Guest Opinion: Rick Santorum Faces the ADL Hypocrisy Machine

The irony is that among those who feel most at home with Rick Santorum's views, not the least of which concern social issues, are many American Jews

Truth be told, Santorum's entire candidacy is founded upon principles and positions that are informed by his Catholic faith. Therefore, those who champion the notion that marriage is a merely human construct that can be legislatively redefined to include same-gender unions may in fact feel excluded, as may those who believe that partial birth abortion is just another medical procedure. The irony is that among those who feel most at home with Rick Santorum's views are many American Jews.In addition to being as non-partisan as Emily' List in practice, Abe Foxman's ADL is about as keen on keeping faith out of the political arena as Jeremiah Wright's Trinity United Church of Christ was.

P>BALTIMORE,MD (Catholic Online) - As reported by ABC News, while fielding questions at a campaign event in Windham, NH on January 5th, Rick Santorum was challenged to defend his faith by a voter who said, "We don't need a Jesus candidate, we need an economic candidate."

"My answer to that," Santorum responded, "We always need a Jesus candidate. We need someone who believes in something more than themselves and not just the economy. When we say, 'God bless America,' do we mean it or do we just say it?"

Wasting precious little time, Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League took the bait and issued a press release on January 6th answering Santorum's rhetorical question with what amounted to a resounding "Hell no, we don't mean it!"

Little surprise here as anyone even remotely familiar with Foxman's professional victimhood organization / personal ATM (which according to the Better Business Bureau provided him with nearly $400,000 in salary and benefits in 2009) knows darn well that the ADL doesn't "believe in something more than itself and the economy," to borrow Santorum's phrase.

Well, unless of course that "something" is the faith of godless liberalism and its most cherished of all sacraments, abortion. 

According to the ADL release:

"Senator Santorum's remark comparing himself to a 'Jesus candidate' was inappropriate and exclusionary. It essentially says that those of other faiths or of no faith - whether Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, non-believers or others - do not belong," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. 

Foxman is right about one thing; Santorum's remarks may strike some folks as exclusionary.

Truth be told, Santorum's entire candidacy is founded upon principles and positions that are informed by his Catholic faith. Therefore, those who champion the notion that marriage is a merely human construct that can be legislatively redefined to include same-gender unions may in fact feel excluded, as may those who believe that partial birth abortion is just another medical procedure.

In reality, these individuals are more than welcome to attempt a defense of their liberal arguments in an honest exchange of ideas, but let's be clear - even though Foxman claims to be a defender of Jews - it's no more possible to reconcile the ADL's political positions with authentic Jewish thought than it is to do so while invoking Jesus Christ.   

You see, the irony is that among those who feel most at home with Rick Santorum's views, not the least of which concern social issues, are many American Jews. No, not simply those whose great-great Bubby was a practicing Jew back in the Old Country while they personally prefer to worship at the altar of the Democrat Party here in the U.S. (albeit while occasionally marching under the Mogen David). I mean those Jewish Americans who proudly embrace the traditional moral values that are common to both Judaism and Catholicism.

The ADL release further quoted Foxman as pontificating, "Religious appeals to voters are simply unacceptable and un-American."

Really? If Foxman would only take a closer look at the pile of U.S. Dollars he has amassed over the years via his ADL antics he'd discover that each one of them says, "In God we trust." So much for religion being un-American. 

The ADL 's insistence that Santorum's faith must never rear its (presumably ugly) head in the American political process is as much the height of hypocrisy as their phony concern for inclusion. (Would Jewish conservatives like Marc Levin or Jonah Goldberg feel particularly welcome sharing their views at an ADL fundraiser? I doubt it.)

In addition to being as non-partisan as Emily' List in practice, Abe Foxman's ADL is about as keen on keeping faith out of the political arena as Jeremiah Wright's Trinity United Church of Christ was - it's just that the ADL's creed is not typically considered a "religious" one; rather, it's the secular humanist liberal political agenda, the primary articles of faith of which are that mankind is supremely autonomous (at the whim of the cognoscenti) and morality-by-consensus is desirable (provided, of course, the consensus opinion lines up neatly with their own).

Full disclosure - my wife and many of my family members are Jewish. (For inquiring minds, yes, we are validly married in the Catholic Church - thank you very much!) I do appreciate the fact that the ADL has been known to dabble in a worthy effort to combat authentic anti-Semitism every now and again (never mind its shameless track record of shaking the donation tree for fruit by pointing an anti-Semitic finger at the drop of a Yarmulke). 

The more noble part of the operation, however, appears to be just a means to an end wherein allegations of "anti-Semitism," both real and imagined, are employed as an emotional trigger intended to produce the publicity and the capital necessary to keep the ADL hypocrisy machine and its Left Wing political agenda running smoothly.  

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Author and speaker Louie Verrecchio has been a columnist for Catholic News Agency since April 2009. He recently launched "Preparing the Way for the Roman Missal - Where the New Translation meets the New EvangelizationTM" available at www.MissalPrep.com  Mr. Verrecchio's work, which includes the internationally acclaimed Harvesting the Fruit of Vatican II Faith Formation Series, has been endorsed by Cardinal George Pell of Sydney, Australia; Bishop Emeritus Patrick O'Donoghue of Lancaster, England, Bishop R. Walker Nickless of Sioux City, IA, USA and others.  

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