Hudson & Fournier: Catholic Countdown to Election 2012 - Day 33: The Mormon Card and Losing the First Debate

There is no question of who won this first Presidential debate. The news over the next 24 hours will demonstrate that this first Presidential debate marked a turning point in this critical election. The only question is how much - and how quickly - the poll numbers change?

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P>DENVER, CO. (Catholic Online) - The Obama campaign issued a press release  on Wednesday officially denying the truth of the two stories we published on the Obama campaign push calls to a Catholic voter in Pittsburgh named Joy Allen.

It does not matter, it happened and it was wrong.

Each of the callers began to read from exactly the same script.  The script contained claims that President Obama was not pro-abortion and that Planned Parenthood did not emphasize its abortion services (no kidding!). 

But, the part of the story that is finding traction in the mainstream media is this question from the script:

"How can you support a Mormon who does not believe in Jesus Christ?"

This instance of "playing the Mormon card" is a tactic which both the President and his campaign manager promised would not be employed.

Here is the statement from the Obama campaign denying the push call story:

"As a campaign, we have made it unequivocally clear that a candidate's religion is out of bounds. The activity that is being attributed to the Obama Campaign and our Catholics For Obama program is categorically false. When we talk to voters about what's at stake, we talk about Mitt Romney promising to repeal healthcare, slash education, and his support of an economic policy that pays for tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires with tax increases on the middle class."

The implication of this statement is clear: If the story is "categorically false" then either Joy Allen or Deal Hudson is lying.

What can be said in response to someone who calls you a liar? We are not going to waste our breath in responding -- neither Hudson nor Allen invented the story, and, frankly, both were stunned that the Obama campaign would do anything so stupid.

In fact, if we were to brainstorm about what kinds of mistakes the Obama campaign might make to completely embarrass their candidate, it would have never occurred to us that attacking Gov. Romney's faith would be on the list. Why? Because the backlash would be so instantaneous and damaging -- as it is right now!

The basic facts of the story are contained in the original stories, but two facts common to both stories should be underscored: Both of the women who called Joy Allen identified themselves as "being from the Obama campaign" and as "a practicing Catholic voting for Obama."  This is precisely what the Obama campaign denies.

Several members of the media have attempted to contact Joy Allen directly, but no one has attempted to contact Deal Hudson in spite of the fact that the Obama campaign has called his story "categorically false."

When Joy Allen decides to, she will accept another media platform to tell her story again.  When the public hears from Allen herself, the Obama campaign will find itself in the embarrassing situation of having dismissed her story in advance.  Her retelling will leave no doubt in anyone's mind as to its veracity. 

Tonight (Wednesday), in the first of three important Presidential debates in this critical election, Mitt Romney shocked the main stream media and knocked President Barack Obama down to the mat - at least figuratively - in what would be called a TKO, a technical knock out, in most Martial Arts competitions. Romney won this first and critical debate in technique, delivery, command of facts, courage and ideas. He did so decisively! Even the Obama cheering squad in the main stream media had to admit this fact.

The news over the next 24 hours will demonstrate that this first Presidential debate marked a turning point in this critical election.The only question is how much the poll numbers will actually change - and how quickly? The pundits will pontificate over what it might mean for the next two debates but no-one can doubt which of these two candidates had the "eye of the tiger".

Even as the Press spread out seeking first reactions, the "spin rooms" of the campaigns were not arguing over which of the two candidates won - but only over how big of an effect Mitt Romney's decisive win this Wednesday evening will have on the outcome of this pivotal Presidential election. This debate was, as they say, a "game changer".  

Stay tuned - there is much more to come.

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