"Justice Sunday"

As David Kirkpatrick reported yesterday in the the NYT, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is slated to participate in a telecast organized by social fundamentalists like James Dobson, Tony Perkins and Chuck Colson that will label those who oppose the use of the nuclear option as "against people of faith". Kirkpatrick notes that promotional materials for the event, which is being called "Justice Sunday", "depict a young man holding a Bible in one hand and a gavel in the other." Additional language on fliers says "The filibuster was once abused to protect racial bias, and it is now being used against people of faith."

The telecast will be aired live on the internet as well as Christian television and radio networks, and organizers say they hope to reach more than a million people. Frist's spokesman told the Times that Frist's comments will be consistent with his prior statements on the issue, that he intends "not to yield" on ensuring that Bush's nominees are approved. It is one thing to make such comments on the Senate floor or in a news conference, however, and quite another to say them in the context of an event whose organizers say things like this:

"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." [from Kirkpatrick's article]

It really seems strange to hear things like this in the same week as reports like this one from the Christian Science Monitor, which revealed that Republican-appointed judges make up the majority on ten of America's thirteen appeals courts (as well as seven of the nine current justices of the Supreme Court). But I guess we should expect it from the crowd who wants to hold mass impeachments and makes slightly veiled threats of violence even against Republican appointees whose decisions they disagree with.

Frist's participation in "Justice Sunday" has been criticized widely from the center and the left:

- Rabbi David Saperstein of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism called Frist's behavior "more than troubling. It is disingenuous, dangerous and demagogic ... [Frist] must not give legitimacy to those who claim they hold a monopoly on faith." Abraham Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League, said in a letter to Frist that he is "deeply troubled" that Frist would join "Justice Sunday". "The heated debate regarding the status of the filibuster ... is a quintessentially political contest, not a religious struggle. Nor should it be portrayed as such. Whatever one's views may be on this or any other issue, playing the 'religious card' is as unacceptable as playing the race card."

- Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said "Participating in something designed to incite divisiveness and encourage contention is unacceptable. I would hope that Senator Frist will rise above something so beyond the pale." Reid then made the same slippery slope argument that he has made in the past, adding "Judges today. We'll have Cabinet officers tomorrow. Then we'll just have simple legislation. What's going on ... is not Republican mainstream politics. It is radical Republican politics." [emphasis added] Other comments from Democratic Senators, including Durbin and Schumer, are available here.

- Joe Gandelman over at The Moderate Voice notes that Frist is helping "instigate a political BIG BOOM that has the potential of enmeshing the GOP in charges that it's ushering in a new, dangerous area of theocratic McCarthyism." His post includes great synopses of other bloggers on this issue.

- In "Bill Frist's Religious War", the Times editorial board writes today:
"Right-wing Christian groups and the Republican politicians they bankroll have done much since the last election to impose their particular religious views on all Americans. But nothing comes close to the shameful declaration of religious war by Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader, over the selection of judges for federal courts.

Senator Frist is to appear on a telecast sponsored by the Family Research Council, which styles itself a religious organization but is really just another Washington lobbying concern. The message is that the Democrats who oppose a tiny handful of President Bush's judicial nominations are conducting an assault 'against people of faith.' By that, Senator Frist and his allies do not mean people of all faiths, only those of their faith.

It is one thing when private groups foment this kind of intolerance. It is another thing entirely when it's done by the highest-ranking member of the United States Senate, who swore on the Bible to uphold a Constitution that forbids the imposition of religious views on Americans. Unfortunately, Senator Frist and his allies are willing to break down the rules to push through their agenda - in this case, by creating what the senator knows is a false connection between religion and the debate about judges." [emphasis added]

Sadly, Senator Frist isn't paying attention to those in the Republican party who are talking about the dangers of the nuclear option: Bob Dole, John McCain, Linc Chafee, Olympia Snowe, John Warner, Arlen Specter ... he's listening to the social fundamentalists, undoubtedly hearing their promises of support for his expected 2008 presidential bid and worrying about criticism from other possible conservative candidates, including Senators George Allen and Rick Santorum.

Let this RINO make himself perfectly clear. Senator Frist's participation in "Justice Sunday" is something moderates should NOT stand for. By identifying himself with the theocratical and bigoted rhetoric of Tony Perkins and James Dobson - even if his own comments are as empty and meaningless as they usually are - Bill Frist only confirms his membership in the Radical wing of the Republican party.

We cannot give the leaders of our party free passes for involving themselves in such events as "Justice Sunday". Moderates, it is our time to rise up - it is our time to charge. Jon Stewart said on Wednesday evening in an interview with centrist author John Avlon that the problem with moderates is that we're not out there in the streets shouting "BE REASONABLE!" ... The time has come to start shouting.

For further reading:
- Dennis at The Moderate Republican has an excellent post on "God's Own Party Watch", as does Joshua Micah Marshall at Talking Points Memo.