CATHOLIC BLOGGERS! ACTION ITEM! POLL ALERT! Time Magazine on Card. Dolan

Bloggers! Please pick this up.  You don’t have to link to me. Just DO IT. Solidarity!

The dreadful TIME Magazine (dreadful when it comes to anything about the Catholic Church) is having a poll and you should participate.

From their site:

The 2012 TIME 100 Poll

Cast your votes for the leaders, artists, innovators, icons and heroes that you think are the most influential people in the world. Official voting ends on Friday, April 6, and the poll winner will be included in the TIME 100 issue. The complete TIME 100 list will be chosen by our editors and revealed on TIME.com on Tuesday, April 17.

Note well the language: “influential”.

It does NOT say “whom you like” or “whom you agree with”.  

It says “influential”.

Given what is going on in the USA right now, Timothy Card. Dolan, as President of the USCCB engaged on our behalf in a battle with the White House over the religious liberty and civil rights of all Americans… and making headway… is nothing if not “influential”.

Card. Dolan should be on that list.  If he is on that list, he’ll get some “street kred”, though the newsies will ignore it.  Will it make huge difference?  Perhaps not.  But when pundits and talking heads prattle about this our battle in the news, they could say, “Hey! Keep in mind that Card. Dolan is considered in the top 100 by TIME…”, or, if you are an enemy, “Why should the White House listen to Card. Dolan? Nancy Pelosi, Lady Gaga and Kathleen Sebelius are on the TIME list and Dolan isn’t!  Theeeyyyy support the PREZ-i-dent!”  Yes, newsies and talking heads can be that shallow.  But this is the world we live in.  You know that what I am saying is true.

Here is what it looks like on the page (with my easy arrows):

See those social media sharing buttons?  Use them.  Let’s get some sizzle going here … on our side.

Here is how the voting stands as I write:

I will guarantee … guarantee… that the “No Way” votes are coming from liberals (TIME’s readership is nothing if not liberal… okay, they are obtuse, too…) NOT because they think Card. Dolan is NOT “influential” but because they hate what he stands for, or they want free contraception, or they simply hate the Catholic Church.

If I am wrong about that, if they are voting “No” because they really think he isn’t “influential”, I’ll buy TIME’s editor a whiskey sour.

So…CLICK HERE and vote… VOTE… VOTE!

UPDATE 2324 GMT:

I think this is moving well, because people are using the Twitter button.  Use those social network buttons.

UPDATE 1 April 1833 GMT:

NO FOOLIN’

Not bad.  Let’s keep it going.

UPDATE 2 April 1448 GMT:

Slipped a little.

And did you notice the way Card. Dolan is described by TIME:

The man most likely to give Barack Obama fits on the way to election day is the newly biretta’d Archbishop of New York. Affable, jolly and theatrical, he deploys these genial weapons as the Catholic Church’s point-man in the battle against the Administration’s policies on contraception and abortion. The President just barely won the Catholic vote back in 2008; without an accommodation, Dolan could turn away enough voters to tilt a close election — all with a smile.

UPDATE 3 April 0115 GMT:

The poll has slipped a bit.

Everyone, do me a favor a post in the combox here names of other blogs who have helped in this matter.  Thanks!

 UPDATE 3 April 02oo GMT:

A little gain.

VOTE VOTE VOTE

UPDATE 4 April 1530 GMT:

A little better, thanks.

We need a list of blogs who are linking to this poll.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
This entry was posted in Biased Media Coverage, Brick by Brick, Our Catholic Identity, POLLS, Religious Liberty, The Drill, The Last Acceptable Prejudice and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

85 Comments

  1. pm125 says:

    31.37 yes / 68.63 no way

  2. mamajen says:

    Voted once with each browser, and will pull it up on my iPad later.

  3. Kathleen10 says:

    As an added bonus you get to check off “NO WAY” to Sandra Fluck, in a bid to deny her another fifteen minutes of fame! (She of the recent “Rush Limbaugh” debacle) In a nauseating display of “heroic virtue” Ms. Fluck comments that she would “do it all over again because this issue is so important to her”. We believe you, contraception does seem dear to your heart, Ms. Fluck. But enough already.

