Forget the Poor? Minnesota DFL way off-base.

But it got my attention.
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When I got Ray's email about this story I didn't pay much attention - the candidate wasn't from my district.  Call me dull-normal - but that is what I am when it comes to State politics.  Not that these races are not extremely important and consequential - but by this time of the campaign season I am so sick of all the ads and the candidates, I just want it all to be over.  I doubt I'm unlike the majority of people in this.  So I kind of blew off the ad for what it is - an anti-Catholic ad to dissuade people from voting for candidates who are pro-life or against gay marriage.  I got it - but I didn't think it was any worse than an ad I saw on TV using the Catholic name when urging voters to reject any candidate who is pro-gay marriage.  Then there was the Archbishop's DVD of course.
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Am I offended the Democrats got it wrong by implying the Catholic Church is defending marriage on the backs of the poor?  Yes, but secular anti-Catholics along with Catholic dissidents always say that kind of stuff.  For instance - in the AIDS battle, Catholic dissidents along with other pro-gay activists have often insisted the Church preferred dogma to helping AIDS victims.  Such lies fly in the face of the fact that the Church was the first to come to the aid and defense of these sufferers around the globe!  In NYC - the Church was the first to open a hospice under the care of the Missionaries of Charity.  Likewise today, Catholic Charities, Catholic Relief Services, and other such organizations are on the streets and in the front lines defending the poor.  So how can a practicing Catholic not even be aware of that fact what with all the fund drives and donation seeking mailings we all get?  That said - the attack wasn't necessarily anti-Catholic - but anti-clerical.

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Nevertheless, the ads are nothing but cheap shots at the Church, to be sure - but political campaigns are nothing but cheap shots at one another's contender and opposing political platforms.  So that is pretty much why I never paid any attention to the ad in the first place.  I never watched the Archbishop's DVD either - I agreed with it - but I never watched.  Nor did I read the entire Archdiocesan plan on the closing and merging of parishes.  You might call it detachment... defensive detachment.  However, I definitely feel compelled to vote (pressured is more like it) - but I do not like any of the candidates or their platforms. 
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Actually, I feel as if I am forced to vote for the only candidate who happens to be pro-life and anti-gay marriage - I don't like the guy.  I can't stand people like Michelle Bachman either.  Mark Dayton is a zombie.  And so on.  See how I am.  I'm scared I'm a liberal stuck in an out of shape conservative's body - or is that a conservative in a liberal body?  No - I'm fairly certain I'm some sort of an anarchist with a conscience, always on the wrong side of the fence - but tear my heart open and you will find love.
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Anyway - the DFL ad?  I'm against it.  God bless Ray of Stella Borealis for making dolts like me aware of it. 
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NB:  Although it may seem as if I'm riding the coat-tails of Ray's superb post, as a prominent Roman Catholic Minnesotan, I feel it is only my duty to make a statement on where I stand in this controversy.  Hi Cath!