The Catholic Vote

[Bill Mattocks]

I really don't know what President Obama was thinking about when he decided to go after Catholics last week.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203315804577207031703308576.html

In nine of the past 10 presidential elections, the Catholic vote has gone with the candidate who ultimately won the election. Five times it has gone to a Republican; five times to a Democrat. In five of those elections, the percentage of the Catholic vote taken by the winner has been within a single percentage point of the share he won overall.

In 2008, 54% of Catholics went for President Barack Obama and he won; in 2010, 54% voted Republican, and the GOP took control of the House. In short, Catholic voters, who make up about a quarter of the electorate, represent the ultimate swing vote, and rank right up there with the state of Ohio as a bellwether of presidential election outcomes

 

[Carol]

That is VERY interesting. I didn't realize Catholics made for such a swing vote countrywide.

 

[billc]

Where is the risk? Catholics apparently voted 54% for a man who voted against the born alive infant protection act here in Illinois. That act would have required a doctor who performed an abortion, and failed to kill the infant, to provide emergency medical care to the infant once the infant was outside of the womb and alive. He voted against that bill more than once, and did so proudly and publicly. Catholics still voted for the guy.

Here is a quick look at his justifications:

http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2008/01/top-10-reasons.html

http://richardlandlive.com/documents/20080823-obama-on-baipa.pdf

Obama tried to kill the BAIPA on at least three occasions when it was before him in the

Illinois state Senate between 2001 and 2003—once voting “present” and twice voting

“no.”
7

1.
March 30, 2001: Obama voted “present” on a floor vote on SB 1095 (without

neutrality clause)
; bill passed 34-5, with another 13 voting “present,” including

Obama.
8

•
A “present” vote was effectively a “no” vote in the Illinois legislature and

a strategy of Planned Parenthood to advance its radical agenda.

•
“We worked on the ‘present’ vote strategy with Obama,” said Pam

Sutherland, chief lobbyist for the Illinois branch of Planned Parenthood,

according to a
Washington Post fact checker report. “He was willing to

vote ‘no,’ and was always going to be a ‘no’ vote for us.” The report

continued: “Sutherland said Planned Parenthood calculated that a ‘present’

vote by Obama would encourage other senators to cast a similar vote,

rather than voting for the legislation.

 

[David43515]

That is VERY interesting. I didn't realize Catholics made for such a swing vote countrywide.

I was thinking the same thing. I didn`t realize that there was any real history of voting as a block......or maybe there are just enough Catholics that their numbers reflect the numbers of the nation as a whole. It`s always easier to gather stats than it is to determine what they mean in terms of cause and effect.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Where is the risk? Catholics apparently voted 54% for a man who voted against the born alive infant protection act here in Illinois.

The point is that Catholics are not a monolithic bloc; and unlike hard-core political party members, they tend to vote for the person they think best qualified, rather than for whomever the Pope tells them to vote for; which kind of proves that the whole thing about JFK taking his marching orders from the Vatican was wrong.

However, since Catholic majorities swing votes, it does seem that Obama runs a risk by pissing off the Catholics with this health care thing. He won partly due to the Catholic vote, which went his way when he was elected, but against him 2010. One of the nuns who runs most of the Catholic hospitals in the USA voted for Obama and put her voice behind his to get him elected; he just told her to f off. Let's see how that works for him this time around.

 

[elder999]

The point is that Catholics are not a monolithic bloc; and unlike hard-core political party members, they tend to vote for the person they think best qualified, rather than for whomever the Pope tells them to vote for; which kind of proves that the whole thing about JFK taking his marching orders from the Vatican was wrong.

However, since Catholic majorities swing votes, it does seem that Obama runs a risk by pissing off the Catholics with this health care thing. He won partly due to the Catholic vote, which went his way when he was elected, but against him 2010. One of the nuns who runs most of the Catholic hospitals in the USA voted for Obama and put her voice behind his to get him elected; he just told her to f off. Let's see how that works for him this time around.

Really, Bill.

You were a Marine, stationed at Subic, and you never had occasion to use a condom, in direct contravention of Papal edict?

And, I recognize that you may not have been a practicing Catholic at the time-might even have been a practicing Pagan, or maybe not using condoms at all--my point is, Catholics are like most of us:

They're as Catholic as they want to be, and they'll vote the same way. Frankly, I don't think as many of them that voted for Obama the first time will be as outraged by "the heath care thing" as you are.