'Jesus, Mary and Joseph!': Biden targets Iowa Catholics

[Autumn]

Since it's Sunday

The campaign also shared a copy of a two-page hand-written letter endorsing Biden from an Iowa nun to Catholics. The nun asked that her name not be used for fear of getting in trouble with the diocese for engaging in political activity.

“Catholics who grew up in the 50s and 60s and 70s were raised to believe social justice was one of the most important things, to bring people up, that poverty was the result of all of us not living up to our faith,” said Teresa Wolff, the past chair of the Woodbury County Democratic Party and an organizer in Sioux City who is neutral in the race. “And Biden has brought that message to people.”

Biden has long fashioned himself an Irish Catholic in the mode of President Kennedy, the nation’s first Catholic in the White House, and often speaks of his faith on the campaign trail in personal terms. He mentions that he still carries the rosary his son, Beau Biden, was wearing when he died from cancer. Biden also talks about the nuns who were both cruel and kind to him as a kid when he struggled with stuttering.

During campaign speeches or one-on-ones with voters, he’s known to jokingly exclaim “Jesus, Mary and Joseph!” — a familiar Catholic expression — to express a sense of shock. At other times, he jokes about being in confession.
“Forgive me father, I’m friends with Republicans,” he told “The View” host Meghan McCain, who was mourning the death of her dad, Sen. John McCain, a friend of Biden’s. On Friday, he said to an audience in Fort Madison, “as they say in my faith, ‘bless me father, for I have sinned.’”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/jesus-mary-joseph-biden-targets-225131434.html

[lapucelle]

1. And?

[Autumn]

6. And?

[greatauntoftriplets]

2. Catholics are allowed to vote, you know.

[Autumn]

7. Anyone is allowed to vote, you know.

[greatauntoftriplets]

13. Then why do I read so much about states removing citizens from voting rolls?

Apparently, anti-Catholic bias did not die after the 1960 election as I thought it had. And should have.

[Autumn]

17. I don't know. Why do you read what you do?

I read the article, I saw no anti-Catholic bias. Iowa has a large Catholic population. Biden is Catholic. It must be like the old saying about beauty and bullshit, both are in the eye of the beholder.

[greatauntoftriplets]

25. To see what it says.

[yellowdogintexas]

19. It isn't specifically Catholics being purged. It's likely Democratic voters

who can be indentified either by the geographic cluster in which they live, their name (here that is Hispanic and not all Hispanics are Catholic - lots of Pentecostals), their voter registration (if registered by party), or their voting history in primaries if not registered by party.

Of course Texas rules about purging are very strict and are based on voter registration cards being returned as undeliverable for two election cycles in a row. So if my card were returned to the Elections Office as undeliverable, I'd be flagged. If I voted any time between 2020 and 2022 I'd get my address fixed. Or if in 2022 my card was returned then I would be purged on the assumption I had moved.

Gerrymandering is far more of an issue in voter disenfranchising in most places.

Besides, how are the purgers going to know the religion of a voter? It isn't on the voter registration information we fill out

[greatauntoftriplets]

26. I never said it was.

[UniteFightBack]

3. Throw in a Glory be to Saint Patrick and that should do the trick ! nt

[PatSeg]

4. That headline is a bit misleading

It has a negative feel to it, but I found the article positive. Maybe its the word "targets"?

[George II]

5. That's the way I read it, too - it looks like he's "criticizing" Catholics.

[PatSeg]

8. Okay, yeah

That's the way I read it as well. I suppose it did what was intended, I read the article, but I still hate deceptive headlines.

[George II]

10. Yes, and with the beginning, it looked like he was using an epithet to complain about Catholics.

[lapucelle]

11. "Targeting Catholics"? Who would be doing that?

[greatauntoftriplets]

16. It looked that way to me, too.

Even though I left the church in my early 20s, things like this still rankle. Family members haven't left and are likely in church as I type. Makes me think of the Know-Nothings and "No Irish Need Apply". My ancestors left Ireland nearly 175 years ago to escape (among other things like An Gorta Mor) second-hand citizenship.

[Autumn]

24. Yes George. Using 'Jesus, Mary and Joseph!', something Biden himself actually

often says is being used an epithet to complain about Catholics.

From the article

During campaign speeches or one-on-ones with voters, he’s known to jokingly exclaim “Jesus, Mary and Joseph!” — a familiar Catholic expression — to express a sense of shock. At other times, he jokes about being in confession.

Such a novel concept in journalism to actually quote what a person says.

