Game Over

Well, Joe Biden must be pleased.
There wasn't time for him to torpedo Barack Obama's presidential hopes.
Nancy Pelosi seems to have killed him quite nicely.

There's now a half-dozen Catholic bishops condemning her comments:
Cardinals Rigali and Egan
Archbishops Wuerl and Chaput
Bishop Lori
Auxiliary Bishop James Conley

In addition, Joe Biden's Bishop, Bishop Saltarelli, has forbidden Biden the use of all Catholic facilities:

And Archbishop Chaput has told Biden not to come forward for the Eucharist in Denver archdiocese.

The silence from CNN and Yahoo is deafening, but it doesn't matter now.
Drudge is shooting him full of holes.

Barack Obama is going to get zero bounce out of this convention.
He will have to count himself lucky if he doesn't drop further.


I noticed back in March that Drudge seemed to purposely build Barack Obama up to Hillary's detriment. I couldn't figure out why. Drudge has always been solidly pro-life, and Obama was an active supporter of infanticide.

Now I know why - Drudge knew he could impale Obama on a stick anytime he wanted to.
As the convention approached, he kept ratcheting up the discontent among the Democrats.

And then Pelosi committed hari kari on Meet the Press.

It really isn't Pelosi's fault - someone among the Democrats was going to say something stupid. Pelosi just happened to get there first.

In any case, the Democrats are paying for having chosen Denver instead of San Francisco or Los Angeles. Smart people don't play in their opponent's back yard.

The solid bishops are tired of the games and they're taking the opportunity to cut off pro-abort Catholics at the knees. They've got solid support in the Curia, in the form of Archbishop Burke (who will probably make cardinal before Wuerl does). And when even Archbishop (note: not yet Cardinal) Wuerl piles on, you know the error was egregious.

On a sidenote, Wuerl's entry into the chorus is quite interesting. Bishops of Washington DC are traditionally elevated to the cardinalate, but Wuerl - who publicly said he wasn't going to excommunicate anyone - was pointedly NOT raised to the cardinalate.

Perhaps he has caught a clue and finally figured out that Benedict isn't interested in having cardinals who aren't willing to be crucified. Archbishop Wuerl has to prove himself worthy of the red hat by axing a pro-abort politician. And now that the sharp edge of his halberd has begun to clear the scabbard, the need for public consistency may well keep him interested in paying more attention to this problem.

In any case, the political game is now done.
The Catholic bishops are sniping the candidates in full earnest and this ten full weeks before the election.

Not all Catholics listen to their bishops, but enough will. Pennsylvania is history (note: Archbishop Wuerl's previous post was Bishop of Pittsburgh) - the Catholics who chucked Santorum out on his ear for simply supporting Arlen Specter are certainly not going to hand over to pro-aborts like Biden and Obama. With the solid bishops in full-throated chorus chasing down Catholic pro-abort leaders, and the bishops sympathetic to Obama and co. unwilling to unveil themselves, the Democrats have nowhere to go but down.

Welcome to the White House, President McCain.
Please take a lesson from your opponent's hemorrhage.


Update 8/27/2008:
Another county heard from.
Bishop Ferrell of Dallas has just joined in.

Somehow, I don't think he's going to be the last.

Update 8/28/2008
He wasn't.

Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik issued a response yesterday afternoon: Pelosi, D-Calif., "stepped out of her political role and completely misrepresented the teaching of the Catholic Church in regard to abortion."