The Brody File

Palin in 2012: Don't Bet Against It

David Brody — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:10:45 GMT

Call it a hunch. Call it a Brody File instinct. Call it stupid but I have a feeling we haven't heard the last of Sarah Palin.

Sarah Palin may be resigning as Governor of Alaska but it seems pretty clear to me that this move is a logical first step in looking to run for President of the United States.

I know. I know. I've heard all the talk that she's done with politics and the 2008 campaign took a toll on her family and Palin personally. I'm skeptical. I'm not saying that I don't believe those feelings are real, but let's think this through for a moment.

What does Palin need more than anything right now? She needs an extreme makeover. She needs a redo. She's been typecast by the media as a modern-day Dan Quayle. People think she's a lightweight.

By stepping down as Governor, Palin can get away from it all. While working behind the scenes to see if a Presidential run makes sense, she can also hit the books. She can study up on Supreme Court decisions she may disagree with. Write some public policy "White Papers," go be an expert on a couple key domestic issues and play advocate in chief as she travels around the country pushing those issues.

By doing all of that, Sarah Palin can come back as Sarah 2.0. The bar is low at this point so imagine if she comes back running for President as a new and improved polished product. Something to think about.

Also let me say this: Her reputation has been tarnished. You think she really wants to go out that way? I don't think so. Plus, she has a huge fan base and she's a political rockstar. She's not tone deaf. She gets that. Oh and by the way, the last time I checked, her nickname is "Sarah Barracuda." Palin is a fighter.

Look, were there all sorts of political and personal reasons for Palin to resign her office now? Absolutely. There's no reason to go into all of those here, but suffice it to say that she got beat up pretty bad by the mainstream media. Some of it was her own fault (like not knowing a Supreme Court decision she disagreed with) but let's be real here.

The liberal media saw a strong, pretty, conservative, Christian woman and went to town. She didn't talk like the typical politician. She didn't act like the typical politician. She was different. Very different and she paid a price for it.

Was it hurtful? Yes. Was it painful for her? Yes. But does she just walk away? I'm not convinced.

President Obama's Comments on Abortion Common Ground

David Brody — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:55:14 GMT

In an on the record meeting with Catholic reporters today, President Obama gave us some insight on some specific common ground areas he thinks may be possible on abortion. The Brody File has the transcription of his comments below. Read them carefully and I think you'll get a good sense of where he is going with this.

Q: I'm interested in the group you've organized to seek common ground on the abortion issue. There have been some reports, early reports about certain problems getting off the ground, with pro-life groups insisting that contraception be taken off the table, and abortion rights groups insisting that no language be used talking about reducing the actual number of abortions. And I was wondering, what are your realistic hopes for this group?

THE PRESIDENT: My understanding is that we've now received a range of perspectives, gathered up comments. The group has been working, has met, has been active. A memo is going to come to me sometime this summer --

MR. DuBOIS: Soon.

THE PRESIDENT: -- which describes where we think there's common ground, where there's some irreconcilable differences.

As I've said before, I've never been under the illusion that there are going to be -- that we were going to simply talk all our differences away on these issues. Again, I acknowledged this in the Notre Dame speech. I think there's a irreducible difference, conflict, on the abortion issue that the best we can do is suggest that people of goodwill can be on either side, but you can't wish those differences away.

So I don't yet have the recommendations. I can tell you, though, that on the idea of helping young people make smart choices so that they are not engaging in casual sexual activity that can lead to unwanted pregnancies, on the importance of adoption as a option, an alternative to abortion, on caring for pregnant women so that it is easier for them to support children, those are immediately three areas where I would be surprised if we don't have some pretty significant areas of agreement.

You identified the areas where things may be more difficult. I personally think that combining good sexual and -- or good sex and moral education needs to be combined with contraception in order to prevent unwanted pregnancies. I recognize that contradicts Catholic Church doctrine, so I would not expect someone who feels very strongly about this issue as a matter of religious faith to be able to agree with me on that, but that's my personal view. We may not be able to arrive at perfectly compatible language on that front.

