Can Catholics Vote For Pro-Choice Politicians?

• “No”

  

  “I Cannot Vote for a Man Who Would Choose Judges Based on "Empathy"”

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I Cannot Vote for a Man Who Would Choose Judges Based on "Empathy"

Deal Hudson

Director, InsideCatholic.com

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I cannot vote for a man, such as Barack Obama, who would choose judges based upon their capacity for "empathy." As Obama said in a speech to Planned Parenthood, "We need somebody who's got the heart, the empathy to recognize what it's like to be a young teenage mom; the empathy to understand what it's like to be poor, or African-American, or gay, or disabled, or old. And that's the criteria by which I'm going to be selecting my judges." The phrase "sober as a judge" is a colloquialism for a reason. The senator implies that there's something missing in the Constitution and our law that must be supplied by the heart -- in other words, the empathy or caring of the judge. For him, the judge without "heart" cannot justly rule on cases about those who are gay, African-American, disabled, or "old" (whatever that means). Given his opposition to the ban on Partial Birth Abortion, Obama would consider an empathetic judge one who allows doctors to crush the skulls of babies who have already emerged from the womb. It seems that Obama believes that the law is about taking sides before you decide.

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