Frist Associating With 'Ultra-Right-Wing Crackpots'
By: Administrative Account | Source: CNSNews.com
April 25, 2005 5:24AM EST

By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Morning Editor
April 18, 2005

(CNSNews.com) - Republicans who want President Bush's conservative judicial nominees to get an up-or-down vote in the full Senate are "going too far," says a former Clinton administration official.

"The Republicans are injecting religion into the battle over President Bush's effort to pack the federal courts with right-wing rejects," said Paul Begala in a message from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Begala takes Sen Bill Frist to task for agreeing to appear with "ultra-right wing crackpots," a reference to Focus on the Family founder James Dobson and other religious leaders who are hosting an event called Justice Sunday.

The live broadcast to churches nationwide on April 24 -- next Sunday -- is intended to enlist the support of "values voters" for a Senate rule change. The DSCC said the broadcast is expected to reach one million voters.

Conservative religious leaders claim Democrats are using judicial filibusters "against people of faith," Begala said. "What, praytell, does that make the 205 judges we have confirmed? Heathens?" he asked.

According to Begala, the effort to block ten of President Bush's judicial nominees isn't about religion.

"Lord knows we progressives -- from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Jimmy Carter -- look to divine inspiration. We revere and respect people of faith. But we will not tolerate a phony holy war designed to pack the courts with judges who want to turn the clock back to the 1930's," he said.

Begala said the issue involves "ten well-heeled lawyers" who "represent big corporations and polluters who couldn't care less about consumers, workers, children, women, families and the environment.

"That's right," Begala continued. The Republicans want to shut down the entire United States Senate because of ten right-wing lawyers. Each one of them, of course, is a right-wing activist -- with legal and political views three steps to the right of Atilla the Hun."

In the message to Democrats, Begala accuses conservative activists of employing "incendiary rhetoric."

He also urges readers to sign a DSCC petition urging Senator Frist to "stop exploiting his office for political gain."

He says Republicans are "pulling the religion card," a phrase used earlier by the Anti-Defamation League.

Begala noted that Democrats have six days to act before Sen. Frist joins the "powerful few" on "Justice Sunday."

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