Everyone is suddenly serious about politics. Very serious. And nothing is more serious right now than the race between Senate candidate Martha Coakley and Scott Brown in Massachusetts. Coakley, it would seem, is imploding. Whether she’ll win is unclear but the fact that it’s unclear is very bad for Democrats.
But despite the seriousness, the whole thing still reeks of a serious affair being played by petty children. Not that there aren’t serious consequences because there are. Deadly serious. Federal funding for abortion and a government takeover of healthcare is on the immediate horizon.
But just a few days ago Martha Coakley said that she didn’t believe Catholics should work in emergency rooms. Not all Catholics, mind you. Just the serious ones who actually want to live according to the Church’s teachings. You know, as Kathleen Parker calls them, the “oogedy boogedy” religious types.
Coakley’s statement is an incendiary one that should make millions of Catholics squirm in their pew but as of yet it’s only inspired 49 news articles, according to a Google News search of “Coakley, Catholic, emergency room.” And there were 4,197 blog posts including the same search terms.
Here’s the audio in case you missed it:
Folks. A Senate candidate just said Catholics shouldn’t work in emergency rooms! And we get 49 news articles and 4,197 blog posts.
In comparison, Coakley recently displayed her total ignorance of Red Sox nation by calling Curt Schilling of bloody sock fame a Yankee fan. Oops.
And despite that happening a full day later there are already 14,060 blog posts about it and 784 news stories.
Here’s the audio:
Maybe I’m a bit foolish to hope for an elevated discussion during election season but religious persecution is on the rise and seemingly popular in the halls of the powerful.
Is anti-Catholicism in the highest places something to be ignored while a baseball faux pas story is front page news for days?
Which one hurts Coakley more in Massachusetts? Sadly, I’d bet that the Schilling thing hurts her more. What do you think?
Either way, I think anti-Catholicism and anti-Christian behavior is being ignored and we’re all going to pay a price for it. We ignore it at our own peril.
January 19, 2010 at 4:53 am
I don't know. I don't want to get too conspiracy or negative about the whole thing, but us Catholics have seemingly always had a "I don't get them" relationship with US politicans and reporters.
January 19, 2010 at 6:47 am
I think it's because the "average" Catholic isn't paying of bit of attention and if they were – wouldn't care.
Most of the big blogs (Hot Air, et al) reported quite a bit on it.
The baseball thing just points to the vapid and poorly educated nature of the citizens of this country. They are mired in secular and pop culture.
January 19, 2010 at 6:57 am
Politicians being completely unfair towards Catholics isn't unusual, and the media sympathises with that crap anyway, but for someone from Massachusetts to accuse Curt Shilling of being a Yankees fan is really unusual and evidence of a lot of stupidity.
I first became aware of Coakley with the workplace shooting just after Christmas 2000 while she was the county DA. She seemed okay at that point… not so much now.
January 19, 2010 at 1:07 pm
Here in Massachusetts Coakley's comments on Catholics have gotten a tremendous amount of coverage. The Schilling comment gets mentioned more as a side note to show how out of touch she is. Even with all the national coverage, if you're not from Massachusetts you might not realize how amazing it is to have a Republican candidate with a chance to win.
January 19, 2010 at 6:10 pm
Maybe we shouldn't overestimate this. After all, it IS internet-information (online-news and and blog posts) and as i.e. yahoo news shows: People are apparently more interested in sex, sports and society than in anything else. Why else would the featured story on the yahoo page always be one about "Why Sandra Bullock's dress sucked", "Brad has moved out after a furious bustup with Angelina" or "Help! I don't nearly have enough sex!"
It is very likely that recognizing, thinking about and/or addressing anti-catholicism is just too high-brow a task for the average internet-user and also doesn't appeal to the right instincts.
January 19, 2010 at 8:35 pm
Coakley is Catholic. Oh, the irony!
January 19, 2010 at 8:50 pm
– "Dark" negroes probably shouldn't work in a classroom
– "Married" women probably shouldn't hold government office.
– "Effeminite" homosexuals probably shouldn't be allowed on public transit
Same stuff – different day.
January 19, 2010 at 8:52 pm
Note to Aonymous: She is not a Catholic. She bought the knock-off, not the real thing.