Sound familiar?
Compare this:
"I expect political hardball on any legislation as important as the health care bill. I just didn't expect it from the United States Council [sic, it's "Conference"] of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Who elected them to Congress? [They] seemed to dictate the finer points [of the Stupak ammendment, and] managed to bully members of Congress to vote for added restrictions on a perfectly legal surgical procedure. The IRS is less restrictive about church involvement in efforts to influence legislation than it is about involvement in campaigns and elections. Given the political behavior of USCCB in this case, maybe it shouldn't be."
Representative Lynn Woolsey (D., Calif.), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, attacking the bishops in a Politico op-ed.
And this:
"It is an attempt to establish a theocracy to take charge of our politics and our legislation. It is an attempt to make the legislative power of this country subordinate to the church. It is not only to unite Church and State, but it is to put the State in subordination to the dictates of the church."
Senator Stephen A. Douglas (D., Ill.), on March 14, 1854. He was talking about an anti-slavery petition.
HT The Corner.