  4. Kathleen10 says:

    oops, “important to ME” she said. Oy.

  5. ContraMundum says:

    This stupid poll allows multiple votes from the same browser. Unlike the “best Catholic blog” voting contest, if you keep going to the link, you can vote as many times as you want.

    That makes it a potentially enormous waste of time for a dubious distinction. This doesn’t seem to be for their “Person of the Year” award, but for something less, and I don’t know anyone who still cares who their “Person of the Year” is. It’s been a computer and was “You” a few years back.

    Honestly, how can a once-over-lightly news magazine that only runs weekly be taken seriously in the Internet age? It’s not like they even give any in depth analysis, like Catholic World Report (which no longer appears in print, only online) or First Things.

    I’ve voted, but I think this is giving Time more attention than they’re worth. Maybe if it were a more respectable magazine I’d think differently. Mad Magazine, for example.

  6. poohbear says:

    And after you vote for Card. Dolan, go through the rest of the list. Sandra Fluke is on it and the yeas over the nos are a sad testament to what our society feels is important.

  7. mamajen says:

    @ContraMundum

    It appears that way, but actually it will tell you that your vote has already been counted if you try to vote multiple times.

  8. acardnal says:

    I wonder if it’s legitimate to vote once per day like we did for Fr. Z?

    I note Oprah Winfrey is on the list too. Miss “New Age” and proponent of syncretism. She gave tons of on-air time to the likes of Eckhart Tolle, Rhonda Byrne author of “The Secret”, Marianne Williamson, et al.

  9. ContraMundum says:

    @mamajen

    Good! Though I still think that Time Magazine was significant 50 years ago, but no longer.

  10. Angie Mcs says:

    I voted to show my support for His Eminence, even in this small step. At least TIME, in their own warped way, included him. But given the voting rules, the results will probably be as accurate as American Idol. Anyway, this is the closest to TIME I hope to get in quite a while.

  11. Phil_NL says:

    By the way, why on earth is BXVI not on the list? It’s not that it’s limited to US nationals, far from it.

  12. jbosco88 says:

    38.13% (00:00 GMT) believe Dolan should be on the list.

    Nice alb.

  13. AnnAsher says:

    I went over and voted For the Cardinal. I came back here to say I don’t think I appreaciated their reference to him as the “newly birretta’d”. I wouldn’t mind someone who loved him saying so in wit. Like only I can tease my brother … I do mind the times. I mind that they usually get Catholic vocabulary wrong.

  14. oakdiocesegirl says:

    Yeah, where’s the POPE????

  15. Right behind Cardinal Dolan, another person we can expect to be very influential (and has already been influential) is Archbishop-designate Lori, who is going to be in the thick of the religious liberty battle as chairman of the USCCB Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty. I don’t believe his move to Baltimore is a coincidence; this puts him within a short drive of Washington, DC, where hopefully he will be a thorn in the side of the current administration, and in a good position to demand results from the next administration. Maybe he will be listed in next year’s poll.

  16. kelleyb says:

    41.55% yes No Way 58.45%
    Cardinal Dolan’s numbers are moving up. Do it the Chicago way-vote early- vote often

  17. ContraMundum says:

    I’m looking at lots of the other people on this list, and it’s 100% a popularity contest. Hillary Clinton is about 50/50, and almost 2/3 say “no way!” to the Federal Reserve Chairman?

  18. Kathleen10 says:

    Yes I checked back and noticed Cardinal Dolan’s numbers are going up in the polls. Sweet!
    It may not mean much, but I know I’d love to see him gather some big numbers.
    Most of the people are people I’ve never heard of, but that’s Time’s way of being cosmopolitan, which is very important to them. One of the women is a French woman who wrote a book describing how much better raised French children are than American. That alone makes her a hero at Time. Oh! Feefee…mah cheeldren are SO much better than zose Americaan cheeldren…zose Americaan cheeldren, have no cultaire!

