"We have to find a new balance," otherwise the edifice is "likely to fall like a house of cards," said Pope Francis, who has shaken up the hide-bound Catholic Church with his call to drop its obsession of fighting the cultural wars. 
[The Pope has had a great PR month. Earlier, he accepted a used car -- a 1984 Renault -- to drive around Vatican grounds.]
Meanwhile, the Republican Congress today voted for the 43rd, 44th or 88th time to defund Obamacare -- even though Congress passed President Obama's Affordable Care Act, which was then upheld by the Supreme Court and validated by the American people with the 2012 re-election of the president.
The Tea Party-led GOP is now resorting to holding both the economy and American people hostage, vowing to shut down the Government unless it gets its way. It’s the ultimate hissy fit. The spoiled child did not get his way.
“It is not necessary to talk about these issues [abortion, contraception and gay rights] all the time,” said the first Jesuit pope, in a slap to the U.S. Catholic Conference grouping of the nation’s bishops. Similarly, the GOP talks non-stop about deficits, tax cuts, slashing social programs and securing the borders.
The pontiff wants the Church to move on to minister to the poor and oppressed making the Church a “home for all.”
The GOP, not too long again, pitched itself as a “home for all” or at least the “Big Tent party.” It has devolved into the party of zealots, bent on shrinking the Government.
House Speaker John Boehner, who is Catholic, should take Pope Francis’ words to heart. The Ohio Congressman and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has been frightened by a Tea Party primary challenge, have abdicated national leadership to hothead media hounds like Ted Cruz of Texas.
Both remember the damage the GOP suffered under the last government shutdown that was triggered by Newt Gingrich. If the GOP forces another shutdown due to the nonsensical demand that Obama repeal his signature achievement, the Republican party will go the way of the Whigs.
In power for only six-months, Pope Francis has shown the world what leadership is.
Boehner and McConnell should follow his lead -- before it's too late.
Maggie Moran, who is well-connected in New Jersey and New York Democratic politics, has established Moxie Strategies in Asbury Park, NJ.
Husch Blackwell Strategies has added FleishmanHillard alum Michael Slatin as a principal in its public affairs group.
Rory Cooper, a veteran Republican operative and policy specialist, has joined Teneo’s Washington office as senior managing director in its strategy & communications practice.
Brian Fallon, who served as national press secretary for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential run, is signing on next month as Vice President’s Kamala Harris’ campaign communications director.
TikTok is nothing more than a Chinese propaganda tool that poses “a grave threat to America’s national security and, in particular, impressionable children and young adults,” say two Congressmen who want the platform registered as a foreign agent.
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