Another “Nonpartisan” Republican Orgy

These right-wing “non-profit groups” just can’t help cheating on Christ and getting in bed with the Republican Party.

The annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast was held in Washington, DC, today, and given the roster of speakers, there didn’t seem to be even a pretense of non-partisanship. Catholics United has the scoop:

The Prayer Breakfast’s entire board of directors has ties to Republican candidates, party apparatus, and affiliated organizations, and its partisan agenda is underscored by President George W. Bush’s perennial appearance at the event. Catholics United is also asking keynote speaker Archbishop Donald Wuerl to use his remarks to dispel any attempt by political operatives to suggest his participation indicates a close alliance between the Church and the Republican Party.

“Let’s be honest, this event would be more accurately labeled the ‘Republican Catholic Strategy Breakfast’. Its organizers have a clear track-record of putting partisanship above Church teaching,” said Chris Korzen, Executive Director of Catholics United for the Common Good.

What’s so partisan about this 501c-3 breakfast? Most of the folks associated with it are Republican political operatives — and, of course, have approximately zero interest in Catholic church positions on the war in Iraq, immigration reform, poverty, and health care.

Catholics United has more good info on these folks, which I’ll paraphrase. Here are a few directors of the breakfast:

Joseph Cella, President. Cella runs the uber-right-wing group Fidelis. The Fidelis PAC has contributed 100% to Republican candidates, especially Rick Santorum in his race against the pro-life Catholic Bob Casey Jr. Unfortunately, Casey cared about more than one or two church teachings, which made him unacceptable to Fidelis. The Fidelis website, by the way, has a Hall of Infamy on which only Democrats are singled out.

Austin Ruse, Vice President. This Republican operative has a few choice quotes:
- “We understand that President Bush is a very loyal guy,” he has said, “and we believe that President Bush will be loyal to those who put him [in office] in a very tough time.” (New York Times, 11/06/04)
- “I trust the President…I trust the people that are working around the President, both in the government and outside the government.” (Interview with American View)
- In regard to the death of a questionnaire that the US Conference of Bishops tried to put out: “The USCCB liberals do their dandest to undermine the life issues…by consistently lumping them in with issues that are frankly not that important.” (“Holy Democrats!” National Review, 9/15/04) Life, for Ruse, ends at birth.

Jacqueline Halbig, Treasurer. She’s a Bush administration appointee as Deputy Director for the Center for Faith and Community-Based Initiatives in the US Department of Labor. She used to work for the Christian Coalition.

Leonard Leo, board member. This Republican National Committee Catholic liaison — and apparent latter-day prophet — sees Bush as having “unflinching devotion to the culture of life.” (National Catholic Reporter, 6/3/2005) Seriously, anyone who thinks that our war-mongering, obstinate-in-the-face-of-constant-death president is “unflinchingly” committed to life has no business calling himself a follower of Christ. If you’ve somehow come to like Bush despite his flaws, fine. Whatever. But seeing Bush as a heroic model of perfect rectitude — that is, confusing Bush with Jesus — is idolatry, plain and simple.

I can hear the counter-arguments now: “B-b-b-but liberal religious groups are full of Democrats!” Of course they are. FaithfulDemocrats.com, for example, is nakedly partisan; that’s our thing. But there’s a difference.

We at FaithfulDemocrats.com don’t pretend to be nonpartisan. We have the decency to come out and say it: we’re Christians and Democrats. We’re not a 501c-3, anyway, so we have no obligation to pretend to care about “both sides.” And by the way, even though we’re partisan, I’ve never, ever seen Bill Clinton as a stand-in for my Lord and Savior.

As for liberal nonprofit religious groups, those folks often bend over backwards to have at least token representation from conservatives. At last year’s Sojourner’s conference, for example, the speakers included not just Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, but also Rick Santorum and Sam Brownback. Panelists stressed that they belonged to no political party. Everyone knows they leaned Democratic. But they had decency.

Don’t expect anything of the sort from the clowns at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast — or Focus on the Family, or the Family Research Council, or whoever. They’re just hacks with cardboard halos taped to their heads.