Rudy Giuliani has the opportunity to become the first Roman Catholic to win the Republican Party's presidential nomination. The problem is, Rudy is not a very good Catholic, at least as measured by adherence to Church dogma. Rudy is "pro-choice," "pro-gay rights," "pro-death penalty" and, if his own personal history is a guide, pro serial marriage. While I am not a Catholic, I am pretty sure that this is not the Church's preferred social platform.
Kate O'Beirne wrote a column published today about the potential political consequences of Rudy's heresy. She first notes that Catholics have voted more Republican over time, for example, preferring Bush over Kerry, a coreligionist, by a slightly larger margin then the total voting population. O'Beirne contends that this change in party allegiance occurred because many Catholics are "morals" voters who reject the Democratic Party over abortion and other social issues. However, O'Beirne states, many of these voters are "big government" conservatives, who will vote for a Democrat on economic issues if there is no difference between the candidates over "values." O'Beirne gives Casey's election over Santorum as an example of this. While I think O'Beirne has a point, she does ignores the most interesting aspect of this issue.
What I am most interested in watching develop is the line taken by the infamous "Catholic League" and its president, Bill Donohue. We all remember him for his recent hysterics regarding the bloggers hired by the Edwards campaign. Most of us also remember his as the one who essentially ex-communicated Kerry from the Catholic faith because of his stand on choice. My understanding is that he played an important role in getting Church officials to denounce Kerry and any Catholic who planned on voting for him. No observing Catholic could vote for Kerry was their position. So, the question is, will Donohue and his organization take the same position against Giuliani, whose position on choice and rights for gays is almost identical to the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee.
My bet is that Donohue will stay silent on the issue as long as possible hoping that Rudy will lose before he has to take a position. In the unlikely event that Giuliani does win the Republican nomination, Donohue will endorse him as the "lesser of two evils." Essentially, guys like Donohue and most of the other leaders of the religious right are Republican political operatives. They use their positions as religious leaders to further their politcal goals. Their only consistently held "value" is that Republicans should be elected. If endorsing someone like Giuliani is completely contrary to a position taken against a Democrat in a prior election, so be it. Republicans must be elected. Being pro-choice and pro gay rights is just another example of something that is "ok if you're a Republican."
Cross posted on mydd.com