Weigel on Moynihan - Revised

George Weigel wrote in the Arlington Catholic Herald this week about the career of Daniel Patrick Monynihan as a Catholic in public life. He lauded his accomplishments and abilities and then dinged the former Senator for not paying more attention to Life issues. You can read his essay at http://www.catholicherald.com/opinions/detail.html?sub_id=14200

Earlier today, I published a response critical of Weigel misunderstanding what he said about Moynihan voting against the partial birth abortion bill, when Weigel stated that Moynihan never voted against abortion UNTIL that bill. I apologize for getting the facts wrong. I do not apologize, however, for disagreeing with Weigel on the impact of the Senator's career. Moynihan probably did more for the unborn than any Senator in history, precisely because he voted to increase the social welfare programs that made abortion less likely. I suspect he also saw through the political nature of most of the legislative program advanced in the name of life. There are many possible ways to protect human life legislatively, however overturning Roe by appointing justices who will do so is not one of them, since such a ruling would tear down much in the way of current equal protection precident (which conservatives loathe as much as Roe, but which actually protects the Church in areas of the South where there are few Catholics and where many still cling to the belief that the pope is the antichrist). So, even though I was wrong on the factoid Weigel cites, I still vehemently disagree with his conclusion. Indeed, Senator Moynihan provides a sterling example of exactly how Catholic politicians, voters and clergy should look at the issue of abortion.