Dems' sympathy is with the Devil

St. Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou,
O Prince of the heavenly hosts,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan,
and all the evil spirits,
who prowl about the world
seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

THE LOUISIANA DEMOCRATIC PARTY ought to have been praying. Hard.

It didn't, however, for that is not a concept commensurate with Party of Lust -- and in Louisiana, Party of Graft -- values. And now, after racial slurs didn't take, we have the looming prospect of the state party launching an ad campaign only Satan could love against Republican gubernatorial front-runner Bobby Jindal.

The state Democrats are flat-out going after Jindal's Catholic faith. In a state where Catholics make up a strong plurality. I wonder how that's going to work out for them. Here's the latest from WAFB television in Baton Rouge:

The Louisiana Democratic Party says an attack ad it is preparing to air against Republican Bobby Jindal -will- focus on Jindal's religious writings from his college days, but will -not- focus on a piece Jindal wrote about observing an exorcism being performed on a female friend. WAFB 9NEWS reported Wednesday night that the exorcism paper would be part of the attack ad, but Democratic Party spokeswoman Julie Vezinot says that is incorrect. Vezinot said other anti-Jindal ads will air that focus on topics others than religion. "The ads are based on facts drawn from his voting records in Congress and his campaign contributions," Vezinot said.

Vezinot says the ad focusing on religion is just one of several the party is planning to launch against Jindal in the coming weeks. The party estimates it will spend nearly $1 million dollars on the series of anti-Jindal ads.

(snip)

"Bobby is a proud Christian, and attacks against his faith prove just how far old-guard party bosses willl go to resist the change our state needs," said Melissa Sellers, communications director for the Bobby Jindal campaign. "People will see this as exactly what it is - the same kind of baseless mudslinging and gutter politics that has held Louisiana back for generations," Sellers said.

WHAT NEEDS AN EXORCISM -- and I am not joking here -- is the Democratic Party. And I say this as a Democrat -- one who doesn't have much use for Republicans. Or Democrats, for that matter.

According to Jindal's campaign manager, Timmy Teepell, the Dems have been previewing the ads, including one attacking Jindal's faith, to potential donors in a bid to raise enough cash to run them on TV.

A party that would stoop to attacking Jindal's Catholic faith, in a largely Catholic state, is not only really, really stupid but something more. Something much more. It is, it would seem, a party that hates Christian faith more than it wants to win an election. It is a party that wants to destroy Jindal and profane the name of Jesus Christ, even if that brings destruction upon itself.

What does that sound like to you? To me, it sounds a lot like being a tool of the devil. Which, of course, always ends with the demonic dupe coming to No Good End.

Why else, as a political entity, would you do it? It's just too insane otherwise, as I say, in a state with a strong Catholic plurality.

Furthermore, in a state desperate for robust debate hinging on policy and civic culture issues, Jindal's religious views are all the Democrats can come up with? That, my friends, points to intellectual bankruptcy in addition to spiritual and moral bankruptcy.

The Louisiana Democratic Party told WAFB that it didn't plan any commercials regarding Jindal's exorcism article in the New Oxford Review, a traditional-leaning Catholic publication. It doesn't have to -- there's already a nasty whispering campaign in the "progressive" blogosphere surrounding that (and even the smear has been recycled from the 2003 gubernatorial campaign), and I'm sure the state party is maintaining plausible deniability.

Jindal's article on a prayer meeting for a cancer-stricken friend that turned into an exorcism when that friend began to act as if she were possessed -- including taunting each person present with an embarrassing personal revelation no one could have known about -- contained nothing that should shock or scandalize any believing Catholic. With emphasis on "believing."

AS A MATTER OF FACT, courtesy of The Daily Kos, you can read it here (PDF file).

I am a Catholic, and I believe with my Church that there is a devil, and that he employs demons who sometimes try in very direct ways to send souls to Hell. We believe that Satan and his minions can possess individuals, treating them as objects to use as he pleases, ultimately destroying them because he hates them.

Come to think of it, that sounds a lot like the Democratic platform . . . and, in this case, Democratic politics. Of course, in the interest of fairness, Republicans have no business pointing fingers in this respect.

It is instructive, though, to see how scandalous the college-student Bobby Jindal's writings are to some snarky-secularist bloggers, Washington ad agencies and their Democratic Party puppet masters. Particularly when it involves such straight-forward Catholic belief -- indeed, such straight-forward evangelical, Pentecostal, fundamentalist and mainline-Protestant belief.

Well, at least back when mainline Protestants used to believe in things other than same-sex orgasms.

IN FACT, I feel a Bible verse coming on. It's 1 Corinthians 1:18-25:

18 The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the learning of the learned I will set aside."
20 Where is the wise one? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made the wisdom of the world foolish?
21 For since in the wisdom of God the world did not come to know God through wisdom, it was the will of God through the foolishness of the proclamation to save those who have faith.
22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom,
23 but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
24 but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

AND THEN THERE'S THIS ONE (Luke 6:20-26):

20 And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.
21 Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh.
22 Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.
23 Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.
24 But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
25 But woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep.
26 Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.

OF COURSE, the Bible is dicey source material when trying to make a point to true-believing acolytes of the Party of Lust (TM). So I will appeal to a higher authority, at least in their petty little universe. The Word of the Almighty Kos (from when he originally posted the Jindal exorcism article):

Amen.