Turning up the Heat on the Party of Death

My, this ought to gin up rage among the Catholic-hating left:

Vatican officials seldom single out political leaders who differ with the Church on issues like abortion rights or embryonic stem cell research. But now that the Vatican’s highest court is led by an American, the former St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke, we can expect things to get more explicit in Vatican City — at least when when it comes to U.S. politics.

Burke, who was named prefect of the Vatican’s Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature in June, told the Italian Catholic newspaper Avvenire that the U.S. Democratic Party risked “transforming itself definitively into a party of death for its decisions on bioethical issues.” He then attacked two of the party’s most high profile Catholics — vice presidential candidate Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — for misrepresenting Church teaching on abortion.

He said Biden and Pelosi, “while presenting themselves as good Catholics, have presented Church doctrine on abortion in a false and tendentious way.”

[snip]

Pope Benedict has been encouraging Catholic bishops to speak out more openly on public policy issues to make the Church’s voice heard. Any bets on when we’ll hear from Burke next?

Pretty soon, I should think and speaking of Joe Biden, let's hope the matter of abortion is brought up this very evening, at the vice-presidential debate. If Ms. Ifill is unwilling to bring up the icky subject with her pal Barack's running mate, I do hope the very Protestant Ms. Palin will grill Biden on it, enough to make that gaseous blatherskite squirm .

(Thanks to Ed Morrisey at Hot Air)

UPDATE: Todd Zywicki of the Volokh Conspiracy writes

I appeared on The Newshour one night with her to discuss bankruptcy reform. I found her to be eminently fair and well-prepared. She understood the key issues and asked pointed questions for both myself and the other guest.

Having watched Ms. Ifill over the years on the News Hour, I have to second Zywicki's opinion. Ms. Ifill does try (perhaps not always successfully but she does try) to be evenhanded. So here's hoping she doesn't give Biden a pass on abortion.