I would be surprised if those who believe abortion should be legal would object to language that says we should try to reduce the circumstances in which women feel compelled to obtain an abortion. If they took that position, I would disagree with them. I don't know any circumstance in which abortion is a happy circumstance or decision, and to the extent that we can help women avoid being confronted with a circumstance in which that's even a consideration, I think that's a good thing. But again, that's my view. There may be politics involved in this that I'm not entirely aware of. I have not been involved with the actual meetings so far.

President Obama Promises a "Robust Conscience Clause"

David Brody — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:39:31 GMT

President Obama went a little farther today in saying that conscience clause protections on abortion coming from his White House will be strong and 'robust". He made the comments to Catholic reporters while discussing his upcoming meeting with the Pope next week in Italy. The Brody File has transcript. Read his comments below.

Q Many of the people who are providing aid through the church, both domestically and internationally, are very concerned about possible restrictions on churches' moral teachings in their work going away -- through the conscience clause -- I didn't articulate that very well. But they're very concerned about the conscience clauses that protect their ability to refuse to do certain kinds of services going away. And it's been a little unclear what direction this administration is going with some of those restrictions.

Can you talk a little bit about where you see the boundary lines between what -- how much the government can limit what happens according to people's consciences?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think that the only reason that my position may appear unclear is because it came in the wake of a last-minute, 11th-hour change in conscience clause provisions that were pushed forward by the previous administration that we chose to reverse. But my underlying position has always been consistent, which is I'm a believer in conscience clauses. I was a supporter of a robust conscience clause in Illinois for Catholic hospitals and health care providers. I discussed this with Cardinal George when he was here in the Oval Office, and I reiterated my support for an effective conscience clause in my speech at Notre Dame.

So I think that there have been some who keep on anticipating the worst from us, and it's not based on anything I've said or done, but is rather just a perception somehow that we have some hard-line agenda that we're seeking to push.

We, as I said before, did reverse an 11th-hour change in the conscience clause, partly because it hadn't been properly reviewed and thought through and there were some concerns about how broad it might be and what its manifestations would be once implemented. We are in the process of reviewing the possibilities of any changes to what was then --

Q What existed before that.

THE PRESIDENT: -- what existed before those changes. We've solicited comments from a wide range of groups -- Joshua, if I'm not mistaken, you can probably tell us how many -- how many comments have we received at this point?

MR. DuBOIS: Hundreds of thousands.

THE PRESIDENT: Hundreds of thousands of comments, including from Catholic providers, the bishops have weighed in, et cetera. We will be coming out with I think more specific guidelines. But I can assure all of your readers that when this review is complete there will be a robust conscience clause in place. It may not meet the criteria of every possible critic of our approach, but it certainly will not be weaker than what existed before the changes were made.

Q Before the last 11th-hour one.

THE PRESIDENT: Exactly.

President Obama’s Daily Devotionals and Church Talk

David Brody — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:33:57 GMT

The President revealed today that he receives daily devotionals from White House Faith Office Director Joshua Dubois. The President met with Catholic reporters in advance of his trip to Italy next week where he'll meet with the Pope. The President also said he goes to Church every weekend that he's at Camp David. The Brody File has been given the transcription from the interview below:

Q Mr. President, have you chosen a home church? There's been some reports this week that Camp David is it. And are you feeling -- if not, are you feeling any pressure to join a predominantly African American church?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, Michelle and I decided that we would wait a few months after arriving before we made a decision on this, partly -- let's be blunt: I mean, we were pretty affected by what happened at Trinity and the controversy surrounding Reverend Wright. That was deeply disturbing to us, and it was disappointing for us personally. It made us very sensitive to the fact that as President the church we attend can end up being interpreted as speaking for us at all times. We were also mindful of the fact that the times that we have attended church here, everybody who attends has to go through a mag -- (laughter) -- and it's a scene. I mean, it's just -- unfortunately, I am now very disruptive wherever I go. And so thinking about how to just manage the logistics of that was something that we spent some time talking about.

We have attended services at Camp David every weekend that we're there. I will tell you, by the way, that it is a wonderful little congregation; the members of Camp David who are up there consistently have their families there, they've got a Sunday school. The young chaplain there, Chaplain Cash, is terrific -- as good of a -- delivers as powerful a sermon as I've heard in a while. I really think he's excellent.

