The 'values' debate

Ron Brownstein (a ToughEnough favorite) said on Meet The Press this morning that we have moved away from a politics of interest to a politics of values. In tomorrow's New York Times, Katherine Seelye, seeks to revive the simmering controversy, among Catholic leaders, over whether a pro-choice, stem cell research supporting Democrat should be allowed to take communion.

Some might be tempted to say this ought not to matter in an election year as important as this one is, but in the values debate this is huge. A lot will depend on how convinced Americans are of Kerry's own religious convictions and how well he handles any confrontation with the Catholic church.

So far he has mainly pointed out that while Catholic leaders may disagree with his position on abortion or stem cell research, there are those on the other side of the political spectrum who also may have some explaining to do over the issue of the death penalty. Kerry is against it but most Republicans and Democrats support capitol punishment. Kerry contends that for this reason, it's best the Church not involve themselves in the affairs of politicians and not attempt to sway their minds on key values issues.

However, Republicans are likely to try and press this, hoping that Kerry suffers some full scale confrontation with the Catholic church and is refused communion during Sunday church services. It is not a mistake that Fox News Sunday had Cardinal Theodore McCarrick from Washington D.C. on today to comment on a task force setup by the Church to figure out how to deal with politicians like Kerry who are personally opposed to abortion, but support a woman's right to choose. As for denying communion, McCarrick said, "I think there are many of us who would feel that there are certain restrictions that we might put on people, that there are certain sanctions that we may put on people. But I think many of us would not like to use the Eucharist as part of the sanctions."