About That Notre Dame Protest . . .

Look, if the clowns feigning outrage over Obama’s appearance at a Catholic school really think that every instance of abortion is murder, fine, they should go ahead and protest. But they shouldn’t pretend that anything unusual is going on here . . .

Thus far, 235,000+ right-to-lifers have signed the Cardinal Newman Society’s petition bemoaning the “outrage” and “scandal” that Notre Dame invited pro-choice President Barack Obama to speak at commencement this year. Right-wing bloviator Randall Terry is likewise “enraged at the treachery of Notre Dame’s leadership.” And Cardinal Francis George in Chicago proclaims that the school “didn’t understand what it means to be Catholic when they issued this invitation.”

So this must be a real unprecedented step, eh? Having a politician who opposes the church’s stand on abortion speak at a Notre Dame commencement?

Well, funny story, actually. It turns out Notre Dame has had numerous leaders who support abortion rights — at least to a greater extent than the Catholic church does — speak at commencement. Here are some of them, including a few surprises:

– 2004: Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan Page, who voted in the Doe v. Gomez case in 1995 that taxpayer funding of abortion can’t be limited in the state.

– 2003: Richard Lugar, who is largely pro-life but has voted to expand stem cell research and allow the federal government to give grants to organizations that perform abortions.

– 2002: Newsman Tim Russert, who worked for pro-choice pols Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Mario Cuomo.

– 2001: George W. Bush, who, like Lugar, is usually seen as pro-life but favors exceptions in cases of rape and incest, thus contradicting church teaching.

– 1999: Elizabeth Dole, whose position is similar to Bush’s.

– 1988: Andrew Young, former ambassador, congressman, and Atlanta mayor who was “renowned among pro-choice activists for energetically promoting women’s rights during his two decades in Congress and city hall.”

– 1977: President Jimmy Carter, who has long straddled the rhetorical fence on this issue while promoting family planning, supporting abortion rights in certain circumstances, and never calling for Roe v. Wade to be overturned.

Other eyebrow-raising honorees at Notre Dame include Earl Warren, Eugene McCarthy, and Moynihan. Truly a list of line-towing conservative luminaries, right?

Look, if the clowns feigning outrage over Obama’s appearance at a Catholic school really think that every instance of abortion is murder, fine, they should go ahead and protest. But they shouldn’t pretend that anything unusual is going on here — anything, that is, besides the opportunity for Notre Dame students to hear from the inspiring, barrier-shattering leader of the free world during a time of global crisis.

No, all this is is a garden-variety abortion protest — the kind of nuisance that Democratic politicians and campaign workers endure on a regular basis. It just has a vaguely novel hook. Nothing more.

Originally posted on jesselava.com