Dahlkemper’s “Hail Mary” pass: Calls in a nun and calls bishops liars
As promised, pro-life groups have targeted Democrat Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper among about a dozen altogether for political extinction because they professed to be pro-life but voted for Obamacare.
And pro-life groups are winning. The New York Times Five Thirty Eight blog says there is an 83% probably Dahlkemper will lose her seat to Republican Mike Kelly.
In addition, the Cook Report took the extraordinary step on October 8 of moving the Dahlkemper race from “toss up” to “lean Republican.” Read why that was such a big deal at RedState.com.
Liberals like to say social issues are passé this election season. You wouldn’t know that in PA District 3. Dahlkemper is now running a radio spot that features a nun named Mary confirming that she is a good Catholic pro-lifer. She is also calling those who say Obamacare forces taxpayer to fund abortions liars. Does she realize that group includes the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops?
First, here’s the Susan B. Anthony List ad that has been running for a week:
And here’s that radio spot featuring Sr. Mary…
And here is Dahlkemper’s other rebuttal ad, this one on tv…
In the tv ad Dahlkemper says, “I refused to support health care reform until it excluded public funding for abortion and included care for moms and their babies.”
About the radio spot, Dahlkemper’s people wrote on YouTube, “Don’t believe for a second that Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper isn’t completely and passionately pro-life. Please listen to Sr. Mary personally refute the lies misleading attacks [sic] on the Congresswoman’s sterling pro-life record and principles.”
Well, hold on. Dahlkemper is hiding behind President Obama’s executive order to call the SBA List (and Americans United for Life) liars. But that’s not all. Dahlkemper is also calling the USCCB liars. Because about Obamacare the USCCB wrote:
Many in Congress and the Administration, as well as individuals and groups in the Catholic community, have repeatedly insisted that there is no federal funding for abortion in this statute and that strong conscience protection has been assured. Analyses that are being published separately show this not to be the case, which is why we oppose it in its current form…
And…
… We as Catholic bishops have opposed its passage because there is compelling evidence that it would expand the role of the federal government in funding and facilitating abortion and plans that cover abortion…. [It fails] to preserve the legal status quo that has regulated the government’s relation to abortion, as did the original bill adopted by the House of Representatives last November…. Stranger still, the statute forces all those who choose federally subsidized plans that cover abortion to pay for other peoples’ abortions with their own funds. If this new law is intended to prevent people from being complicit in the abortions of others, it is at war with itself.
And about that executive order…
…The fact that an Executive Order is necessary to clarify the legislation points to deficiencies in the statute itself. We do not understand how an Executive Order, no matter how well intentioned, can substitute for statutory provisions.
At the most critical moment of her political career, Dahlkemper blinked. In so doing she signed the death warrant for millions babies. That’s her 1st monumental problem.
But now for Dahlkemper to deny what she did to the point of calling her religious leaders liars is frankly crazy.
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
So the claim is that millions of babies are being born right now that aren’t being aborted for lack of the couple hundred bucks?
I believe people aren’t choosing to get pregnant, and others are having abortions, because of lack of health insurance.
Obamacare allows for overdosing your critically-ill grandpa with pain medication. Obamacare establishes rationing boards to give 95-yr-old grandma the thumbs down on her well-being. Obamacare forces taxpayers to pay for abortifacient contraceptives.
But as long as Obamacare doesn’t force us to pay for abortion… YAY! It’s pro-life!
These chowderhead lawmakers who voted YES can go suck an egg.
Oh the shame, the horror! Contraceptives will be covered?
Yikes…what is it, the 1950’s around here?
EX-GOP… CC said contraceptives that cause abortion. I personally am not against any contraceptive that doesn’t kill an already conceived human being. Most pro-lifers aren’t interested in battling over non baby killing contraceptives.
BTW, most states have free healthcare for pregnant women (that covers prenatal care and covers the child once born) I know this because I just had to buy a policy for my family and did a lot of research. Since my husband and I are not PLANNING (hey, it could happen anyhow) to get pregnant in the near future we did not choose a plan that had prenatal coverage which saved us on average about 400 bucks a plan per month. But I did research that should I get pregnant there is prenatal coverage through the state at limited cost. I am sure the coverage sucks (having dealt with Cobra I see how inefficient and infuriating anything government run can be) but at least its a back up plan should I get pregnant.
There is so much support for pregnant women out there. Most women abort because they don’t KNOW that there is support available for them. You can thank the pro-abortion side for that. They consistently try to close down CPC’s and shut up pro-lifers who offer help.
Misunderstood her then.
Did Cobra put you on Medicaid system or something?
I think if government healthcare is so awful, we should just disband Medicare and Tricare now – would save us all a lot of money, right?
I do agree that there are a lot of lower based plans out there – but looking at the numbers in Mass., seems like having something closer to universal care does impact abortion numbers.