  19. MaryW says:

    Definitely now at 46.7% for the good Cardinal. Can we vote the Chicago way? I wonder. [You mean… like liberals?]

  20. acardnal says:

    Interview with Cdl. Dolan in today’s WSJ: HERE

  21. I voted and it is now
    48.42% definitely
    51.58% no way

  22. Centristian says:

    I have voted “Definitely” for Cardinal Dolan and was also happy to be able to vote “No way” for a few unworthies, amongst them Ashton Kutcher. I was happy to see that the overwhelming majority of voters do not believe that Ashton Kutcher is in any way influential.

    Ashton Kutcher. Honestly.

  23. Mark Scott Abeln says:

    I suspect that Time may use the total number of votes to determine the list. Anyone who gets a huge number of votes, good or bad, is likely notable. If no one bothers to post an opinion, then that person is not notable.

  24. wanda says:

    50.08% Definitely.

  25. Will D. says:

    The full list of people and their tallies is here.
    It’s a perplexing mishmash of names. It appears that the majority of voting is going to celebrities and left-liberal politicos. How on earth Benedict Cumberbatch (who is a fine actor, I’ll admit) is 4th on the list when the President (love him or hate him, the President is influential) is 14th is beyond me.

  26. oldcanon2257 says:

    Fine example of biased liberal media. Lady Gaga and Kim Jong Un are on the list, but not the Holy Father?

    I voted for His Eminence.

    Later when I had a chance to examine the full list, I don’t know what got into me, but I was literally falling off the chair laughing so hard at the fact that many of those names were included on that list and were considered influential by TIME. I don’t know whether that’s considered “sadly amusing” or “amusingly sad”. The liberal propaganda continues…

  27. Andy Lucy says:

    I voted for His Eminence.

    “Honestly, how can a once-over-lightly news magazine that only runs weekly be taken seriously in the Internet age?”

    In the same way that Pravda, Izvestia and Red Star were very useful from a standpoint of open source intelligence gathering against the other side.

  28. kjh says:

    I also thought the “Occupation: Prince of the Catholic Church” was a little odd, too, although true.

    Is there a way to clear a cookie so you can vote again, you know, early and often? Not that I’m advocating that, just wondering, from a technical point of view. ;)

    Looks like the vote is swinging, but who knows how they’re going to tally the votes?

  29. ghp95134 says:

    As of 7:50 PST
    The tide has shifted:

    51.25% Definitely
    48.75% No Way

  30. Pingback: CATHOLIC BLOGGERS! ACTION ITEM! POLL ALERT! Time Magazine on Card. Dolan via @FatherZ - Catholic Truth - The 2012 TIME 100 Poll - AlwaysCatholic.com

  31. marilynd12@cox.net says:

    I will vote enthusiastically for Cardinal Dolan, whom I consider to be not just an influential but a great man. Yet please know, this vote comes from a person whom Father Z would characterize, and likely in a most uncharitable way, as “a liberal.” I note, too, that despite the good Father’s prediction that “the newsies” would dismiss any recognition of Cardinal Dolan’s importance and achievements on behalf of the Church, he was the topic of a very high-profile “60 Minutes” report not long ago. It was what people in the news business used to refer to as balanced, back when that term had some actual meaning. Please keep up your good work, Father; I have learned and continue to learn much from reading you, even as I often cringe at your tone. A blessed Holy Week to all.

  32. Jerry says:

    At 00:24 CDT Sun. 4/1/12 the split was 55% + / 45% –

  33. Clinton says:

    The header to the Time poll states:

    “… and the poll winner will be included in the Time 100 issue. The complete
    Time 100 list will be chosen by our editors…”

    So, even if His Eminence receives a majority of positive votes, there’s only a remote possibility
    that he will end up on the final list. I suspect that Cardinal Dolan won’t be sobbing into his
    pillow if that happens, but still– what a ridiculous “poll”.

