Romney on the HHS Mandate

I don’t have a TV that talks to the outside world, so I didn’t see Raymond Arroyo’s interview with Romney.  However a friend who did watch it writes in astonishment:

Arroyo asked was what would Romney do about the HHS mandate. Romney did not answer the question. Instead he spent five minutes mouthing platitudes about “freedom of worship” (Hillary Clinton’s favorite expression to undermine the First Amendment).

Update: Here’s the interview. Pertinent question starts at 1:45:

So now I’m back to thinking I’ll just vote Doomed Quixotic Party.  The only conceivable proportional reason I could imagine voting for Romney is that he would break off Obama’s war on Catholic conscience.  When he is given a simple question by a Catholic interviewer under the friendliest possible circumstances and has an easy chance to hit it out of the park, after choosing a Catholic running mate and telegraphing “I’m on your side, vote for me”, he still can’t bring himself to say, “Yes.  I will overturn the HHS Mandate on January 20, 2013.”  He can’t do it.

Indeed, he deploys *exactly* the same language Obama deploys about “freedom of worship” and subtly reduces “freedom of religion” to “freedom of worship” to weasel out of that commitment.  It’s extremely significant.  “Freedom of *religion*” is constitutional language that  expresses the right of believers to believe and live as they please in the public square.  “Freedom of worship” is Ruling Class code language (constantly deployed by Obama) that means “believers can think as they please in the privacy of their homes and sanctuaries (for now, till we decide to come after them there too) but they should shut up and not trouble us in the public square or in the halls of power”.  It is language carefully and deliberately insinuated into public discourse to marginalize and silence believers in the public square.  Romney’s careful choice of those words makes clear, yet again, that he has every intention of betraying Catholics and prolifers and no intention whatsoever of confronting either abortion *or* the HHS Mandate’s assault on religious liberty. Instead of making excuses for that and lying to ourselves that once he is in power we are really going to “hold his feet to the fire” we should grow a spine right now, confront this duplicitous scoundrel right now, or simply acknowledge that the conservative  Christians and Catholics essentially exist in American politics to serve as a feeder belt in the voting booth for Republicans, not to actually influence GOP politics in any serious way whatsoever.

Romney’s behavior is no surprise really, given that he pioneered the assault on Catholic conscience when he was Gov of Mass by forcing Catholic hospitals to dispense the Morning After Pill and still does fundraisers at the home of the guy who makes it.  But if Catholics remain silent about Romney’s atrocious performance on The World Over, I will be surprised at how easily people who oppose the HHS Mandate when Obama imposes can take it lying down it when Romney refuses to rescind it.

Meanwhile, I’m back to seeing no proportional reason to vote for him, and certainly no reason to vote for the God King.  Between this and the rush to get Catholics on board with murdering innocent life when it is conceived in rape, the RR ticket has not missed a opportunity to miss an opportunity.  They almost had my vote due to the very slim possibility they would at least not spit on Catholic conscience and religious liberty like Obama does.  That ship has sailed.

Tom Kreitzberg is right:

The standing political deal

 We will give you the good you desire if you give us power. A lot of power. Quite possibly, in fact, more power than you think we need to give you the good you desire. But we need to use that power to tick a few things off our list of priorities that just barely edge out giving you the good you desire. Things like evening scores — well, and running up scores. Oh, and getting more power. What good will it do anyone if we give you the good you desire, only to lose power? THEY will take away the good you desire. Or at least, THEY might. We wouldn’t — or if we did, it would be only temporarily, until we’re all settled in with inexhaustible power. But let’s not lose track of the fundamentals, We’re the ones, the only ones, offering you the good you desire. So remember, and teach your children:

1. Power.
2. The good you desire.

In that order.