Nat Hentoff’s characteristically blunt and ‘no b.s.’ columns used to be one of chief attractions of the Village Voice, before they made the foolish mistake of letting him go. Politically he’s not one you can apply a label to — in 2003 he supported the removal of Saddam Hussein’s murderous dictatorship on humanitarian grounds, but as a supporter of the First Amendment and civil liberties, harshly criticized the more excessive measures taken by the Bush administration.

Unapologetically pro-life, he is a staunch opponent of the death penalty and abortion (the latter apparently causing some tension with his liberal colleagues at the Voice) and vigorously opposed the court-ordered murder of Terry Schiavo.

Not surprisingly, he established a rapport with the feisty John Cardinal O’Connor, about whom he wrote an appreciative biography.

A self-described “member of the Proud and Ancient Order of Stiff-Necked Jewish Atheists,” he is also one who might merit the attribution: “on the side of the angels.”

Now, he takes aim at President Obama’s faux-support for “dialogue” at Notre Dame:

President Obama’s Notre Dame speech on abortion was applauded by the mainstream media, quoting his call for more “open hearts, open minds, fair-minded words.” But except for the pro-life, and some conservative forums, there was no mention of Obama’s omission of his own documented, chilling record on abortion that proves what he also said on that Sunday:

“No matter how much we want to fudge it … the fact is that at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable.” I watched the full-scale coverage of the speech on Fox News; and the reporting, before and after, did not inform the viewers – as one glaring example – that when Obama was an Illinois state senator, he voted three times against a Born-Alive Infants Protection Act that required medical care for an infant, born alive human being, during a botched abortion.

When, during his Notre Dame speech, a protester – before being removed – called Obama a “baby killer,” he was making a literal point.

Read the whole thing.