Thanks to an anonymous commenter who left a message about some dialogue on Meet the Press today. The comment appeared in my running list of bishops speaking out against Nancy Pelosi's errant explanation of Catholic teaching on when life begins. I found this at MSNBC (emphases mine in bold and my comments bracketed and in red):
MR. BROKAW: This is only anecdotal, Governor, but a number of them [women] have said to me already, "Hey, listen, this is not just about gender. This is a woman, for example, who is against abortion, she's pro-life, she is a member of the NRA. That's not my kind of candidate."
GOV. PAWLENTY: I think it's wonderful that she is a woman, but that isn't why Senator McCain picked her, and that isn't why she's on this ticket. She's on this ticket because he believes she's the right person in light of her experience, her judgment, her background, to be vice president. The fact that she happens to be a woman is somebody--is a, is a instance where she can bring some credibility, perhaps in speaking to that segment of the population, to the electorate.
MR. BROKAW: It was also important that she not be in favor of abortion or choice [He also could have and should have commented "It was also important that she be pro-life." But, the language chosen puts pro-life people in a negative light - a common tactic of pro-aborts.]
GOV. PAWLENTY: Well, I think Senator McCain said from day one he wants somebody that is with him on the ticket that reflects his priorities and values for the country, and he has spent an entire career being pro-life, so I don't think that comes as a surprise.
MR. BROKAW: We're still learning a good deal about her, and I know we will continue to. In the...
GOV. PAWLENTY: I would also say on that, Tom, if I could, you never hear Barack Obama getting asked whether he would pick a pro-life candidate for his ticket... [cha-ching!!!]
MR. BROKAW: Huh. [D'oh!]
GOV. PAWLENTY: ...or whether it was important to have a pro-choice candidate on the Democratic side. You notice that question never gets asked of the Democrats.
MR. BROKAW: [ok - pay attention here....] In the governors race--as a matter of fact, Nancy Pelosi and I talked about this just last week, and she got in a lot of trouble with the Catholic Church because he refused to say when life begins, and when I asked her about it, she then had her own explanation based on what she thought was church doctrine, and the church came after her [?!?!?!?]. So we have put that on the table, I just want to get that on the record if I can. [Came after her??? That's not what happened. The Church, through her bishops, went after the error, which is what is suppose to happen. It's their job to teach and Pelosi gave them the opportunity right on a silver platter (though they probably would rather avoid these kinds of opportunities because of how many people can be led into scandal by it)].
Here is the show from MSNBC. The interview with Gov. Plawenty, begins about 3:55 in - you can slide the bar down. That which appears in the transcript is at around 10:50. I recommnend just watching the whole thing to get the flavor interview. I haven't really watched Brokaw to know his style, but he seemed to be doing an awful lot of commentary. I do miss Tim Russert. I don't recall Russert interjecting commentary in the middle of his interviews, but rather asking a stream of questions and letting people speak for themselves.
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