I wrote a diary last night riffing on the NY Times story out today detailing how Senator Frist has decided to use religion to win his political war over the filibuster. Now I see Armando has posted on the WaPo version of the story. His post is excellent but mine is different enough that I'm going to go ahead and post it as well. It's
cross-posted over at MyDD.
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Although John McCain came out against removing the filibuster, any doubt that the Republican leadership plans to turn the war over judges into a religious battle should now be put to rest. David D. Kirkpatrick, in a remarkable article in the NY Times, Frist Set to Use Religious Stage on Judicial Issue, reports that the filibuster is being described as "against people of faith" by a group of Frist-allied Christian Organizations.
Senator Bill Frist will participate in a telecast on April 24th that will feature "Dr. James C. Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family; Chuck Colson, the born-again Watergate figure and founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries; and Dr. Al Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary." Part of a coordinated effort to depict liberals as anti-Christian, the group will use language such as the following from event organizer Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council:
"As the liberal, anti-Christian dogma of the left has been repudiated in almost every recent election, the courts have become the last great bastion for liberalism," Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council and organizer of the telecast, wrote in a message on the group's Web site. "For years activist courts, aided by liberal interest groups like the A.C.L.U., have been quietly working under the veil of the judiciary, like thieves in the night, to rob us of our Christian heritage and our religious freedoms."
Liberals are "thieves" who "rob" Christians according to the FRC. Kirkpatrick talked to Frist's spokesman about his association with the group:
The telecast, however, will put Dr. Frist in a very different context. Asked about Dr. Frist's participation in an event describing the filibuster "as against people of faith," his spokesman, Bob Stevenson, did not answer the question directly.
"Senator Frist is doing everything he can to ensure judicial nominees are treated fairly and that every senator has the opportunity to give the president their advice and consent through an up or down vote," Mr. Stevenson said, adding, "He has spoken to groups all across the nation to press that point, and as long as a minority of Democrats continue to block a vote, he will continue to do so."
The rhetoric from the Frist office is certainly much more moderate sounding than the groups who he will join in Louisville on April 24th. Those groups are demonizing liberals while also impugning the honor of our nations judges.
Fliers for the telecast, organized by the Family Research Council and scheduled to originate at a Kentucky megachurch the evening of April 24, call the day "Justice Sunday" and depict a young man holding a Bible in one hand and a gavel in the other. The flier does not name participants, but under the heading "the filibuster against people of faith," it reads: "The filibuster was once abused to protect racial bias, and it is now being used against people of faith."
The participation by a Senator in a telecast with groups holding such extremist views is certainly cause for great concern. The politics of the Family Research Council is crystal clear. They desire to take over every arm of government to rule the land using their version of Christian principles.
Thankfully, Republican Senator John McCain has come out against their plans to install majority rule free of checks and balances by demolishing long held traditions of American government.
On Thursday, one wavering Republican, Senator John McCain of Arizona, told a television interviewer, Chris Matthews, that he would vote against the change.
"By the way, when Bill Clinton was president, we, effectively, in the Judiciary Committee blocked a number of his nominees," Mr. McCain said.
History Mr. McCain? Many Republicans can't remember the promises they made to win the last election, much less remember what it was like to be in the minority. The fact that Republicans themselves sang a very different tune when they were utilizing the filibuster not so long ago seems lost on these tyrants. They demonize Democrats and liberals and once again turn to smears and character assassination to win political battles.
Democratic Senator Charles Schumer is quoted in the Times article harshly criticizing this latest attempt by Republicans to paint themselves as the keepers of the righteous faith:
Democrats accused Dr. Frist of exploiting religious faith for political ends by joining the telecast. "No party has a monopoly on faith, and for Senator Frist to participate in this kind of telecast just throws more oil on the partisan flames," said Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York.
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Democrats, for their part, are already stepping up their efforts to link Dr. Frist and the rule change with conservatives statements about unaccountable judges hostile to faith.
On Thursday, Mr. Schumer released an open letter calling on Dr. Frist to denounce such attacks. "The last thing we need is inflammatory rhetoric which on its face encourages violence against judges," he wrote.
The letter mentioned in the snip was signed by Senator Reid, Senator Schumer, Senator Durbin, and Senator Stabenow. From the letter:
The Democratic leaders continued, "Comparing the United States judicial system and those who serve on it to the Ku Klux Klan, condoning the murderous Joseph Stalin, calling for mass impeachment is unacceptable."
"Only in a banana republic would you expect judges to be in fear of retribution from public figures for ruling for or against powerful interests. These threats of mass impeachment and even violence are dangerous and should be denounced immediately," Schumer concluded.
The partisan warfare over the judiciary and the filibuster is heating up. The explicit alliance of the Republican Senate Leader to a handful of extremist religious organizations is upping the ante. The rhetoric which claims Democrats and Liberals are against religion and people of faith is an attempt to stoke hatred to win political battles. It's a dangerous game that we must meet head on.
Progressive Churches and Religious Organizations cannot remain silent in this battle. To do so only legitimizes the extremists as the leaders of Christianity in America. Likewise, all Democrats and Liberals must defend themselves and communicate effectively that freedom of religion is one of our highest ideals.
Republicans claim that the 10 judges that have been blocked by Democrats somehow represent a vast conspiratorial attack on the very foundations of Christianity. That's of course melodramatic and false. But they'll be pounding that message into every head that gets in range and the only way to fight that kind of attack is with megaphones of your own. Democrats across the board need to dust off their noisemakers and start creating a din that lets America know that there are more Americans who respect Senate tradition and the honor of our Judges than those who would spit on the Constitution and tear out the pages they don't like.
We can't let them win this fight.
[Update] Armando talks about the issue over at dKos and Josh Marshall weighs in at TalkingPointsMemo.