More on Frist

Just when you thought the whining by Senate Republicans about the handful of Bush's ultra-fringe judicial nominees that the Democrats can't bring themselves in good conscience to support couldn't get any more ludicrous, it just did. According to Senator Frist, the debate over debating rules in the Senate isn't just about the Constitutional meaning of "advise and consent", it's really about how much the Democrats hate Jesus.

As the Senate heads toward a showdown over the rules governing judicial confirmations, Senator Bill Frist, the majority leader, has agreed to join a handful of prominent Christian conservatives in a telecast portraying Democrats as "against people of faith" for blocking President Bush's nominees.

Fliers for the telecast, organized by the Family Research Council and scheduled to originate at a Kentucky megachurch the evening of April 24, call the day "Justice Sunday" and depict a young man holding a Bible in one hand and a gavel in the other. The flier does not name participants, but under the heading "the filibuster against people of faith," it reads: "The filibuster was once abused to protect racial bias, and it is now being used against people of faith."

Now really, this is as outrageous as it is pathetic. Senator Reid and the ADL get the response absolutely right. Much has already been said about the right's new war against the core principles of American democracy, and I don't have much to add. And while I really don't expect the Republican establishment to condemn Frist's atroicious behavior, they should, and so should everyone else.