So we will continue to go to services there. How we handle church when we're here in D.C. is something that we're still figuring out. And I think that in the second half of the year we will have made a decision. We may choose, rather than to join just one church, to rotate and attend a number of different churches.

Obviously that takes away somewhat from the church experience of being part of a community and participating in the life of the church. But as I said, we are resigned now to the fact that we change the atmospherics wherever we go, and it may be more sensible for us to get in and out on any given Sunday and not try to create blockades around places where we attend.

I miss it, though. One of the things I also asked Joshua to do, though, is to -- we've had -- throughout the campaign we had a collection of pastors who were close friends and supporters who pray for us, a pretty eclectic group of people from the Catholic Church, people from mainstream Protestant, Evangelical. And so having some of those friends come in and pray with us is something that we're potentially looking forward to.

One last little note of sustenance, a little note is, is that Joshua does a wonderful service for me and he actually sends me a devotional on my BlackBerry every morning, which is actually something that he started doing I think when I was really having a tough time during the campaign.

MR. DUBOIS: It was a tough time.

THE PRESIDENT: And it was just such a wonderful practice that we've continued it ever since. So every morning I get something to reflect on, which I very much appreciate.

More on the President talking about Catholic issues here.

Rick Warren to Speak to Big Muslim Audience

David Brody — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:46:44 GMT

Hey Prop 8 haters...get a load of this. Rick Warren is taking his road show to a Muslim audience. Read below from The Christian Post.

“Purpose Driven” megachurch pastor Rick Warren will be spending his Fourth of July speaking to up to 40,000 Muslims in the nation’s capital.

Warren, whose network of pastors spans over 160 countries, is expected to speak during the main session of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)’s 46th annual convention, which has as its theme “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

“Considered the cornerstone of the convention, the Saturday Evening Main Session is not to be missed,” organizers state in the program for the four-day convention, which starts Friday.

“Prominent, sought after scholars will address the theme of the convention at large,” they add. “The session is both relevant and meaningful to Islam in North America.”

I know the gay community isn't thrilled with Rick Warren but maybe now you understand why some Evangelicals are skeptical of some of his moves too. What is he going to say to Muslims? Look, Rick warren is a bridge builder so I don't think you're going to hear him say that Jesus is the way to heaven.

Pro-Life Dems Say No to Abortion in Government Health Care Plan

David Brody — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:35:03 GMT

Getting a public option on health care through Congress is going to be tough enough but now 19 pro-life Democrats have come out and said they won't support a public option if abortions or abortion related services are covered under the government run option. They sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The letter was signed by the following Democrats:

Reps. Dan Boren (D-OK); Bart Stupak (D-MI); Colin Peterson (D-MN); Tim Holden (D-PA); Travis Childers (D-MS); Lincoln Davis (D-TN); Heath Shuler (D-NC) Solomon Ortiz (D-TX); Mike McIntyre (D-NC); Jerry Costello (D-IL); Gene Taylor (D-MS); James Oberstar (D-MN); Bobby Bright (D-AL); Steve Driehaus (D-OH); Marcy Kaptur (D-OH); Charlie Melancon (D-LA); John Murtha (D-PA); Paul Kanjorski (D-PA); and Kathleen Dahlkemper (D-PA).

Let's face it. This strong showing of support among pro-life Democrats in essence will torpedo any chance of abortion services being included in the final bill. Pelosi needs these 19 votes. If the President really wanted to extend an olive branch to pro-life conservatives regarding his common ground approach to abortion, he could come out and tell Congress not to include abortion coverage in the government plan. Think he'll do that? Umm....too bold...too risky...he won't alienate his pro-choice base. The upside isn't big enough.

You can read the letter below.

Dear Honorable Pelosi:

As the debate on health care reform continues and legislation is produced, it is imperative that the issue of abortion not be overlooked. Plans to mandate coverage for abortions, either directly or indirectly is unacceptable.
We believe in a culture that supports and respects the right to life and is dedicated to the protection and preservation of families. Therefore, we cannot support any health care reform proposal unless it explicitly excludes abortion from the scope of any government-defined or subsidized health insurance plan. We believe that a government-defined or subsidized health insurance plan, should not be used to fund abortion.

