catholic church go, do they still teach that people go to hell for masturbation? They still would have a massive problem with my three divorces!
To: mware
He was Ambassador to the Vatican under clinton, as I recall, but was forced to resign when his pro-life stances became too outspoken.
23
posted on
01/01/2004 4:41:43 PM PST
by
Cicero
(Marcus Tullius)
To: hunter112
One older guy at a Knights of Columbus after-meeting function (in the lounge of the local Mexican restaurant) acknowledged that a lot of the guys had rationalized it this way: better for them to commit one sin, one time, than to have their wives commit a little sin every day by taking the Pill.These men did not understand what a sin really is. The sin was not confined to the day they had the vasectomy. Every time they congratulated themselves on their cleverness, and were glad that they'd had the vasectomy, they were ratifying the sin. In a sense, they were committing it over again each time they ratified it again with their will.
To: mware
I say let the Dems keep their link to Catholics for a Free Choice. All these attempts to nibble away at the Dem Party around the edges are misguided. The Dem Party is the party of committed baby-killers. It cannot be reformed. It must be destroyed. Does anybody go around in a funk because the Nazi Party has objectionable links on their website (as they no doubt do)?
To: Arthur McGowan
I say let the Dems keep their link to Catholics for a Free ChoiceI hear what you are saying but I do not like the idea of my religion being misrepresented by another organization, especially one like, Catholics For Free Choice.
26
posted on
01/01/2004 4:52:28 PM PST
by
mware
To: mware
The dems do not ignore Catholics, they have chosen sides. The dems directly oppose the Vatican's stance on abortion. The dems have determined that they would rather have the support of the feminist left rather than strict Catholics. As said earlier - freedom of choice.
To: NYer
Seems Flynn is threatening he will not deliver the Catholic vote.
28
posted on
01/01/2004 5:31:28 PM PST
by
luvbach1
To: NYer
The 'Rats are too controlled by militant secularists to be serious about Catholics before the November elections.
To: NYer
Christian Dean wouldn't! sarcasm!
30
posted on
01/01/2004 5:58:30 PM PST
by
winker
To: NYer
Is this the best we can expect from the "Boston Herald"? I doubt we are the most significant voting bloc in the country, but we ARE as varied as any group out there (which makes me wonder if we ARE a group when it comes to politics.) My sister is a Catholic. I am a Catholic. When we come to worship, we are as one. The rest of the time....... nope. We all have to live according to our own conscience, all the while remembering that this life is not the end of the line.
31
posted on
01/01/2004 8:10:14 PM PST
by
Just Lori
(We're all in this together.)
To: NYer
And U.S. Rep. Richard Gephardt took on the former Vermont governor's claim to be the only candidate from a ``farm state'' - noting that his native Missouri has far more farms than Vermont.
If Dean said this then he is truly a whacko. Five or six counties in Missouri have more farms than Vermont has square mileage.
Vermont is a tiny state.
32
posted on
01/01/2004 8:37:12 PM PST
by
xzins
(Retired Army and Proud of It!)
To: Salvation
On the home page of the Democratic National Committees (DNC) website, democrats.org, there is a link to organizations of interest. Last week, under the Catholic heading, there was one group listed, Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC).
Catholic League president William Donohue spoke to this matter today: I have written to DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe imploring him to act quickly and decisively by removing Catholics for a Free Choice from the DNCs links of interest organizations. The very fact that this group was the only Catholic listing on its website until this week is mind-boggling: it suggests that the DNC believes its Catholic base is led by Frances Kissling. The DNC knows CFFC is bogus yet continues to provide cover for it.
It is flatly wrong to tag CFFC as merely a pro-choice group of ex-Catholics. Kissling has openly admitted that it is her goal to overthrow the Catholic Church. That is why she works so hard to subvert the Church by attempting to get the Holy See kicked out of the U.N. Twice the U.S. bishops have condemned CFFC as a fraud, yet the DNC amazingly gives legitimacy to this anti-Catholic front group.
33
posted on
01/01/2004 9:30:52 PM PST
by
FormerACLUmember
(One man with courage makes a majority)
To: Salvation
Flynn's been a democrat all his life, but in 2000 he endorsed Bush.
No Catholic belongs in the democrat party and voting for a democrat is beyond this Catholic's comprehension.
34
posted on
01/01/2004 9:34:28 PM PST
by
onyx
(Your secrets are safe with me and all my friends.)
To: Bluntpoint
35
posted on
01/01/2004 11:12:28 PM PST
by
Salvation
(†With God all things are possible.†)
To: Arthur McGowan
Very well said!
36
posted on
01/01/2004 11:15:05 PM PST
by
Salvation
(†With God all things are possible.†)
To: mware
37
posted on
01/01/2004 11:17:37 PM PST
by
Salvation
(†With God all things are possible.†)
To: FormerACLUmember
38
posted on
01/01/2004 11:21:36 PM PST
by
Salvation
(†With God all things are possible.†)
To: FormerACLUmember
The only Catholic Link on the DNC site is to a virulently anti-Catholic cult!!!! That is correct, I went to the DNC website for the first time, clicked Links, Religious and found "Catholics for a Free Choice". So it seems like the Democrats are Only interested in Pro-Abortion Catholics.
It follows then, those not following the Pope vote Democrat. Hmmm, shouldn't the church make efforts to correct those not following the Pope, including our Politicians?
39
posted on
01/02/2004 5:52:33 AM PST
by
sr4402
To: Salvation
I believe we will see more Catholics (remember -- the Church (with the younger people) is getting more conservative.) voting Republican more and more! My daughter turns 18 this year and is looking forward to voting in the Fall. She can't stand the Democrats!
40
posted on
01/02/2004 9:22:05 AM PST
by
NYer
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