First off, BarbinMD posted a related diary yesterday on this event, focusing on Frist being snubbed:
Snubbing Frist ... My purpose is to follow up on the Delay angle... So I don't think it's too redundant, though I welcome feedback....
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Remember Tom Delay? ... He's back, partnering with our good friends Tony Perkins and James Dobson to launch Justice Sunday II, on Aug 14. And in today's NY Times story, Perkins couldn't be happier:
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council and the principal organizer, called Mr. DeLay, of Texas, "a natural fit" with the program. "He has been very outspoken on the need for addressing the issue of judicial activism," Mr. Perkins said.
Isn't it time to attack the Religious Right head on when it runs this kind of stunt? .. After the '04 election, I can understand concerns about offending the "values" voters. But enough is enough with all the tip-toeing. We need to openly expose this effort for what it truly is: an ACTIVIST attempt to permanently tie religion and government . And just like with the torture issue, I'm fearful that people are already becoming desensitized to theocracy.
[I'm looking at page A15 of the Times right now as I type this. You've got this story, and another about Bush's push to teach intelligent design in our schools. Jesus Christ - substitute "Allah" or "Islam" and this thing would read like an Iranian newspaper... Ok, maybe that's a stretch, but we are under attack...]
The good news is that the article seems to imply that the time might be ripe to fight these guys head on:
"If he wants to attack the independence of the judicial branch, given the response of independent and Democratic voters, I don't want to get in his way," said Representative Rahm Emanuel, Democrat of Illinois and chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
That's good. ASSUME moderates are turned off by this - and put Delay out in front, associate him and the WH with the movement. In other words, WAKE PEOPLE UP to the destruction of religious liberty this movement really embodies.
Just so you know what we're up against:
In a televised prayer on Tuesday for Judge Roberts's confirmation, for example, the television evangelist Pat Robertson asked his viewers to pray: "Take control, Lord! We ask for additional vacancies on the court." (A "prayer point" on the Web site for Mr. Robertson's "Supreme Court Freedom Project" includes "additional vacancies" as well.)
The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, called the prayer "ghoulish," saying, "The only way people leave the court these days is through death or infirmity."
Ghoulish is a very good description, imo.