McCain has ignored the issue not merely because he is not that committed to it, but because he has all the votes he is going to get from that. Catholics have failed to “make the sale” on the abortion issue, and no more than 4 or 5% put it at the top of their issue list.

Both candidates endorse an intrinsic evil: Obama unrestricted abortion and stem cell research and McCain limited abortion and stem cell research; the differences are marginal, not fundamental.

What has hurt the case is that it has always been more of an anti-abortion case rather than a pro-life case. As an AA case only, the NRLC has been to willing to subordinate the Pro-life case to the political needs of the Republican Party. This strategy has been a failure. See http://distributism.blogspot.com/2008/09/pro-life-or-just-anti-abortion.html

I’m sorry, but anyone who makes abortion an issue in the election is just stupid. Abortion is politically a non-issue. Roe v. Wade is over, and it’s not going to change. People need to move on.

Moreover, until pro-life conservatives in this country come out in droves in opposition to torture — not to mention capital punishment, extraordinary rendition, and war in general — they lose all moral authority on the issue of abortion.

David,

I agree in part with you: pro-life conservatives have taken absurdly hypocritical and contradictory stances on issues like torture and preemptive war. I also think you have a point in that the pro-life movement, at its best, is a counter-political movement. It operates best when it stands outside the bureaucratic machinery.

That said, the Church’s witness on the issue has to be clear and vocal. Social justice counts for nothing if we can’t protect the most helpless of our neighbors. I don’t know if Roe v. Wade will ever be overturned. But that’s beside the point. The Church has a responsibility to provide an alternative way, a merciful safe-house for the mothers who are tempted and the unborn who are threatened by the prospect of abortion. Overturning Roe v. Wade won’t fix anything. But the fellowship of Christ’s Body, I believe, must fill the role both of prophet (against the corrupt State) and of minister (to those threatened by the corrupt State).

And, obviously, the GOP is a woefully inadequate surrogate for the Body of Christ.

And, obviously, the folks who hide behind the label of the DEMs would outlaw any semblance of the Body of Christ and its impact on society and the civil realm if given the opportunity. Hmmm… Tough choice.

Found this interesting – priorities do metter…
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081019/D93TGS480.html

No, David, abortion isn’t a non-issue, and taking it seriously doesn’t make a person stupid. Some of us simply believe that our faith compels us to speak out boldly agains the insane assertion that murdering the unborn is an inalienable human right, even if it doesn’t look like we’ll have a resounding success any time soon, or even at all. For some of us, politics is more about identity than effectiveness anyway: we have to define who we are as a people, and by refusing to throw our support behind pro-abortion candidates we’re making it clear that we refuse to be content with any definition that does not include “the least of these,” even the unborn.

You’re certainly right about needing to condemn torture, too, but your argument is a bad one. I could just as easily say, “Unless liberals come out in droves to oppose abortion, they lose all moral authority on the issue of torture.” But that doesn’t get us anywhere, and neither does ignoring the abortion issue simply because many pro-life politicians lack consistency in their moral reasoning.