Kaine Lost

Last updated on: October 5, 2016 at 7:46 am by Mark Shea

Kaine Lost 2016-10-05T07:46:36-07:00 Mark Shea

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

He lost in terms of performance–an irritating, interrupting yip dog–and he lost in terms of substance.

Here’s the deal, Pence’s job was, among other things, to lie to voters about Trump’s record:

That last quote about punishing post-abortive women was one of five positions Trump took in three days last spring as he dithered in his attempt to delude prolifers that he thinks like them when, in fact, he has no clue what they think. A couple of days after that embarrassing performance, he settled on the his historic position, which he still holds, that “the laws are set” and need to stay that way. In other words, he conceded that he thinks the same thing Hillary does about Roe: keep it. That’s why, for the first time in three decades, you heard not one peep about abortion from him during his convention speech.

Pence’s job was to obfuscate that fact, so he also lied to prolifers and himself that Trump cares about abortion. He was aided in that by his ability to tell himself that since he himself opposes abortion, therefore it stands to reason that a guy like him surely can’t be supporting a transparent sociopath who is using him to buy the vote of prolife conservative Christians. It must be because Trump actually cares about abortion that I was nominated for Veep. Yeah! That’s it! That’s the ticket!

It’s a remarkable piece of doublethink but, apparently, a sincere one. And with his bland demeanor and non-yip-dog rhetorical style, he was able to sell his audience on that, even as he then went on to reinforce the *real* core of Trump’s message: xenophobic contempt for, among other foreign devils, the desperate children of Syria who could all die in torments for all they care. It was a classic anti-abortion-but-not-prolife message and it works very well for the bulk of Americans, who don’t like abortion (but also don’t want to get rid of Roe) and also are afraid of people from the Mideast. It fits in with his overall Evangelical outlook, which is riddled with inconsistencies and has no Magisterium to challenge it.

But Kaine does claim to be a Catholic. And yet, as reader Matthew Miller pointed out: “Tim Kaine’s examples of how his faith informs his policies were both examples of how he went against Church teaching.”

Dude. You can’t simultaneously play the “I’m more Christian than you” game against an Evangelical while making clear that “Christian” means “Ignoring the obvious and immemorial teaching of Christianity whenever partisan need demands.” You tell me how the Faith moves you to defy consensus in the case of the death penalty. Bravo. But then what’s this dog’s breakfast you make of the Church’s teaching on abortion? As Robby George said yesterday in response to your grotesque capitulation:

If someone believes that an unborn baby is “not a human being” or “not a person,” he or she is gravely mistaken, but his or her advocacy of legal abortion and its public funding is at least coherent and understandable. What is not coherent or understandable is the position of people like Tim Kaine and Joe Biden who claim to believe that the unborn are human beings, that wantonly killing them is morally wrong, but that they should be excluded from the protection of the laws that protect the rest of us against unjust killing, and that public money should be used to pay for snuffing out their lives.

Senator Kaine, you want to exploit your Catholic faith for personal gain. In the course of doing so, you ignore the warning of Jesus that those to whom much is given, much will be required. Mr. Pence’s grab bag of Evangelical theology does not prepare him to grasp the postmodern chaos that is the lying mind of his running mate. Indeed, many on the prolife right have already drunk deep of the notion that it is perfectly fine to lie through their teeth “to save the babies”. So he can scarcely be blamed for the rubbish he has convinced himself of in order to defend the torrent of blather that comes from Trump’s mouth and he appears to at least sincerely think he is defending the unborn in some incoherent way.

But you? You have been given, by Holy Church, the knowledge that a human life is precious from the moment of conception and that it is our duty to defend it from harm to the best of our ability. You had an opportunity to be a consistent, counter-cultural witness to the Church’s teaching on the preciousness of all human life and you pissed it away. You looked us in the eye and defended stabbing a baby in the brain with a pair of scissors while daring to invoke a blessing on yourself and your claptrap in the name of Jesus Christ and his holy Church.

God’s Name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, Senator Kaine.

Uncategorized

Abortion and related horrors

Previous Post

October 5, 2016

Precisely

Next Post

October 5, 2016 Prayer Request

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 September 2006 June 2006 July 2005 April 2005 May 2002 April 2002 0000

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz