What is the work that James Dobson sock puppet Senator Frist will do for the extremists in control of the Republican Party? Very simple - they want extremist judges AND Supreme Court Justices who will:
(1) Overturn Roe v. Wade, destroying a women's right to choose. To be followed by a federal law banning all abortions.
(2) Eviscerate the separation of church and state. To be followed by continued attacks on science and the imposition of the teaching of one belief system in the classroom. Creationism as science.
(3) Strip existing legal protections of the environment through judicially activist interpretations of federal law.
(4) Eliminate workers and union rights.
(5) Weaken civil rights protections through outlandish and unfounded readings of the Constitution and federal civil rights laws. End affirmative action, shred employment discrimination laws. Legalize discrimination against gays.
Let me expand a moment on the last point. The recent decision, Citizens for Equal Protection v. Bruning, by a Nebraska federal court striking down an amendment to Nebraska's Constitution has offended the extremists:
At a news conference Friday, Senator George Allen of Virginia said a federal court decision Thursday overturning Nebraska's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage [
THIS IS FALSE] underscored a need for Republicans to confirm the president's judicial nominees.
"It is decisions like this that are why we have a stronger Republican majority in the United States Senate," Mr. Allen said. "This was one of the key motivations for the people who voted for us."
But what did that decision do? Did it rule bans on gay marriages unconstitutional? No, it EXPRESSLY does not. What the Nebraska court ruled unlawful was egregious deliberate discrimination against gays. See, the extremists pretend they are defending the institution of marriage when in fact what they insist upon is an agenda of hate and discrimination against gays. If they also discriminate against adopted children, siblings, grandparents, well that is a small price to pay for the pleasure of pushing down gays.
That is extreme. The vast majority of Americans reject this agenda. While they may oppose gay marriage, they do not embrace an activist witchhunt against gays. But a witchhunt it must be to satisfy the extremists.
How do I know this? Because of Dobson's manipulation of his sock puppet Frist. Look who Frist has insisted be the first of the Sorry Seven to be taken up - Priscilla Owen and Janice Rogers Brown. These two nominees are the most egregious judicial nominations to be offered up since Clarence Thomas. They are the two most opposed by Democrats. They are the most extreme of Bush's nominees. Wouldn't it make sense for Frist, for his own motives of winning the nuclear option battle, to offer up the less offensive, better qualified nominees? Of course it would. But that is not Dobson's game. He wants blatantly extreme judges, the ones he knows won't doublecross him. The ones whose records leave no doubt that they will do his bidding. No more Anthony Kennedys.
He needs this now so that when he tells Bush to pick an extreme nominee for the Supreme Court he can tell Bush:
'See? The moderates are cowed. The Media is supine. We can do whatever we want. All we need is 51. You think Specter or any of those wimps will stop us? How can they? We don't need them anymore. We can do anything and everything we want.'
And he'll tell Rove:
'And if you don't do whatever we want, we'll drop your boy Frist so fast you won't know what hit you.'
That's what the extremists want from this. To run the country with an iron fist.
It will take a few courageous Republican Senators to stand up to this extreme onslaught. We know of McCain, Chaffee and Snowe. We think Hagel is ready to stand up. We hope Collins has the fortitude to do the right thing.
We pray that Warner and Specter respect the institution they have given so much of their lives to. We hope to find other principled Republicans. We hope Smith, Sununu, Murkowski, Lugar and others find the principles and courage to fight against this extremist onslaught.
And we fight. Whatever happens, we fight.
Update [2005-5-14 1:5:40 by Armando]: The GOP's extremist agenda via Chris Bowers.