How the Obama Presidency got to this Moment

[Stephen Fox]

I think it the Tea Party fault, but to convince the rest of the nation when the Rove Narrative works with Land and Pressler in the SBC is almost impossible to turn around.
Still Cecil Sherman was right; and now the country to some degree is facing a slime machine in national politics like he faced in the SBC.

By all means read online pages 11 and 12 if not the entire article:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012 ... entPage=11

[Stephen Fox]

http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispa ... s_liberty/

Playing the Nixon Catholic Card against Obama.

Peggy Noonan scored points against Obama on CNN this afternoon on the matter of Catholic Schools and Obamacare, but there is a much larger picture and way past time to call Charles Pickering and the Allied Defense Fund out on it

[Sandy]

This whole furor surrounding Obamacare and the Catholics and contraception is so disingenuous, it is Limbaughesque in its dishonesty and in its ability to motivate some kind of reaction for a purely political outcome.

First of all, the Catholic church is completely exempt from this provision, on religious grounds, via a recent Supreme Court decision regarding religious exemptions from certain federal mandates. No church funds will go to pay for contraception or insurance coverage for contraception, nor for the "morning after" pill.

Some Catholic-related institutions will have to provide the coverage, though they, too, could be exempt. It's a matter of receiving federal funds for certain programs at some of those institutions, whether they are hospitals or schools. Unlike many, if not most, of the more conservative Evangelical schools and institutions, the Catholics haven't turned down a lot of federal funding for certain programs and services. As a result, as long as they are getting the help, they have to conform to the regs. If you don't have those ties and connections, "Big Brother" doesn't have a way to penalize you for not conforming.

It's also a bit duplicitous to make an issue out of this. Most Protestants and Evangelicals don't have a problem with contraception on religious grounds and, in fact, if they answered honestly, are glad that their insurance covers it. Most Catholics are too. Opinion polls and surveys show that the vast majority of Catholics do not agree with their Bishops or their church on contraception.

The other side of the coin is that having insurance which covers certain medical procedures doesn't necessarily constitute an endorsement of those procedures. When you pay your premium, or in the rare case that your employer pays it for you, you are not making a political statement regarding the medical procedures the company will provide to everyone under its plans. If you don't take advantage of something that they provide, you are simply part of the "odds" that they are playing to make a profit, in that they believe and take a risk that the cost of your medical care over a period of time will be less than what you pay in. You can't trace what you pay directly to some procedure that the company might pay for in someone else's case.

This one's going to backfire on the Republicans.

[Dave Roberts]

Sandy, that's a good summary. Thanks for the time to think that through.

[Stephen Fox]

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archive ... nightmare/

I read this article in the print issue Sunday night. Now it is here for all. Read through this one. If Obama loses and the Tea Party reigns the electorate is dimwitted and may be lost cause

[Stephen Fox]

President Carter's speechwriter James Fallows writes this cover already on the stands. I hope it goes online soon. Look for it

[Stephen Fox]

Interviewed the new book on The Obamas by the woman writer. Tried to get her off track onto Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers but she had none of it. Score one for the good team, Feb 16 Hannity on Fox News.