Andrew Sullivan...
I think he's on to something there....
On June 17, Obama held a slight edge over Mitt Romney among Catholics (49 percent to 47 percent), according to the Pew Research Center. Since then, Obama has surged ahead, and now leads 54 percent to 39 percent, according to a Pew poll conducted Sept. 16. Among all registered voters, Obama leads Romney 51 percent to 42 percent, according to Pew. Obama and Romney are essentially tied among white Catholics, which some pollsters call the ultimate swing group.
But Obama's current even status among white Catholics now is an improvement over 2008, when McCain beat Obama among white Catholics by 52 - 47. Obama's total Catholic vote against McCain was where he is now: 54 percent. But Romney has only 39 percent compared with McCain's 45.
A small word of thanks to Cardinal Dolan, Robert George and K-Lo for helping shift the Catholic vote massively toward Obama with their summer campaign for religious liberty. And special thanks to Paul Ryan. No actual Catholic could ever find anything but puerile cruelty in the works of Ayn Rand, or rally to the idea that home-care for the elderly should be sacrificed to reduce tax rates for the super-rich. Paul Ryan believes that the basic principles of Rand can be compatible with Catholicism. American Catholics are just not that dumb or confused about their faith.
You know the Republicans were hoping to drive a wedge between the Obama administration and the Catholics over the Affordable Care Act's mandate that employers must provide free contraception to their employees. But that did not work out as well as they had hoped.
Personally I have always felt that the distrust which a substantial number of Catholics feel toward the Mormon faith, many still see it as a crazy cult (Which of course it is.), would dissuade a large number of practicing Catholics from voting for Mitt Romney despite their frustration with President Obama.
However I am coming to believe that the REAL reason that so many are turning against Romney has little to do with his faith, and everything to do with the fact that he, and of course his running mate Paul "I love Ayn Rand" Ryan, are douchenozzles.
That's a political term, right?
I think he's on to something there....