Mark Linton has been named the National Catholic Outreach Coordinator for Senator Obama's campaign. Mark had been an aide to Barack Obama in his Senate office. Prior to that, he worked for Catholic Relief Services (CRS). Mark will be part of the Obama Campaign's Faith Outreach Team, headed by National Director for Religious Affairs Joshua DuBois.
Mark has hit the ground running. He helped put together last week a listening session with Catholic laity, religious and clergy in Pennsylvania. Catholic leaders have been included in health care discussions and other campaign activities.
If you would like Mark to keep you informed as to ways you can help in the campaign, please go to:
6 comments:
Planned Parenthood's Candidate
Planned Parenthood apparently has no doubts about where Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) stands on abortion as their political arm announced their endorsement of Sen. Obama. Planned Parenthood's president Cecile Richards called him a "passionate advocate" with a "long and consistent record of standing up for" legal abortion. In a speech Sen. Obama made to a Planned Parenthood audience last July he vowed that "the first thing I'd do as President is sign the Freedom of Choice Act." The Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) would effectively overturn hundreds of state laws that have put reasonable restrictions on abortion, including parental notification. FOCA would guarantee direct public funding for abortion. Last year Planned Parenthood claimed an income of $1 billion, one-third of it from U.S. taxpayers. This for an organization whose president makes some $1 million a year in salary, whose political action arm has vowed to spend $10 million this election cycle, and which is now building high-end mega-abortion centers in many American neighborhoods. One such center just went up in Denver, Colo. and the massive facility will not only perform abortions but also serve as a political headquarters for its electioneering. Such a taxpayer-subsidized combination of the deadly and political is possibly allowable due to Title X regulations, which regulate taxpayer funds that go to "family planning" organizations. It is well past time to stop the millions in fungible tax dollars going to Planned Parenthood each year.
How can anyone take Mark Linton seriously as a Catholic Outreach Coordinator when he constantly cancels appearances on the radio show of Al Cresta? If you can't speak in front of a Catholic audience on the radio, what good are you? Where is the outreach? It also doesn't reflect well on Linton's character when he continues to schedule appearances and then cancels at the last minute. Obama should find a new person for this position.
Give would give Mark credit for even trying to schedule time for a right wing partisan like Al Cresta. If it was me, I would spend my time with objective journalists, not Cresta.
I support Senator Obama on every issue I have evaluated except abortion. These include immigration, war, health care, torture, and letting the Bush tax breaks expire (more too, but these come to mind).
I am more liberal than most of my fellow parishioners with respect to Senator Obama’s support of Row vs. Wade. Even though I feel that the Row vs. Wade decision is flawed and immoral, I would overlook Senator Obama’s support because of the overwhelming moral considerations of the other issues, with the fact that no other candidate has a very strong in a stance against Row vs. Wade. Also, leaving out abortion, no other candidate is as strong on pro life issues as Senator Obama.
However, I can’t vote for someone who supports the Freedom of Choice Act. I don’t know of a fellow parishioner who will support the FOCA. Until recently, I had thought this support by Senator Obama was just something he had given while talking to a pro-abortion group in September of 2007 (Planned Parenthood) and that the act was not serious legislation (since its introduction in 2004 it has never received a committee hearing).
Yesterday I was told that the FOCA will be brought forward to the congress in January. If Senator Obama, as president, were to energetically support the act, it will probably become law.
I called the Delray Beach, Florida, Obama campaign headquarters and could not get an answer when asking about Senator Obama’s current position on the FOCA. I submitted an email, with extreme adversarial material about Senator Obama on the FOCA, with a request for the truth about Senator Obama’s current position on the FOCA, to the SMEAR team. I did receive a reply about his reasonableness on the subject of abortion; but nothing about his position on the FOCA.
Can something be posted about Senator Obama’s current position on the FOCA? Without an update, Catholic voters are only left with the complete support statement given last year.
Bill Ferguson
Bill --
Senator Obama supports FOCA and that is unfortunate. I disagree with him on that. I don't know who told you yesterday that FOCA would be brought forth in January. What they may have meant is that the bill will be re-introduced in Janaury. I've spoken to people on Capitol Hill and it is universally agreed that FOCA will never come to EITHER the House nor the Senate floor for a vote and would be defeated if it was. Most likely, it will not even have a subcommittee vote or a congressional hearing.
I think your first instincts were correct, that the act is not serious legislation.
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