Bishop Rene H. Gracida Wins the First Annual Coughie Award!

Originally posted at Talk to Action.

The Catholic Right, Part Seventy

In an effort to recognize the member of the Catholic Right who does the most to embarrass American Catholics while stoking the fires of the culture wars and take a sledgehammer to the wall separating church and state, this column will annually bestow The Coughlin Award, (AKA the Coughies).

And in a landside for his eleventh hour qualifying submission, this year's recipient is Bishop Rene H. Gracida, of the Diocese of Corpus Christi, Texas for his demagogic anti-Barack Obama radio ad.

Thus, the 2008 Coughie goes to Bishop Rene H. Gracida who shot to the top of the running with a negative radio ad -- produced in collaboration with anti-abortion extremist, all-around crackpot, and recent Catholic convert Randall Terry. Terry and His Eminence managed to get just the right mix of after-life anxiety and neo-Carlism to make their ad an afront to American standards of pluralism.

What earned Bishop Gracida his Coughie?  Well, as Randall Terry declares in his sponsoring press release that Gracida "boldly states" in his ad:  

This is Bishop Rene H. Gracida, reminding all Catholics that they must vote in this election with an informed conscience. A Catholic cannot be said to have voted in this election with a good conscience if they have voted for a pro-abortion candidate. Barack Hussein Obama is a pro-abortion candidate.

Among the runner-ups for this year's Coughie were, excommunicator extraordinaire Archbishop Raymond Burke. There was also perennial favorite, fellow culture warrior Bill Donohue, to name two. But Bishop Garcida outdid both of these frontrunners.

Much like Archbishop Burke, the Corpus Christi bishop is quick on the draw to excommunicate Catholics who are actively pro-choice, going as far back to 1990 in doing so - and actually serving written decrees of excommunication. And much like Bloviating Bill, discretion or good taste aren't even considerations. No, it was Bishop Gracida's added twist of anti-Arab racism that clinched it: "Barack Hussein Obama!

Never mind the fact that Arab Christians might use the name Hussein or that one of the giants of Catholic (or for that matter, Christian) theology, St. Augustine of Hippo was of Arabic origin. When abortion is your sole obsession (hey, who needs universal healthcare or a living wage?), damn the hypocrisy and let's bring out the baser aspects of our nature!

So Bishop Gracida, for your vital role in keeping the culture wars going while others of your faith attempt to seek common ground and coexistence, this Coughie is for you!