I read the NYT piece Kathryn mentioned earlier. I think Kathryn’s right, the reason the article saw the light of day was so that the Times could float that dumb quote about Obama and the “black house.” But if you read the whole piece another point comes through: Joe Biden, the Scrapper from Scranton, the Amtrak-everyman, isn’t helping much with his fellow Catholics in, of all places, Scranton. In fact, in an article all about working class Catholics in Scranton, Joe Biden is barely mentioned, even though we’ve been told that Lunch Bucket Joe was a brilliant pick precisely because he would appeal, most of all, to working class Catholics from Scranton.
From the article:
Dozens of interviews with Catholics in Scranton underscored the political tumult in the parish pews. At Holy Rosary’s packed morning Masses on Sunday in working-class North Scranton and the Pennsylvania Polka Festival downtown that afternoon, many Clinton supporters said they were planning to vote for Mr. Obama, some saying they sided with their labor unions instead of the church and others repeating liberal arguments about church doctrine broader than abortion.
“I think that one of the teachings of God is to take care of the less fortunate,” said Susan Tighe, an insurance lawyer who identified herself as “a folk Catholic, from the guitar-strumming social-justice side” of the church.
But more said they now leaned toward Mr. McCain, citing both his experience and his opposition to abortion. Paul MacDonald, a retired social worker mingling over coffee after Mass at Holy Rosary, said he had voted for Mr. Kerry four years ago and Mrs. Clinton in the primary but now planned to vote for Mr. McCain because of “the life issue.”
The choice of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as Mr. McCain’s running mate had clinched it for him, Mr. MacDonald said. “She is anti-abortion, anti-gay-marriage, anti-Big Oil, a lifetime member of the N.R.A., she hunts, she fishes — she is the perfect woman!”
Obviously this is all still anecdotal and I know I’m one of the only people out here fully committed to pointing out that Joe Biden was a terrible VP pick, but I’m now willing to bet that despite having the Scranton Scrapper on the ticket, Obama-Biden will under-perform Kerry-Edwards in Scranton, PA.