Mario and Oprah
By Michael Moriarty
web posted September 8, 2008
Mario Cuomo, former Governor of New York … and, while I was a relatively young liberal in my late thirties, he was the most impressive Governor of New York since Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Yes, Mario Cuomo had been my hero in a kind of "Barack Obama of the eighties" way. He still has charisma. With a face reminiscent of Michelangelo's Moses … and a voice that would be the envy of most major stage and screen actors of the English-speaking world, Mario Cuomo was, as far as most Americans were concerned, destined to be our "next President of the United States."
William Clinton, Governor of Arkansas at the time, was a growing contender for the Democratic nomination of 1992 … but, naaw … Cuomo!
Cuomo! Cuomo! Cuomo!
Hmmm, what happened?
There were rumors about the New York Governor's "mafia" connections.
Hmmm … indeed.
Do you want to know the real reason for the Democratic Party tossing Cuomo out of the window and into the relative wastebasket as a New York City, local talk show host?
He was a Catholic!
After the disturbing independence of JFK's Catholicism, the Democratic Party was going to have no major dealings with another unpredictable Catholic!
"What about Teddy Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden?"
At this point, I think their days as "communicated Catholics" are numbered.
JFK wanted to get out of Vietnam. He had gotten us into it in the first place, based upon some very personal and Catholic reasons, and Catholic interpretations of what was going on in Vietnam.
By the time he wanted to get out, however it was too late. The Democrats were committed to being beneficent at home and militarily fierce with the Communists in Vietnam. The Democratic Party's commitment to that policy in the 1968, Chicago convention caused riots. JFK had put himself in the way of that game plan … and … well, it's up to you to decide what this all had to do with a President's assassination in the home state of his Vice President. That drama will apparently be up to interpretation and theory for centuries.
Meanwhile we're staring into a Presidential race that has America increasingly on the edge of its seat.
Now with no more left to do than comment on political events, Mario Cuomo was seen last week on the Larry King Show, with eyes lowered and an almost cringing facial response to the remarks of his fellow, female Democrats … there he was torturously poring out the party line's enthusiasm for Barack Obama and talking about the Illinois Senator as if this Democratic nominee were a new … well, Mario Cuomo!
Fellow Catholic politicians, Joe Biden and Ted Kennedy and Nancy Pelosi could all face the mutual wrath of their local Bishops. The San Francisco Bishop recently and publically reminded Pelosi of the Church's stand on abortion.
"A more profound understanding and appreciation of human life" was how the San Francisco Bishop put his polite … but very, very public request.
Are New York and Boston Bishops prepared to "second" such a reminder into the ears of former Governor Mario Cuomo and Senator Ted Kennedy?
As for Joe Biden … Sarah Palin, just by being present at the debating podium, will remind him that as a Catholic he talks a lot of talk … but his walk beside pro-abortion Obama is … well … the best I can say for this Vice Presidential nominee is that he is one of the more loveable, Catholic hypocrites in the Democratic Party.
Oh … apparently, Oprah Winfrey will not deign to have Sarah Palin on her talk show!
Ms. Winfrey is not Catholic, but neither is Sarah Palin. However, this giant of American talk shows is obviously scared.
Why?
Palin's eyes are as … and perhaps even more piercing than Winfrey's. That is not a showdown Oprah Winfrey is willing to face … certainly not before the election.
The profoundest issue of this campaign, as I have been pointing out repeatedly, is abortion. Winfrey, Obama and Biden, all three, are terrified of Sarah Palin. 
Michael Moriarty is a Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actor who starred in the landmark television series Law and Order from 1990 to 1994. His recent film and TV credits include The Yellow Wallpaper, 12 Hours to Live, Santa Baby and Deadly Skies. Moriarty is also running for President of the United States in 2008 as a candidate for the Realists Party. To find out more about Moriarty's presidential campaign, contact rainbowfamily2008@yahoo.com.