    Oh, and it is hard to take the editors of Time seriously when they omit the Holy Father
    from consideration.

  34. Lori Pieper says:

    57% “Definitely”!! I was very happy to vote for my Archbishop. Now to take Sandra Fluke and Lady Gaga down a few notches.

  35. Theodore says:

    Done. Now 58.15% Definitely.

  36. A very American list with nominal non-Americans included. Why is the British Queen on it and the Holy Father not?

  37. Joan M says:

    As of now, 60.65% definitely.

  38. SKAY says:

    I voted for Card. Dolan and sent this post to others.

    It would be interesting to really know why they did not include the Pope.

  39. Random Walk says:

    @Skay:

    Good question – one would think that the Pope Benedict XVI would be in there somewhere, no? I mean, they even got the duo who put together Portlandia on that poll.

    …maybe they were afraid that his Holiness would be too much of a shoo-in?

  40. Andrew says:

    Years ago (circa 1972) I visited a Trappist monastery in Moncks Corner South Carolina, and walking about the grounds, unexpectedly, I came upon the grave of Henry Luce, the founder of Time magazine. How he got there, or why, I don’t know, but it jolted me a bit and made me think about the vicissitude of human life: famous today, forgotten tomorrow.

  41. acardnal says:

    Andrew,
    From Wikipedia:
    Quote:
    In 1936 the well-known publisher Henry R. Luce bought the property. His wife, Clare Boothe Luce, commissioned and built an extensive landscape garden known as the Mepkin Garden. Then in 1949 the Luces donated a large part of the property including the garden to the Trappist Order’s Gethsemani Abbey for its use.

    Twenty-nine monks of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (Trappists) came from Gethsemani, Kentucky, to found the new Mepkin Abbey. The monastery grounds include a graveyard containing the ashes of . . . Clare Boothe Luce and her husband, the publisher, Henry. Its gardens are now known as the Mepkin Abbey Botanical Garden.
    Unquote

    Clare Boothe Luce converted to the Roman Catholic faith in the mid-40’s under the tutelage of Archbishop Fulton Sheen, I believe. To my knowledge, Henry Luce was not a Catholic.

  42. acardnal says:

    For clarity regarding above, “the ashes of . . .” does not refer to Clare or her husband Henry but others buried there.

  43. wmeyer says:

    The percentages on many of these folks add up to a sad commentary on our society. Sandra Fluke, really? George Clooney, Ashton Kutcher???? Tilda Swinton???????

    Socialists for our time….

  44. ocds says:

    I just voted, and “definitely” is up to 64.66%. Now going back to see who to vote against.

  45. letchitsa1 says:

    He was at 65.41% favorable when I voted just a few minutes ago.

  46. pm125 says:

    65.56 yes to 34.44 no
    Telling choices and results …

  47. muckemdanno says:

    Father, I think you may have violated your own instruction here. While here, we all agree with Cardinal Dolan, unfortunately, he is not so influential in society. A small minority hate him with a passion, an even smaller minority respect him and pay attention to what he says. The overwhelming majority pf people in the USA and even in New York pay no attention to him at all.

    [Clever, but I think you are wrong. He is an influential person. And, keep in mind that it was not I who put him on the list.]

  48. pelerin says:

    I would have thought to be an ‘influential’ person would mean that the person would be at least known throughout the world. Looking through the list as a non-American I find that I have never heard of most of them! Most of the names mean absolutely nothing to me. But I have heard of Cardinal Dolan thanks to Fr Z’s blog and have added my vote for him.

  49. wmeyer says:

    pelerin: Despite Time’s self-delusion, they are a mostly American magazine. As an American, however, there are a great many names there which are unknown to me, not merely unfamiliar.

  50. Jerry says:

    It appears the liberals are fighting back: the split is now 56% + / 44% – (15,407 to 12,096 votes).

    Cardinal Dolan is 18th on the list, just under Barack Obama, ranked by the dumber of positive votes.

