WORKING ALL THE LEVERS

I'm not surprised to see a GOP congressman arguing that abortion is worse for blacks than slavery, or to see an article in The New York Times about stepped-up anti-abortion activity in the African-American community. The mainstream press has been comforting itself with the notion that nouveau righties aren't all that interested in cultural issues (teabaggers don't emphasize abortion! an anti-gay guy was booed at CPAC!) -- never mind the fact that the queen of the tea parties, Sarah Palin, is one of the best-known culture warriors in America.

Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, is, as noted in the Times article, the director of African-American outreach for Priests for Life. Priest for Life is run by Father Frank Pavone. That would be this Father Frank Pavone:

Deal Hudson reports that John McCain "met privately" with Rev. Frank Pavone, the Priests for Life head most famous for calling Michael Schiavo a murderer, before a Catholic-outreach meeting in Philadelphia. McCain has been holding events with supporter Sen. Sam Brownback, whose brief presidential run attracted a lot of attention from social conservatives, and who promised to court the Religious Right activists such as Pavone on McCain's behalf....

He also gave the invocation at a 2005 inaugural eve gala sponsored by the Traditional Values Coalition and attended by Karl Rove. So the padre is connected.