Rudy gets a thunder bolt

What timing. Wolf Blitzer had just asked Rudy Giuliani was his reaction was to being criticized by a Catholic bishop for supporting abortion, and as Giuliani began to answer that it’s too bad the bishop feels that way….wham, the sound system goes haywire and starts doing freaky things. It was zapped by lightning.

Asked to comment on a Roman Catholic bishop who compared his abortion stance to Pontius Pilate’s position on crucifying Jesus Christ, Rudy Giuliani opened his mouth to answer when lightning struck, quite literally, causing CNN’s sound system at the debate site to crackle and give out.

It was really a weird moment.

Giuliani jokingly looked at the ceiling, as if he feared the wrath of a vengeful God—a fantastic bit of comic timing made even funnier when the boom of thunder and lightning interrupted his second attempt to answer the question. Amid more static from the sound system, McCain and Romney, positioned on either side of Giuliani, began slowly backing away from Rudy, as if he might get struck down by the heavens at any minute. It was a moment that could not have been more humorous even if the former New York City mayor’s pals at “Saturday Night Live” had scripted it.

Guiliani went for the comic relief from the probably innate moment of nervousness it gave him. Half-feigning a spooked attitude, he pointed up and said “As someone who went through parochial schools, this is a very frightening thing happening right now.”

So, maybe it gave him something to think about, having no doubt heard from the good nuns and priests that ‘there’s no such thing as a coincidence’. He apparently wasn’t stirred to consider the merit of Bishop Tobin’s argument (see post below) on the immorality and even the illogic of his abortion position.

Consider that illogic for a moment…Here’s the standard argument we hear by those who support abortion but at least regret it (already an oxymoron).

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was challenged regarding his position on abortion.

“My view on abortion is that it’s wrong, but government shouldn’t be forcing that decision on a woman,” Giuliani said.

To which Bishop Tobin addresses this challenge:

“I’m personally opposed to but don’t want to impose my views on other people.” The incongruity of that position has been exposed many times now. As I’ve asked previously, would we let any politician get away with the same pathetic cop-out on other issues: “I’m personally opposed to . . . racial discrimination, sexual abuse, prostitution, drug abuse, polygamy, incest . . . but don’t want to impose my beliefs on others?”

    Why is it that when I hear someone explaining this position, I think of the sad figure of Pontius Pilate in the Gospels, who personally found no guilt in Jesus, but for fear of the crowd, washed his hands of the whole affair and handed Jesus over to be crucified. I can just hear Pilate saying, “You know, I’m personally opposed to crucifixion but I don’t want to impose my belief on others.”

Think about this. You can add any number of offenses to that sentence, and imagine the results. If a politician said “I’m personally opposed to racism, but I don’t think government should be enforcing anti-discrimination laws on businesses. It’s between the employer and his own sense of authority.” Or….”I’m personally opposed to pedophelia, but we can’t allow government to make laws that take away the individual’s right to choose that action.” And ugly as that thought is, it’s closer than it seems on the surface to abortion, because an innocent and vulnerable child is the victim of assault in both cases.

Rudy’s microphone was cut off again in the debate, momentarily but distractingly. And he was the only candidate who had to grapple with this force of nature. I wonder if he’s still laughing.