  51. Sodalis says:

    muckemdanno: “While here, we all agree with Cardinal Dolan, unfortunately, he is not so influential in society.”

    If he’s so lacking in influence, why would the Obama administration put on such a show of pretending to listen to him and insisting with all the mock sincerity they can muster that they are bending over backwards to accommodate him and his beliefs?

  52. mamajen says:

    People who are not bloggers can consider helping by downloading different types of browsers–you can vote once with each one (ie. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, etc.). If you happen to have multiple computers or other devices that can access the internet, use those too! I also need to see if logging on with a different Windows profile would allow me to vote again.

  53. mamajen says:

    Ha! Just logged on with my husband’s Windows account and was able to vote some more! We also have a laptop that has not voted yet.

  54. mumstheword says:

    Have voted and emailed friends.

  55. acardnal says:

    mamajen,
    wouldn’t that be dishonest?

  56. mamajen says:

    @acardnal

    Perhaps, but you can bet that the opposition are doing it. This is how Ron Paul always wins polls–his followers (I am not one) are dedicated. I would never condone cheating in an election or other case where it’s against the law, but this is just an internet poll, and this is how it’s been set up. They have posted no rules or guidelines for voting, from what I can see. Do what you’re comfortable with, but any coverage we can win for good people like Cardinal Dolan is important, IMO.

  57. Centristian says:

    Someone will need to explain to me why on earth Zooey Deschanel is even on the list, much less why she has garnered so many votes. At the top of the list is a man I’ve never heard of before.

  58. Pingback: Poll Alert! | iPadre Catholic Podcasting

  59. NoraLee9 says:

    We see the good Cardinal on the news here in NYC almost every night. He’s either on the local or the national- always doing something. We have a generous amount of EF Masses here. NYC has some really beautiful churches. I invite all to visit the Cardinal at St. Pat’s this spring.

  60. pforrester says:

    I posted on my little blog. Bread From Heaven Unlimited.

  61. Jerry says:

    Cardinal Dolan is still slipping ^-wise: the results are not 54.06% + / 45.94% – The actual vote count is 18,433 vs. 15,683, with a change of 3,026 + / 3,587 – in the past 14.5 hours.

    The good news is Cardinal Dolan has moved up from 18th to 15th on the list ranked by the number of positive votes. Obama has dropped from 17th to 19th.

  62. Jerry says:

    MamaJen – no need to use multiple browsers, etc. I have been able to vote multiple times using the same browser (Chrome).

  63. anilwang says:

    Jerry, I agree with your analysis. My guess is that the total vote counts is the most important since no-one votes against people on the bottom of the list since they are irrelevant. As long as Cardinal Dolan has enough votes (thanks liberals!), he will be on the list. The only difference is the comments associated with his ranking.

    If he has a high number of votes and over 70% in favour, the comment will likely be “Cardinal Dolan is a well loved leader of the Catholic church that pushes forward controversial Catholic teachings with a smile”

    If he has a high number of votes and close to 50% in favour, the comment will likely be “Love him or hate him, you can’t ignore Cardinal Dolan in his fight against the HHS mandate”

    If he has a high number of votes and close to 30% in favour, the comment will likely be “Cardinal Dolan, the infamous Catholic Cardinal gained his notoriety during the HHS debate when….”

    Obviously the first headline is a lot better than the second, and the last headline would be an outrage. We need to keep an eye on it and spread the word.

  64. ContraMundum says:

    Yeah, we’d need to spread the word — otherwise, who reads Time Magazine?

  65. Dubya Ay-See says:

    I heard about this from The Crescat.

    I cast my vote.

    I also purchased the “My President is Cardinal Dolan” bumper sticker.

  66. MPSchneiderLC says:

    It is ridiculous! I tried to find POPE BENEDICT XVI to vote “definately” for him too and he isn’t even on the list. Talk about biased. Could we start a petition campaign for the Pope?

  67. Blue Henn says:

    It’s been posted on Facebook…..
    And I took it up at my blog: onlyamerewoman.blogspot.com….