No, I wasn’t on Medicaid. I was laid off and continued my healthcare coverage through Cobra. So I paid Cobra and they were supposed to pay my health insurance and all they ever did was screw it up, month after month.
I would like to see affordable plans…health insurance companies COMPETING for individual business. Being able to buy across state lines, not having your health insurance tied to your employment (meaning you can take it with you if you change jobs) etc…
Thanks goodness it was just screwed up bills – I thought you might have lost your house or something like so many uninsured people each year.
Being able to buy across state lines without some min standards would be a nightmare – and many folks have written really good articles if you’d like me to post one.
I had insurance not tied to employment. Problem was that over the course of 4 years, we raised our deductible from $500 per person to $3K per person, and our premiums still went up 37% at that time. Very happy to have moved states and gotten a job with good coverage – daughter number three is a byproduct of having better insurance.
Yeah, my husband and I rent a condo. We can’t afford a house. Maybe the government can hand us that too….
BTW, post the articles. I will read them.
So the claim is that millions of babies are being born right now that aren’t being aborted for lack of the couple hundred bucks?
Oddly enough, yes– and abortion advocacy groups generally agree that this is exactly what’s happened with earlier abortion funding restrictions. Take this statement from the Center for American Progress, citing the Guttmacher Institute:
“[A]n estimated 18 percent to 35 percent of Medicaid-eligible women who would have had an abortion if funding had been available instead carry their pregnancies to term.”
We must never forget that those numbers represent real people who are alive today because of the efforts of the pro-life movement. The Center for American Progress actually believes that, in a more just world, those people would be dead. That’s progress?
“[A]n estimated 18 percent to 35 percent of Medicaid-eligible women who would have had an abortion if funding had been available instead carry their pregnancies to term.”
Fiscal conservatives take note. Many of these Medicaid-eligible women and their offspring are, without a doubt, now running up non-abortion-related Medicaid costs that would never have happened if they had just been able to get Medicaid to cover a one-time abortion fee. The Hyde Amendment must go.
Oh yes Joan. So much better if these kids were killed to save money. I mean, killing human beings to save money is so NOBLE. I mean, imagine if you were gone, we could divide your bank account up and life would be so much better!!!!!
You are truly cold-hearted Joan. I am not pro-welfare because I think it is racist and enslaves people BUT killing kids is not a solution to the fiscal insanity currently running rampant in this country.
Joan,
You can’t kill someone to save money. That’s a principle I’m sure you can agree with. I know, I know – they’re not “people” and they’re not being “killed” but that begs the question. Since we argue these are humans being killed, your “but it would save so much money!” argument will hold no weight here…even among the heartless conservatives.
Abortion saves money, and Soylent Green is recycling! Woohoo for some great ideas… :D
Kel, whatever we may think of the scenarios, I was surprised that the old Charlton Heston film ‘The Omega Man’ was remade as ‘I Am Legend’ with Wil Smith but not ‘Soylent Green’. It was an amazing film and equally powerful.
I think that this is really all about saying or doing anything you have to say or do in order to stay in office. But having said that, there’s always the chance that Reps. Dahlkemper (and Dreihaus in Ohio) don’t really understand the bills they vote into law. As Mark Twain put it: “Suppose you’re an idiot. And suppose you’re a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.”
One thing you can count on about a Liberal: They will tell you what you want to hear.
For the very weak minded, this is enough.
Hey HisMan! Long time no see! Glad you’re here!
John, LOL on the Twain quote. And your point is well taken, kind of. I still would never ever go against Catholic Church leadership on the Life issue. And I say that as a Protestant. The Catholic Church has it all thought out. Dahlkemper’s first mistake was not listening to the USCCB. Her second mistake is not owning up to her first mistake but belligerently trying to cover it up.
Like so many of our elected “representatives” Dahlkemper gave her constituents the finger and is paying the price. The American people did not want Obamacare. Our pro-abortion “representative” also looks like he will be packing after Nov.2 for the same reason. Talk about lemmings going over a cliff.
Hey, Joan, at Mass this past weekend we were praying for people to value life from conception to natural death. Do they ever pray for that at your Catholic church?
cranium
October 12th, 2010 at 11:14 pm
Kel, whatever we may think of the scenarios, I was surprised that the old Charlton Heston film ‘The Omega Man’ was remade as ‘I Am Legend’ with Wil Smith but not ‘Soylent Green’. It was an amazing film and equally powerful.
The “Population Bomb” is a myth in America. It is not Caucasians and African-Americans who are overpopulating the world. Immigration is filling up America, Canada and Europe – it has nothing to do with our birth rates! In fact, according to current demographics, Caucasians and African-Americans will eventually be extinct (i.e. our birth rates are dipping below death rates) and America will be made up of the other races who are currently immigrating here in vast numbers.
Ironically, it’s the prochoicers who aren’t replacing themselves. “Prolife” cultures are having the most children. So, unless prochoicers start replacing themselves, the day will come when they’ll have lost their voice solely due to extinction rather than political opinion.