Furthermore, we want to ensure that the Health Benefits Advisory Committee cannot recommend abortion services be included under covered benefits or as part of a benefits package. Without an explicit exclusion, abortion could be included in a government subsidized health care plan under general health care. The health care reform package produced by Congress will be landmark, and with legislation as important as this, abortion must be addressed clearly in the bill text.
Furthermore, funding restrictions save lives by reducing the number of abortions. The Guttmacher Policy Review, a leading pro-choice research organization noted “that about one third of women who would have had an abortion if support were available carried their pregnancies to term when the abortion fund was unavailable.”

Thank you for taking the time to consider our request. By ensuring that abortions are not funded through any health care reform package, we will take this controversial issue off the table so that Congress can focus on crafting a broadly-supported health care reform bill.

Respectfully yours,
[undersigned]

No Transgender Fight from Obama Administration

David Brody — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:11:24 GMT

Check this out from the Associated Press. How is this going to play on the transgender alert meter?

The Obama administration is not going to fight a nearly $500,000 judgment for a Library of Congress hiree who lost the job while undergoing a gender change from a man to a woman.

The Justice Department let the deadline to appeal the decision pass Tuesday, a day after President Barack Obama hosted gay supporters at the White House and promised to be their "champion." Some activists have complained he has not led on their causes, including ending the ban on gays in the military.

Diane Schroer (SCHROH'--uhr), a retired Army Special Forces commander from Alexandria, Va., had been offered a job at the Library of Congress when he was a man, David Schroer. The job was rescinded the day after Schroer told a library official he was going to have an operation to become a woman.

So will this move by the Obama administration come under the label "fierce advocate"? How is this going to play in the gay and transgender community?

Jesus and Health Care

David Brody — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:19:42 GMT

If you listen to Christian Radio, get ready for a health care push. Some Religious minded groups want Christians to known that healht care is a moral Christian type issue so they're taking to the airwaves to make the case. Read below from the Associated Press:

Liberal-leaning religious groups are launching radio ads in five states this week in which local pastors urge senators to back efforts to overhaul the nation's health care system.

In the ads, the religious leaders discuss the moral reasons for making health care more affordable. They are being sponsored by national and local groups including Faith in Public Life, Faithful America, Sojourners and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good.

The spots are running on Christian and mainstream radio stations in Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Nebraska and North Carolina - all of them home states of pivotal Democratic senators.

Congress is in recess this week. Top Democrats hope to enact health care legislation this year.

Listen to the Christian radio ad for health care here. Transcription below:

It's a vision first proclaimed by Isaiah: No more shall there be an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime.

This is Rev. Joyce Hardy from Little Rock, and we’ve got work to do. In Arkansas, people are being denied the care they need because of their age or an illness they had years ago. Or they’re getting sick because they can’t afford preventive care.

This is not who we are as a nation. America can do better.

The challenge is great, but God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love. And our love must be a thing of action. This Independence Day, join thousands of people of faith in asking Senator Lincoln and Senator Pryor to rise to the challenge by supporting reform that makes quality health care choices affordable for all families.

Will This Just be Lip Service to Gays?

David Brody — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:04:57 GMT

So was it just lip service or not? President Obama's big party in the East Room of The White House yesterday raises more questions than provides answers. Is he really going to push for the gay agenda and spend some political capital even if it hurts him politically? Will he fight with Congress over DOMA and Don't Ask Don't Tell and in the process potentially jeapordize some of his public policy agenda?

Watch my Tv report below.

President Obama HAS NOT Chosen Official Church Home

David Brody — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:32:19 GMT

Hold on a minute!!! President obama hasn't chosen a Church home yet.

Time Magazine reported this morning that President Obama has chosen the non denominational Evergreen Chapel at Camp David his primary place of worship BUT that report IS NOT ACCURATE.

Jen Psaki, Deputy White House Press Secretary tells The Brody File the following:

"The President and First Family continue to look for a church home. They have enjoyed worshipping at Camp David and several other congregations over the months, and will choose a church at the time that is best for their family."

It is interesting that the President has attended Evergreen Chapel but the search for a DC Church home continues.