Was it just a few months ago that Senator Frist was the star speaker at
Justice Sunday, whose stated aim was "stopping the filibuster against people of faith"? How things have
changed.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist spoke by video to the first "Justice Sunday" evangelical rally in April, but he wasn't invited to address "Justice Sunday II," even though it's in his home state of Tennessee.
Since the first rally, the potential 2008 presidential candidate has angered the events' organizers by stating his support for expanded human embryonic stem cell research.
And apparently Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, was also "annoyed" about that damn, ummm, darn judicial compromise.
I don't know which of these made my eyes roll more...that the rally (??) is being called Justice Sunday II: God Save the United States and this Honorable Court! or that Tom Delay is this year's marquee speaker.
After the judicial compromise was reached by
The Gang of 14 last
May,
Some conservatives criticized it and blamed Frist for allowing it to take place. "There will be repercussions," Perkins said at the time.
If Perkins and company were planning repercussions for that, I'd imagine their heads were ready to explode when Frist flip-flopped on stem cell research. Perkins sounded relatively benign in this comment:
...Perkins said Tuesday on the group's Web site that Frist's recently announced stem cell stance "reflects an unwise and unnecessary choice both for public policy and for respecting the dignity of human life."
But I'd venture to guess that the religious wingnuttery, with Perkins and Dobson leading the charge, will be coming out in force against Frist if he still holds 2008 aspirations.
And according to the article, the purpose of Justice Sunday II?:
The organizers hope to voice support for Bush Supreme Court nominee John Roberts and bring attention to judicial matters of importance to evangelicals, Hildebrand said.
Translation: They will trash Democrats, calling them obstructionists and demand that they give Roberts an up-or-down vote. At the same time they will preach about the dangerous threat of gay marriage, choice, the separation of church and state, science and so on.