Sunday, December 7, 2008

Congratulations to the people of Louisiana

Louisiana Voters Oust Rep. William Jefferson

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122862378544585747.html

"In the 2nd Congressional District, which includes most of New Orleans, Republican attorney Anh "Joseph" Cao won 50% of the vote to Rep. Jefferson's 47% and will become the first Vietnamese-American in Congress."

Ah, that would be those white racist Republicans, except the district is "predominantly black and heavily Democratic." And that is a group that has a lot of patience for people like Mr. Jefferson: "New Orleans voters had long been loyal to Mr. Jefferson, re-electing him in 2006 even after news of the bribery scandal broke. Late-night TV comics made him the butt of jokes after federal agents said they found $90,000 in alleged bribe money hidden in his freezer." 'He may be a crook, but he's our crook,' I suppose... And now, the state of Bobby Jindal, the first Indian-American governor, will send to Congress its first Vietnamese Congressman, and an eminently qualified representative he will be: "Mr. Cao came to the U.S. as a child after the fall of Saigon in 1975 and went on to earn degrees in philosophy, physics and law." I remain perplexed on how the Left is able to maintain the falsehood that the Republican Party is hostile to minorities.

A vaguely related thought: The so-called 'religious right' has so far been identified with Evangelicals: Jim Dobbins, Jerry Falwell, etc. This cycle, the Left managed to co-opt the term and convince some people that it's OK to call yourself Evangelical and to vote for a post-Christian, post-Modernist, radically pro-abortion candidate as long as you feel concerned for the underprivileged and are willing to support higher taxes for other people so the gov't can take care of them. But I detect a creeping infiltration of orthodox serious Catholics into the upper reaches of government. Jindal converted to Catholicism in high school. Roberts, Scalia, Alito, and Thomas are all real Catholics. Jeb Bush is Catholic. Tony Blair converted (although he appears to be a bit soft on moral theology in favor of an excess of 'peace and justice'. I love the principled stand taken by many of the bishops, particularly Archbishop Chaput on Abortion and in publicly clarifying the clumsy attempts at obfuscation by Biden and Pelosi on Abortion. While people continue to peel themselves off from the Church and Her authentic teaching, She is militantly defending the Truth. That is Her mission. It is the path of greatest resistance but also the path to continued vibrancy. God bless our Catholic leaders, both religious and political.

No comments:

Post a Comment