  68. letchitsa1 says:

    Apparently it allows you to vote more than once if over multiple days, so I voted again. :D

  69. Elizabeth says:

    I also have been allowed to vote more than once. Surprising. On a kind-of related opportunity to make your voice heard, we can also vote AGAINST Time Magazine honoring the president of Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards. The last time I looked, there were actually more ‘against’ than ‘for’.

  70. Any other blogs picking this up?

    I’d like to think that there could be a little more solidarity. My reasons for supporting this are in the top entry.

  71. ContraMundum says:

    @Elizabeth

    If they’re only looking at volume, not for or against, it would be counterproductive to drive people to vote against Cecile Richards.

  72. Micah Murphy says:

    My blog, Truth & Charity, is covering this, and so is our affiliate FB group, Stand with the US Bishops against the HHS. Also, Brandon Vogt has written about it.

  73. SteveG says:

    Just posted my “Definitely” vote.

  74. plemmen says:

    Posted at http://wp.me/p27DAO-gc with link to your blog.

  75. Pingback: POLL: Vote in the TIME Magazine poll | Quicksilver to Gold

  76. KAS says:

    Link to vote is posted at hg2au.com .

    I would love to see Archbishop Chaput on the list too. ?His new ebook is excellent and timely reading.

  77. ddoyle1220 says:

    I voted for my Extraordinary Prdinary, and will post a link to my own minuscule corner of the blogosphere when I get home.

  78. Pingback: Poll Alert! « Mundabor's Blog

  79. Kathleen10 says:

    The media does not want to acknowledge Catholic leadership in any way. Not long ago, they contented themselves with just presenting all Catholic leaders in a negative light. The wording of articles is always biased, using thinly veiled criticisms, that type of writing which used to be transparent to most people. But what the media is doing now is even worse! They just don’t mention Christian leaders or topics! Example, the Rallies for Religious Liberty many of us attended on March 23rd. If you had rallies for gay rights in one state, attended by three people, most media would cover it. Here we had rallies in 140 locations across the United States, some well attended, and in Connecticut, a virtual blackout by our media, print and television. Oh they covered it, they were there, but they must have been disappointed in their ability to find a Neanderthal type who wore a shirt saying something moronic, or a hateful bigot ranting and raving. If that were the case, the media would be happy to cover it. But, as it were, we were a bunch of pretty gleeful “ralliers”, and, we disappointed the media.
    There is something more sinister in their seemingly collective new method of ignoring movements of faith by the faithful. Disturbingly mean-spirited and evil. Probably effective too, maybe that’s why it is unnerving. I have no confidence in most Americans these days to sort out what they are NOT hearing, because it seems like many Americans these days have forgotten there are any important moral issues going on at all. They may not even CARE they are only getting liberal pablum from their local media. Talk about Nero fiddling while Rome burns? I think that’s the reference, which seems very apropo.

  80. Kathleen10 says:

    I might add, I saw a few T-shirts I found noteworthy, at the rally.

    Two made an impression on me. One, had PLANNED PARENTHOOD printed on it. The young lady enjoyed a very pleasant welcome to our rally point, and she lingered around for awhile, then took off. She seemed unnerved by our extremely congenial seminary students.

    Another young women had a T-shirt that did throw me. It said “Would you prefer it if we used a gun?” and had a picture of a pistol, I think. It said “abort.gov”. The message being I guess, that shooting your baby is an option, and they wonder if we (pro-life) would prefer it. It was stunning, especially when considering the anti-gun diatribe people often express. I don’t think everything needs a response at all, but I managed to get out, mothers are supposed to LOVE their babies, to which she laughed.

  81. pm125 says:

    63.93%

  82. OneCatholicMomsMission says:

    I posted on my blog at: http://www.whats-in-my-heart.blogspot.com
    If he gets this spot in TIME, it would be so good for the Church!!

  83. jbosco88 says:

    Poll has closed, but you can still view the results.

    I see that the Cardinal has more votes than POTUS!

Comments are closed.