SwiftVets.com

[The bandit]

In an interview with The Telegraph Herald in Dubuque, Kerry said:

"I oppose abortion, personally. I don't like abortion. I believe life does begin at conception. But I can't take my Catholic belief, my article of faith, and legislate it on a Protestant or a Jew or an atheist ...who doesn't share it. We have separation of church and state in the United States of America."

Talk about hidding and running from personal convictions. This answer is a sure sign of a weasal.

[NoDonkey]

[Tony]

This is a fascinating quote that proves that John Kerry is most effective as a campaigner when he keeps quiet. If you deconstruct this statement a bit, he is essentially saying all sorts of interesting things that shed light on his character, including:

-- He has beliefs but doesn't feel that others should have the same beliefs...sounds like moral relativism to me...do whatever you want as long as you think it's okay or put another way...there is no right and wrong.

-- He feels being against abortion is a Catholic belief...what about other religions and even atheists and agnostics who believe that life is sacred and begins at conception. Have they adopted a Catholic belief - or do these other groups advocate that there is nothing wrong with abortion?

-- He thinks it's okay to have it both ways.. to a walk a fine line that really takes no position with the hopes that no one will be offended or see through the charade.....which implies that you, me and the guy down the street are really quite stupid (I know - some of us are...). I'd bet god money he didn't inhale either....

-- That when in a tough spot...compromise is the way to go...so what does happen when you mix up good and evil, Mr. Kerry? Who wins that battle.....Kind of like bombing tents in the desert in retaliation for attacks against our embassies in Africa.

I hope he keeps sharing little nuggets like this, so the American people can see what this guy is all about. His handlers were probably climbing the walls when this story broke - lucky for them it hasn't received much attention in the media.
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http://tonyk.smugmug.com/photos/1822816-L-1.jpg
USN 1983-1992

[MikeWinn]

Tony,

You've hit the nail on the head!

[nakona]

In fairness, I have no problem with the opinion itself. A public official should not impose his religious beliefs on his constituency.
Government should exist, primarily to provide those things for the community which it cannot provide for itself, and decisions on public policy should be, as much as possible, based on objective reality.


Having aid that, there are two reasons that someone might take that viewpoint:

1) An honest feeling that personal beliefs should have a limited impact on public policy, or;

2) Trying to straddle the fence.


Based on Kerry's track record, I am more inclined to believe that his statement falls into category #2.
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13F20P

[The bandit]

Damn good analysis that was, Tony.

[Paul]

First, as to Senator Kerry wanting to have it both ways, then is quite true and even better demonstrated by his recent pietistic statements dripping in religiosity made from pulpits of churches aimed at President Bush in which Senator Kerry quoted "faith without works is dead" while claiming his own various socialist programs as driven by his personal faith. This is dirt common among anti-life nominally-Catholic politicians and even such as sad and pathetic Catholic Bishops, Religious and Laity who support them and who themselves have great trouble with the question of whether raping a boy is either a sin or a crime. Yes, it did require the Pope to state it clearly (obviously).

While not stated as clearly here, but a consideration, then as to abortion being only a private matter, then nonsense. It's a social issue that impacts individual members of society and all of society. Abortion is now entwined in our public laws, in our public institutions, in our AID to foreign nations and has been imposed (especially over the past 30 to 40 years) primarily through social means. This is not merely a "private" matter, regardless of the unsound basis of "privacy" imposed on the nation since 1965.

As to it being only a religious issue, or as one hears more commonly these days a "theological" issue, then, it's true that there is a theological aspect to the matter of abortion if one holds to the term as it was formed in Western civilization, that which deals with the Divine Science, or the study of God. What the status is with God of an individual person who advocates for legalization of the willful murder of human beings after conception at fertilization and before birth is a valid question.

However, the question of abortion itself is not, as is rightly pointed out above, a "theological" question in itself. It's not the Incarnation of Christ as man that's being discussed or debated, rather it is the incarnation of a man as a man and the “right” of a society to declare the murder of a man as legal that is being questioned and challenged by those opposed to abortion and supported and defended by those in favor of abortion (even if not overtly or courageously and most through ambiguity and babble about "rights" and "convenience" by the latter).

An atheist most certainly can be opposed to the act of willful murder that abortion is as an atheist can also be opposed to other forms of contraception and other perversions of human physiology and human nature on sound philosophical principles alone.

From the perspective of one’s being a Catholic, the philosophical aspect is not lessened, but is only deepened by the theological aspect of the matter, the fact that the act of willful murder like those of sodomy, oppression of the poor and depriving a laborer of his wages, is a sin that cries to Heaven for vengeance.

Senator Kerry’s position is unsound and degenerate on either a metaphysical or theological basis, private or social. He’s a hypocrite in the fullest sense of the term. Not only is he inconsistent with himself (the most minor aspect) but he preaches to do what is right while simultaneously advocating publicly and socially to do what is wrong.

Lastly, and sadly, I don't believe that Senator Kerry's self-contradictory and self-serving positions being made public will have that much of an impact due to how low the nation has sunk in a mere 40 years or so.

To point out the obvious, these are different generations of Americans and in a very real sense a different America than at any time of the nation's past. The majority of the American citizenry at the moment is made up of the Baby Boom generation and its progeny. The ability to hold multiple self-contradictory principles simultaneously is quite common and quite ubiquitous.

"Nice" people have become accustomed to committing and defending very "un-nice" acts with very bad consequences. Even President Bush primarily only pays lip service to pro-life issues, including abortion.
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Paul

[Paul]

"He thinks it's okay to have it both ways.. to a walk a fine line that really takes no position with the hopes that no one will be offended or see through the charade.....which implies that you, me and the guy down the street are really quite stupid (I know - some of us are...). I'd bet god money he didn't inhale either.... "

Again, not to be nasty, but only to point out that in Senator Kerry's case, it's not a matter of walking a "fine line."

He makes weak statements that are blatantly contradicted by his concrete actions, both as a public official and as a private citizen. If one sees the Senator as treating Americans as being stupid, then in no small way it's because so many Americans (even many quite able and possessing natural intelligence) have formed themselves, or been formed, into being effectively stupid. "Style over substance" and "appetite over principle" and "whatever is expedient over what is right or wrong" have, in practice, become so-called "values" of an increasingly majority amoral population.

Amoral people often do good things. Simultaneously, the very same people will frequently do immoral (or bad) things at the same time.

There's no public outrage over these statements. One should not expect it. Senator Kerry only states what so many other American citizens themselves state, advocates for what so many support and commits the same concrete actions that others do.
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Paul

[hosemonkey]

John Kerry was going to visit the Catholic National Cathedral outside Washington as part of his campaign. Kerry's campaign manager made a visit to the Cardinal and said to him, "We've been getting a lot of bad publicity among Catholics because of Kerry's position on abortion and the like. We'd gladly make a contribution to the church of $100,000 if during your sermon you'd say John Kerry is a saint." The Cardinal thinks it over for a moment and agrees to do it.

John Kerry shows up, and as the Mass progresses the Cardinal begins his homily. "John Kerry is petty, a self-absorbed hypocrite and a nit-wit. He is a liar, a cheat, and a thief. He is the worst example of a Catholic I've ever personally known. But compared to Ted Kennedy, John Kerry is a saint."