Notre Dame decries Lou Holtz's RNC speech saying Biden is 'Catholic in name only' for his abortion views. So Holtz doubles down.



Legendary former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz delivered a speech to the 2020 Republican Nation Convention on Wednesday in which he praised President Donald Trump, proclaimed the greatness of the United States, reminded viewers why they would should take pride in being Americans, and ripped Democratic nominee Joe Biden's campaign for its pro-abortion stance.

Holtz declared that pro-abortion Catholic politicians — which would include Biden — are "Catholic in name only."

On Thursday, Notre Dame attempted to distance the school from the coach's remarks about a fellow Catholic, and Biden called criticism of his faith "preposterous."

But Holtz was not deterred, the next day, he doubled down on his assertion during an interview on Fox News.

What did he say?

As Holtz delineated his reasons for supporting Trump, he noted that one of the reasons he, as a Catholic, backs Trump is because "nobody has been a stronger advocate for the unborn than President Trump."

And that stands in stark contrast to the pro-abortion political and policy stances of the Biden campaign, despite Biden's repeated reminders to voters that he's a practicing Catholic and has been one his whole life.

"The Biden-Harris ticket is the most radically pro-abortion campaign in history," Holtz said. "They and other politicians are Catholic in name only and abandoned innocent lives."

WATCH: Lou Holtz's full speech at the Republican National Convention | 2020 RNC Night 3www.youtube.com

What Notre Dame and Biden say?

The day after Holtz's speech, Norte Dame President Rev. John Jenkins put out a statement trying to put as much distance between the school and the pro-life, pro-Trump coach:

While Coach Lou Holtz is a former coach at Notre Dame, his use of the University's name at the Republican National Convention must not be taken to imply that the University endorses his views, any candidate or any political party. Moreover, we Catholics should remind ourselves that while we may judge the objective moral quality of another's actions, we must never question the sincerity of another's faith, which is due to the mysterious working of grace in that person's heart. In this fractious time, let us remember that our highest calling is to love.

MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell asked Biden, who has reportedly been denied communion over his pro-abortion views, about Holtz's and other's attacks on his faith, which the former vice president called "preposterous."

"Look, I'm not going to proselytize," Biden told Mitchell. "I'm a practicing Catholic. I've been a practicing Catholic my whole life. I practice all the elements of my faith."

Holtz doubles down

But Holtz was not to be deterred from his messaging.

On Friday, he appeared on Fox News' "Bill Hemmer Reports" to discuss his remarks and the school's response, and he made it clear that he stood beside every word.

"People have taught me that to murder an unborn child at nine months is illegal," Holtz told host Bill Hemmer. "That's not part of the Catholic faith. And Joe Biden — he may be a wonderful individual, I hear great things about him — I'm not casting aspersions on his character, his integrity, but I am casting aspersions on his decision."

"When he said that you can abort a baby at the nine month of pregnancy, and that's perfectly all right?" Holtz asked Hemmer. "No, by the way I was taught, the Catholic Church, that's not all right and I'm going to speak up about it.

"I'm not criticizing him. I'm not passing judgment. But that's wrong," he said.

Holtz said that though the school is welcome to say what they want, he disagreed with Jenkins' implication that Holtz questioned the sincerity of Biden's faith.

"I did not question his sincerity, Bill, but I do question the judgment he makes," Holtz said. "When you come out and say a baby can be aborted nine months into pregnancy, I can't agree with that.

"I feel strongly about it, but that's because of the way I was raised in the Catholic faith," he continued, noting the church's teaching that "when selecting a president ... you should first of all look at how they feel about abortion" and vote for the person who opposes abortion.

"If you want me to say killing babies is OK, no, I cannot say that," Holtz said, adding that he has a problem with people who would try to silence him.

"I'm not passing judgment on anybody's character, integrity ... what I'm saying is, 'If you're pro-abortion, I'm opposed to you. I'm allowed to have my opinion, and don't try to silence me," he concluded.

CNN's Jim Acosta and panelists ignore DC riots, say President Trump's White House convention speech could be the real danger: 'Possible super-spreader event'



As riots and protests raged outside the White House Thursday night during and after President Donald Trump's Republican National Convention speech, CNN reporter and longtime Trump foil Jim Acosta was worried — worried about the well-being of people who were at the event.

He lamented after the speech that many people's lives and health could be at risk.

But his focus was not on the chaos going on just feet from where he was reporting. He was not focused on the mayhem that saw lawmakers accosted and their lives threatened.

His concern was that people at the White House rally were not wearing masks or socially distancing and that the president's RNC speech could become a "super-spreader event."

On Friday morning, that appeared to be the main concern of CNN's "New Day" panel, where the guests focused not on the chaos in the streets but on the "alarming" scene of mask-less event attendees sitting close to each other outdoors.

What did they say?

Despite the fact that many (though certainly not all) rioters and protesters were mask-less and not socially distanced while screaming at and attacking people on the streets just outside the White House, Acosta was determined to explain to the country how dangerous the Trump speech was — both in rhetoric and in coronavirus terms.

"We not only heard a lot of gaslighting tonight, we possibly saw and witnessed some super spreading from this event," Acosta reported. "I talked to a senior White House official earlier this evening about all of these people — hundreds of people — sitting side by side in the audience not wearing masks."

Acosta then went on to claim that the official just figured everybody was going to get the virus one way or the other.

"The senior White House official brushed off these concerns about the lack of social distancing at the president's speech tonight," Acosta reported, "saying — and get this, this quote might blow you away — 'Everybody is going to catch this thing eventually.' Those are the words coming from a senior White House official about the concerns being raised about this being a possible super-spreader event tonight."

On the lack of social distancing or face masks at Trump’s #RNC2020 acceptance speech in the middle of the deadly co… https://t.co/hY4anmbpOk
— Josh Campbell (@Josh Campbell)1598589156.0

The next morning, his CNN colleagues on "New Day" also set the riots aside to share Acosta's worry that what was really dangerous Thursday night was the RNC event.

Asked what he was thinking about when he saw the crowd at the president's speech — though not asked what he thought when he saw crowd marching and rioting in the streets — and the lack of masks and social distancing, CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta, warned that the event may well cause the deaths of people who attended.

"The history books will be written about this chapter in our lives at some point, and it will show events like that say that in the middle of a pandemic — at a time when the country decided to shut down when there were 5,000, roughly, people who were infected — and at a time when there were more than 5 million infected, we started having events like that again," Gupta lamented. "It's really frustrating. It's mind-boggling.

"Chairs were six inches apart. People were not required to be masked. They did not have to be tested," he continued. "It was risky for them. It was a risk that they were posing to others."

Gupta predicted, "There will be people who became infected as a result of that event last night, and there'll be people who will spread it and possibly require hospitalization, may even die."

Fellow panelist New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman said, "The number of mask-less people last night was alarming."

"This is obviously not an issue the president thinks that he can win on. It's not an issue that the president's advisors think that they can win on," she said, blasting the administration's treatment of COVID-19. "They know that if they are talking about the coronavirus, they are probably not on a winning side. And that is their cold, political calculation."

“There will be people who became infected as a result of that event last night, and there’ll be people who will spr… https://t.co/wfyfCco5F1
— CNN (@CNN)1598618700.0