The history, ideology and politics of the Catholic Church as a social institution are as well-documented as any other social institution in Western history.

The leading idea in the Catholic church is and has always been the primacy of the spiritual over the physical. Contemporary Catholicism, particularly in this hemisphere, has combined that idea with the idea that Catholics must be active in their spirituality, that they should make choices in their daily lives that affirm life. This does not mean that there are not divisions in the Catholic Church similar to the divisions that exist between conservatives and liberals. The core Catholic idea of the "affirmation of life" is used by opponents on both the left and the right to cherry pick from the tree of Catholic ideology.

Catholicism is still patriarchal in its treatment of gender. It is open it its acceptance of race. It is adamant in its refusal to condone abortion. It is less adamant in its acceptance (read "forgiveness") of non-heterosexual relationships. It is entirely progressive in its desire for equity in the distribution of wealth and in its belief in the innate right of all individuals to seek their highest spiritual self-actualization regardless of social status.

And although a recent development, for most Catholics, except as a last resort, war is anathema.

Catholics are more liberal than conservative. In large part as a result of Catholic liberation theology, Latin catholics are more progressive and politically involved than almost any other group of Catholics.

Whatever the media may pretend, people like Michael Gerson have little or nothing of influence to say to the Catholic community. The Pope speaks for the Church. The bishops speak for the Pope. The priests speak for the themselves and the people they serve. A Catholic parishoner will look to the Pope, their local priest and each other for guidance and support. They could care less what Michael Gerson or the Washing Post thinks.

And I'm not even a practicing Catholic. But many in my family are.

I ask them about the Pope and they say, "I just loved Pope John Paul, didn't you?"

I'll leave it there.

Have you ever been to New Orleans? Did you have a bad Louisiana experience? Might I ask what state you are from? (Not prying. Just curious.)

I'm pretty damn proud of Mary Landrieu just now. She's not as progressive as I would like, but she's certainly not conservative. Did you see the video of her on the Senate floor last night? Like I said, she made me proud.

You're more Louisiana than me.

I'm from the east Texas part of Louisiana (Shreveport). Stranger in a stranger land, so to speak. People from outside the state sometimes tell me I live in a banana republic. I answer, "Who doesn't?"

I was asking (now that I think about it) for the same reason one kid will tell a second kid not to hit a third kid after the third kid has messed with the second kid for no reason, and then follow up with, "Nobody hits my brother but me," and then knock the tar out of his brother.

Some of your comments in a previous post seemed pretty harsh, but after what you just told me, I realize you are speaking from the position of one who knows.

Actually I was trying to preempt what I though would be likely comments referencing Constantine, the Crusades, the Inquisition, in fact, the whole "Western civilization" slugfest between nations aligned with and against Rome from the fourth century all the way up to WWII.

That kind of art was done almost a hundred years and better.

Ibid.

Now I feel free to place General Petraeus in the company of another famous snake oil salesman, Allardyce T. Merriwhether, from the movie Little Big Man:

Jack Crabb: Mr. Merriwhether, you don't know when you're licked!

Allardyce T. Merriwhether: Licked? I'm not licked. I'm tarred and feathered, that's all.

Democrat absurdity

Republican talking points paragraph:

Look, how dense can you be? It has been explained over and over again, that steady, although uneven, progress was being made through the latter part of 2004 and and through 2005 and into the early part of 2006. In large measure this was due to the success of General Petraeus' training program for the Iraqi armed forces and police. There was good reason for optimism that the insurgency was in its last throes. Then al Qaeda hit the jackpot by blowing up the Samarra mosque. Generals Abizaid and Casey, with their hidebound by the book thinking, failed to appreciate the fallout from this and to respond adequately to this provocation. General Petraeus, who is universally respected for his strategic vision and out of the box thinking, is now turning things around once again.

Democrat talking point paragraph:

General Petraeus was unanimously confirmed by the Senate early this year. Now Democrats make themselves look utterly absurd with their backstabbing attack on General Petraeus six months later.

Sometimes you write like a goof. That's OK. That's America.

Sometimes you write like a political operative. When you do that it throws me off a little.