Bush's Catholic Czar: Sebelius Pick Is 'Signal Moment' for Conservative Christians

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

Why aren't Republican leaders voicing their opposition to President Obama's pro-abortion rights pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services (well, Republicans other than Sens. Tom Coburn and Jim DeMint) even as the party's antiabortion rights base vents outrage? I called Deal Hudson, who directed Catholic outreach for George W. Bush's presidential campaigns, to get his take on the GOP's wall of silence over HHS Secretary-designate Kathleen Sebelius. Hudson has launched a website called Catholics Against Sebelius.

I'll post parts of our illuminating talk later, but in anticipation of our conversation, Hudson blogged on his disappointment over the buttoned-lip Republicans (I'm the reporter he refers to):

In an hour I will be getting a call from a reporter at a major weekly news magazine. He emailed me last night asking if he could ask some questions about why the GOP leadership had said so little against the nomination of a pro-abortion Catholic governor, Kathleen Sebelius, to head the Department of Health and Human Resources.

A very good question! After all, isn't it the Republican Party that has a right-to-life plank? Isn't it the Republican Party that sells itself under a "pro-life, pro-family" banner?

....I don't think the GOP yet realizes this is quickly becoming a signal moment in its relationship with conservative Christian voters. We will soon see if its leadership learned any lessons from the 2008 presidential campaign, and particularly its treatment of Gov. Sarah Palin.

Read Hudson's full post here.

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