[PatSeg]

18. Yes, a cheap trick

[lapucelle]

12. It's pretty offensive. N/T

[lapucelle]

9. I've worked with Network (Nuns on a Bus). I worked with them last year

to try to keep Kavanaugh off the Supreme Court.

https://networklobby.org/

https://networklobby.org/?s=kavanaugh

[lunasun]

14. Jesus Mary and Joseph ! Some of the replies to you posting this yahoo article !

[redqueen]

23. Right?

Wild.

[lapucelle]

27. How so? N/T

[Thekaspervote]

15. What?? He painted a big red circle 🔴 on their back??

[beastie boy]

20. Sounds like a lot of Catholics welcome his targeting with open arms!

And I am sure Jews like Jesus, Mary and Joseph appreciate his sense of humor.

Thanks for the post!

[yellowdogintexas]

21. It is an election year. To me in a campaign context "targets" means focused

campaigning in an area where focus may be needed. It would be the same here if a candidate is seeing Hispanic/Latino votes. Heck our state party is targeting young and newly registered voters, Hispanics, and SVDs (Seldom Voting Democrats)

So if I saw "Mayor Pete targets youth" it would not make me think he is doing it in a negative way at all.

[ismnotwasm]

22. This is kind of interesting.

I am Catholic, not active. My Mom converted when I was young, so I don’t get the “old school Catholic” thing, what with “walking into a tavern like you belong there”. Didn’t know that was a thing. Explains things.

Nationwide, Biden is the favorite of Catholic voters in the Democratic primary, according to a new Pew Research poll that showed him earning 34 percent support from them. Bernie Sanders runs a distant second with 18 percent.


“So much of Biden is an old school Catholic: The dark jokes. The shared sense of loss. The Catholic culture that’s beyond the church: the ability to walk into a tavern and look like you belong there. It’s something that Joe Biden does really well and that nobody, with the exception of Amy Klobuchar, can do,” Bagniewski said.

Bagniewski pointed out that some of Biden’s biggest endorsements trace the course of the Mississippi River, home to sizable numbers of Catholics since the French settled along its shores and founded towns like Dubuque, home to Rep. Abby Finkenauer, who has endorsed Biden.
“When it’s this tight of an election, one or two or three percent can matter and I think it’s a group that he has an advantage with,” Bagniewski said. “The people who adhere to the Kennedy brand of Catholicism are gravitating toward Biden pretty heavily. So it could absolutely make a difference.

[progressoid]

34. "The shared sense of loss"

“So much of Biden is an old school Catholic: The dark jokes. The shared sense of loss...

I'm not Catholic (I'm a former Presbyterian) so what's that all about? What sense of loss do they share that others don't?

[Fresh_Start]

35. Betrayal

the Catholic Church cover up of pedophilia...created a sense of loss.

[NYMinute]

28. Slash and burn tactics by the Sanders campaign

Mark Caputo is David Sirota's buddy - and thus a disingenuous headline.

[Autumn]

29. Yes, of course. What Biden actually says often on the campaign trail is "Slash and burn tactics

by the Sanders campaign." How unfair to quote a candidate using their own words. Because we all know nobody knows anybody in politics or journalists.

During campaign speeches or one-on-ones with voters, he’s known to jokingly exclaim “Jesus, Mary and Joseph!” — a familiar Catholic expression — to express a sense of shock. At other times, he jokes about being in confession.
“Forgive me father, I’m friends with Republicans,” he told “The View” host Meghan McCain, who was mourning the death of her dad, Sen. John McCain, a friend of Biden’s. On Friday, he said to an audience in Fort Madison, “as they say in my faith, ‘bless me father, for I have sinned.’”

[ismnotwasm]

30. I don't get it

This is a generally positive article to Joe Biden. I’ve never in my life heard a Catholic say “Jesus Mary and Joseph” so it must be an age thing?

Could you explain? I suppose I could ask my Catholic friends, but they’re all Biden supporters.

[peggysue2]

32. I heard the expression all through my childhood

Think it is an age thing because I couldn't tell you the last time I heard it. Many moons, for sure.

[Autumn]

33. It is a generational thing IMO. My Grandmother would use that term when she was exasperated.

She died 40 years ago so I don't think Catholics today use it much. But then I haven't been a Catholic for well over 50 years. I gave up religion when i realized churches amass a lot of wealth because they successfully convince people that they deserve poverty because they aren't living their life right, while they con the poor out of their pennies.

[Hangingon]

31. I thought "targets" became a bad thing with Sarah Palin.