Dems Note 'Most Outrageous Things Conservatives Said' on Justice Sunday -- GOPUSA

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Dems Note 'Most Outrageous Things Conservatives Said' on Justice Sunday
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Morning Editor
April 26, 2005

(CNSNews.com) -- Sen. Bill Frist should "stop dividing Americans along religious lines" and "stop trying to do away with the filibuster as we know it," Democrats said on Monday, one day after Frist addressed conservatives about the Democrats' unprecedented filibuster of judicial nominees.

In a Monday-morning message to supporters, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee singled out "some of the most outrageous things" conservatives said at a Justice Sunday event, which was beamed to churches around the nation.

The DSCC said the following quotations "show you how out of the mainstream these people are."

"The majority on the Supreme Court are unelected, unaccountable, arrogant, imperious, want to redesign culture according to their own biases, are out of control, and I think they need to be reigned in...I agree with Majority Leader Tom DeLay." -- Dr. James Dobson, Founder and Chairman, Focus on the Family

"Judges find in the Constitution what's not there." -- Albert Mohler, President, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

On the other hand, Democrats said they were pleased to hear Frist, in his videotaped remarks to the Justice Sunday event, "repudiate" comments about retaliating against federal judges.

Democrats have blasted Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) for some of their statements on judges.

The day after Terri Schiavo died, Rep. DeLay made waves by saying "the time will come" when the judges "responsible for this" would have to "answer for their behavior." DeLay later denied accusations that he was making a veiled threat against judges.

And Sen. Cornyn raised concerns that "recent episodes of courthouse violence in this country" may be linked to frustration over activist judges. Cornyn later clarified that he was not trying to justify courthouse violence, as his critics claimed; he said he was making the point that "the judiciary is losing the respect it needs to serve the interests of the American people."

In its Monday-morning message, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee thanked the 25,000 people who signed a DSCC petition urging Sen. Frist to stop "exploiting his office for political gain." The DSCC said the Associated Press took note of the opposition in its reporting on Sen. Frist's Justice Sunday speech.

"We cannot let up now," the DSCC said. "Just because Frist chose his words a little carefully last night doesn't mean that he's not still planning to bring forward the nuclear option in the next few weeks."

The message tells Democrats to "be ready" for the next phase of the campaign to retain "200 years of Senate tradition."

A vote on changing Senate rules -- to get around Democrat filibusters of judicial nominees -- could come this week.