{"id":5319,"date":"2012-01-06T00:30:38","date_gmt":"2012-01-06T05:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/?p=5319"},"modified":"2017-01-24T18:15:14","modified_gmt":"2017-01-24T23:15:14","slug":"thoughts-on-politics-from-the-bastion-of-catholic-social-commentary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2012\/01\/thoughts-on-politics-from-the-bastion-of-catholic-social-commentary.html","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts On Politics From the Bastion of Catholic Social Commentary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ha! Made you look. Because actually, there is no such thing. If there was, see, you would be getting your recommendations on who to vote for straight from the pulpit. And we all know how well that would go over, don\u2019t we?<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not how the Bulwark of Truth, the Church, operates when it comes to elections nowadays, is it? Not here in the United States, and not anywhere. No. The Church allows you to exercise prudential judgement in matters of politics. So\u00a0I\u2019ll continue to provide thoughts to you on the upcoming Presidential election from disparate and nefarious sources as I please.<\/p>\n

Like The Daily Show\u2019s<\/em> Jon Stewart<\/a>, for example.\u00a0But that was yesterday. For today though, I\u2019ve got a few actual Catholics for you. They aren\u2019t \u201cbastions of Catholic social commentary\u201d any more than I am. But I think they will do in a pinch. First up is another Comedy Central<\/em> type you may be familiar with.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
The Colbert Report<\/a><\/td>\nMon - Thurs 11:30pm \/ 10:30c<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Indecision 2012 - Iowa Caucus - Mitt Romney's Victory Speech & Rick Santorum's Coup<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
www.colbertnation.com<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/embed><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\n\n
Colbert Report Full Episodes<\/a><\/td>\nPolitical Humor & Satire Blog<\/a><\/td>\nVideo Archive<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

We must see another commercial!<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
The Colbert Report<\/a><\/td>\nMon - Thurs 11:30pm \/ 10:30c<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Indecision 2012 - Iowa Caucus - Not Mitt Romney's Super PAC<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
www.colbertnation.com<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/embed><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\n\n
Colbert Report Full Episodes<\/a><\/td>\nPolitical Humor & Satire Blog<\/a><\/td>\nVideo Archive<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

And for even more penetrating analysis, because this is profoundly serious business so it will be commercial free, I present you another person who ain\u2019t just Catholic, but Catholic in a very bad way<\/em>. Yes, the original Bad Catholic<\/a>\u2014John Zmirak. John is in the cross-hairs of an election gale the likes of which haven\u2019t been seen in, \u2026lemme see here\u2026 four whole years! Tell it, John.<\/p>\n

As a resident of New Hampshire, it\u2019s hard for me to miss the spastic surges of activity that precede the upcoming Republican primary. On the one hand, I find this year\u2019s contest refreshing, since it\u2019s one of the first years since 1976 (when, as an eager 11-year-old, I cheered on Reagan\u2019s challenge to the torpid Gerald Ford) that the Republican contest doesn\u2019t feel like something that party bosses had already chewed up and were leaning down to spit into the voters\u2019 beaks. The debates, and with them the contests for the nomination, seem a whole lot more real, and the entire process could prove more authentically representative. Which would be a good thing, assuming we\u2019re not a bunch of nuts\u2014and that remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

On the down side, the candidates are each profoundly flawed, and I worry that the outcome will be ugly: that we\u2019ll end up with someone waving the party banner whose many problems will make it easy for the Democrats to re-elect their flaccid, bloodless bumbler, who will duly anoint two more appalling justices to the Court, who will use his authority to back still more assaults on religious liberty. So I\u2019m at once edified, and worried. This suggests that it might be time for me to undertake a careful assessment of each candidate\u2019s electability, character, and leadership qualities, and judiciously assess their proposed policies in the light of Catholic teaching and profane prudence.<\/p>\n

But I got bored even writing that sentence, and I\u2019m sure your eyes glazed over while reading it. So instead, I elected to view the campaign through the colorful prism of two old friends whom readers may remember, Franz and Rayne.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Whew! That was a close one. But go see what Franz and Rayne have to say<\/a> from their prisms of comedic veracity anyway. You\u2019ll be glad you did.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ha! Made you look. Because actually, there is no such thing. If there was, see, you would be getting your recommendations on who to vote for straight from the pulpit. And we all know how well that would go over, don\u2019t we?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":140,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[106,8,30,53,102],"class_list":["post-5319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-living","tag-friends","tag-funstuff","tag-moviestv","tag-other-blogs","tag-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nThoughts On Politics From the Bastion of Catholic Social Commentary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ha! Made you look. Because actually, there is no such thing. 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