I don’t find it ironic at all.
If you are a proabort and find abortion to be peachy keen then it stands to reason that you abort your children and you run with like minded folks who abort their children as well. You may let one or two “wanted, perfect” children slip through the cracks to live but teach them your proabort ways, so they can grow up to abort your grandchildren.
It logically follows that prolifers welcome the children they are pregnant with and continue to have children along with their friends who continue to have children. Those children are taught to value life from conception to natural death and grow up to bless their parents with grandchildren.
Yes. The proaborts are aborting themselves.
My response vanished for some reason. :P Anyways, just saying, you’re right, Carla – it’s not ironic at all! It’s the logical outcome. :/
And sadly the demographics are already past the point of no return. Even if everyone stopped aborting their children this very day, it would still take close to a century to reverse the trends. Simply not going to happen. A man reaps what he sows…
I find it hard to use Roman Catholic teachings as any kind of benchmark of pro-life Christian principles. The early Christian patristic sources forbidding abortion predate Roman Catholicism as a distinct group. Medieval Roman Catholic sources, on the other hand, have quite a varied perspective on abortion, including those who did not believe ensoulment took place until 40/90 days after conception, until “quickening”, or even until birth.
HI Clarice.
“Medieval Roman Catholic sources, on the other hand, have quite a varied perspective on abortion, including those who did not believe ensoulment took place until 40/90 days after conception, until “quickening”, or even until birth.”
Yes, some theologians believed that. They were working with the best science they had at the time. However, what must be pointed out is that while they believed ensoulment took place at quickening, they did NOT use that “fact” to justify abortion. Indeed, according to some of them, it is worse to abort the ensouled baby than the “pre-ensouled” (whatever that means) baby, but both are gravely evil according to them. So you will not find any (authentically) Catholic theologians using the argument of ensoulment to justify abortion in the medieval times. now, of course, “Catholic” theologians who use ensoulment to justify abortion are a dime a dozen (I’m looking at you, Dan Maguire!), but it is not, nor has it ever been, authentic Catholic teaching. God love you.
Finding a nun who is misinformed on the life issues, either unwittingly or by choice, and who disagrees with the bishops is as hard as finding a pregnant woman in a maternity shop.
I wonder why she didn’t ask one of the Sisters for Life?
Hey Jill:
Been busy trying to lose weight, etc. so I can be a thorn in Hal’s and everyone else’s side for at least another 40 years. Have lost 50 lbs starting at 210 and now 160. It required walking/running/biking for 2 hours a day and then working out another 2 hours. My motivation was my daughter’s wedding on August 7 which was awesome.
I see you removed Ixoye.Name…..sigh.
Will be posting more regularly now as I am in the slow time of my business, plus, economy is AZ is way, way down…..Thanks Obama for killing small business.
Testing my gravatar.
Oops.
…and these “modern” Catholic “Sisters”(term used in the loosest sense) are all in an uproar over this investigation by the Vatican into their skewed beliefs. This one is a classic example.
Hi Hisman.
Congrats on the wight loss and exercise program. I’m trying something similar, but don’t have 2 to 4 hours a day. Hopefully I have a few years before I walk my daughter down the aisle. I guess I better get cracking so I can live another 40 years too!
Hi Hisman. How are you? Congrats on the weightloss and the marriage of your daughter. God bless you. Missed you around here.
While what Gerard says above is very true, especially for nuns of a certain age, I seriously doubt “Sr. Mary” is actually a real Catholic consecrated woman.
Do you know how many “Sr. Mary’s” there are? It is the most anonymous name you could pick to represent a nun.
Sr. Mary could simply be a woman named Mary who has a biological sibling.
Not identifying the woman at all, and not naming the religious congregation she supposedly belongs to, together with the way the voice comes across to me, makes me very suspicious. My hunch is that this is simply a desperate attempt to make people think that a genuine nun is giving her public support.
If “Sr. Mary” were so willing to speak up about Dahlkemper’s wonderful virtues, why in the world would she remain totally anonymous in doing so? This is equivalent to saying, “a really respectable woman who is close to God says this about Kathy.” Makes no sense. Calling her “sister Mary” has no special significance at all if she is never identified.
There is an infamous nun who works as a deathscort, eww.
Bobby, you are correct in your reply to Clarice: the teaching of the Catholic Church is now, has always been, and ever shall be pro-life. Choose life, that you may have it in abundance. But, sadly, many so-called Catholics today are more in love with the things of the world than the things of God.
And I see an opportunity to shamelessly plug The Theology of the Body. This teaching of John Paul the Great has been published in many forms, long and short. I studied it on a set of CD’s that I could listen to on my way to work. It’s awesome and powerful stuff!
I used to live in Erie. This Dahlkemper woman comes from a wealthy family. I wonder how much of her own money she’s using in this campaign?
Erie is an old rustbelt Democratic town, and if she loses, it will be a shocker.