Catholic Night on Hardball
It was white Catholic night on Hardball tonight (but, really, isn't it every night?).
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I swear to god, William Donahue, Bush supporter, head of the Catholic League, and constant thorn in Kevin Smith's side just said capital punishment might be acceptable if national security were involved. And that you can vote for Kerry and still be a good Catholic, but not if you vote for him because he won't outlaw abortion.
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Kerry is up 17 points from two weeks ago (to 50%) and Bush down 6 to 43% among white Catholics (because Hispanics aren't real Catholics, right?).
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MSNBC had been teasing this edition of Hardball with:
"They voted for the winner in every presidential election since 1972. Now, Chris Matthews shows you what the candidates are doing to secure the critical Catholic vote."
But he really meant white Catholics (and there is some gray area concerning 2000), and the idea of appealing directly to Catholics to win the election is absurd (except maybe in Pennsylvania). The reason Catholics have gone for the winner so many times is not because they decide the winner but rather because they are a broad enough consituency that they indicate the winner (this is why you have to take out Hispanics for the predictor to be useful). Thus it would seem to be a bad idea to go specifically after white Catholics; much better to try to get the votes of a wider population and then if the white Catholics get on board you know you are doing a good job.