It comes as something of a surprise, but the radical right’s “Justice Sunday II” was reminiscent of too many movie sequels — rehashing lines that generated applause the first time to produce more of the same. In fact, the only thing interesting about yesterday’s massive church rally in Nashville was what wasn’t said.
If you caught any of the broadcast, you saw an event that was, oddly enough, pretty boring. Tom DeLay believes federal courts are imposing a “judicial supremacy” over the country; James Dobson thinks the Supreme Court has created “an oligarchy“; Phyllis Schlafly said the idea that the courts should have the final say over the meaning of the law is a “terrible heresy“; William Donohue wants to undo Marbury v Madison; and Zell Miller doesn’t like abortion and gay people.
I hear all of this and ask, is this all they’ve got? Sure, it’s a stark reminder that top GOP officials and those who have their ear are stark raving mad, but we knew that. “Right-wing Republicans, still nuts” is not exactly an attention-grabbing headline anymore. No one said anything new yesterday — it was just the same Taliban-wing of the party spewing its usual theocratic nonsense. I’m deeply engaged in this crap, and even I found it hard to get worked up over yesterday’s palaver.
There was one thing, however, that stood out. It wasn’t what these clowns were saying; it was what they weren’t saying: all the reasons the GOP base is supposed to be thrilled about John Roberts, Jr.
As the LA Times noted, the timing of Justice Sunday II was intended to get evangelicals engaged and motivated about Roberts’ confirmation in advance of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s confirmation hearings, which will kick off in about three weeks.
But instead of singing Roberts’ praises, these far-right lawmakers and activists largely steered clear of Bush’s Supreme Court nominee altogether.
The Christian conservative organizers of this weekend’s “Justice Sunday” telecast once talked about using it to rally support for the president’s Supreme Court nominee.
But when the cast of influential evangelical Protestants, conservative Catholics and Republican congressmen appeared behind the pulpit of the Two Rivers Baptist megachurch here on Sunday evening, most speakers mentioned the nominee, Judge John G. Roberts Jr., only in passing. Instead, they took aim mainly at the power and decisions of the Supreme Court itself.
When Dobson spoke, he told the faithful, “For now at least, [Roberts] looks good.” That’s it. From there, it was just liberals bad, courts bad, yada yada yada.
Last month, some of these same right-wing voices couldn’t have been more pleased with the president’s nominee. Now, at a rally held to generate some excitement about the future of the high court, the best Roberts can do is “for now at least, he looks good.”
When the far-right group Public Advocate withdrew its support for Roberts’ nomination last week, the group’s president told reporters, “I know that others feel the same way. I know they believe as I do.” If yesterday’s reticence was any indication, maybe there’s something to this after all.