Cardinal Law, Trent Lott, and the Americans Who Still Support Them

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Hi, I'm Bill O'Reilly.  Thank you for watching us tonight.

Cardinal Law, Trent Lott, and the Americans who still support them.  That's the subject of this evening evening's Talking Points Memo .

Two hundred priests in the Boston archdiocese were asked to sign a petition demanding that Cardinal Law resign.  Only 30 of the priests would sign.  That's truly astounding.  Seventy percent of the clerical leadership in Boston wanted the cardinal to hang around.

When Richard Nixon resigned his office, 30 percent of Americans did not want to see him go.  They were happy with the president who broke the law and abused his power.  Let's have some more of that, shall we?

After President Clinton lied under oath, 60 percent of Americans still gave him a favorable job approval rating.  Perjury from the chief executive?  Sure, love it.  As long as the economy is good and the Democratic Party has power.

The no spin truth is that partisanship in America is out of control.  Millions of us simply cannot accept that our guys can ever do anything wrong.  You see the rationalizations everywhere.  Clinton's perjury was just about sex, so it doesn't matter.  Lott's statement wasn't any worse than what Senator Byrd said.  Cardinal Law is being scapegoated.

Well, bull feathers! Excusing bad behavior by the powerful is a dangerous game, one that leads to bad and/or incompetent people making decisions that affect us all.  Cardinal Law put his reputation over the welfare of children.  Bill Clinton put his reputation over his sworn oath upholding the laws of the land.  Trent Lott offended millions of Americans and probably didn't even realize he was doing it.  So what does that say about his judgment?

Talking Points is angry about the growing partisanship in this country, an attitude that allows the powerful to get away with anything if we agree with their philosophies or religious designation.  Loyalty is a virtue, and I admire those who are loyal.  but fairness is also a virtue, and so is using power for the good of the folks.

There comes a point in every person's life when they either surrender to prejudice and ideology or they become independent thinkers.  It is easier to surrender, because thinking for yourself will alienate those who do not do that.

The priests in New England who continue to support Cardinal Law should be ashamed of themselves.  Those making excuses for Bill Clinton or Richard Nixon or Trent Lott are misguided.

The people of the United States must hold those in power responsible for what they do and say, and we must try to see things clearly.  If we continue with all of this rank partisanship, abuse on all levels will continue.

And that's The Memo.

The Villain of the Week

Time now for our weekly Friday feature, the "Villain of the Week."

Today, we dishonor the 142 priests in the Boston area that did not sign the petition demanding Cardinal Law resign.  What were these men thinking?  I mean, come on.  How much more evidence do they need that Law abused his authority and did not look out for innocent children?  These priests ought to be ashamed.

By the way, 58 priests did have the courage to do the right thing in Boston, and we applaud those men.

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