Links for 08/02/16

by Michael Sean Winters

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At Politico, Jeff Greenfield writes about what we don't know about the election, namely, who will turn out come November. The money quote:

All of these [demographic] numbers should be a source of great comfort to Democratic strategists, and in public they tend to repeat them. But just beneath the surface lies a persistent sense of uneasiness, driven by one question: What if everything we think we know about politics has been rendered inoperative?

In this morning's Washington Post, the voice of honor and conscience in today's Republican Party, Michael Gerson, argues that it is not too late to distance the party from its nominee. Gerson is wrong as a practical matter: It is too late. But, God bless him for continuing to point out that it is immoral to just get along with Trump and it will cost the GOP its soul.

At Religion & Politics, Kristen Du Mez offers a thorough look at how Hillary Clinton's faith and her politics have been intertwined for her entire adult life. She recalls Clinton's "politics of meaning" speech, which was so dreadful and which I had forgotten about. (I am betting Clinton wishes everyone else had forgotten about it too.)  I do not doubt that Clinton's faith is sincere, but it has had to fight for attention in that complicated life and complicated psyche for so long, it has come out before as pablum or worse. She is well advised to read some good Methodist history and remember that original sin is not to be denied.  

Lastly, a Happy Anniversary to Cardinal Sean O'Malley on this anniversary of his episcopal consecration in 1984. Ad Multos Annos.

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