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September 14, 2007
The Rise and Fall of the Great Right Hope?
Earlier this year, just as the various Republican primary campaigns were getting off the ground, many on the Right were discontent with their current choices and appeared to be pinning their hopes on a possible run by Fred Thompson.
But that early enthusiasm appears to have worn off quickly, at least for everyone who is not Richard Land, with Thompson failing to win over the members of the influential Arlington Group and then stating that he has no intention of talking about his personal faith during his campaign, which probably explains why he will not be attending the upcoming Values Voter Debate in Florida.
Well, that and the fact that he apparently doesn’t like being treated like a performing seal:
Later, in Celebration, he was asked why he was not participating in the Values Voter debate in Fort Lauderdale on Monday. He said he will do his best to participate in debates, but he can't make all of them.
"Debates are important, but let's don't let the tail wag the dog here. Standing up there 10 in a row, you know, like a bunch of seals waiting for someone to throw you the next fish is not necessarily the best way to impart your information to the American people," Thompson said. "I'm not above acting like a seal every once in a while and waiting for the next fish. I just don't want to do it all the time."
This remark came on top of his refusal to say whether he supported Congressional intervention in the case of Terri Schiavo, which was of paramount importance for the Right back in 2005, saying he didn’t “remember the details of it.”
If Thompson is going to try and live up to his billing as the reincarnation of Ronald Reagan, he’s going to have to do a better job of pandering to the Right than this.
Posted by Kyle at 4:29 PM | Permalink
Surprise Questions at Values Voter Debate?
They are not much of a surprise if you announce them ahead of time, now are they? "SURPRISE! Questions will be posed not only from national pro-family leaders, but from such surprise guests as the wife of a border agent who was jailed while preventing a drug smuggler from entering our country! Hear questions from an abortion survivor, victims of the homosexual agenda, parents whose children were once frozen embryos and a former slave in Sudan!"
Posted by Kyle at 2:55 PM | Permalink
GOP Candidates Ignoring Minorities
So says Tavis Smiley because John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney have declined to participate in the debate he is moderating: "No one should be elected president of this country in 2008 if they think that along the way they can ignore people of color. If you want to be president of all America, you need to speak to all Americans."
Posted by Kyle at 2:50 PM | Permalink
The Next Klingenschmitt?
The name Danny Harvey will probably start showing up in a lot of right-wing outlets, as he is claiming that he was fired by the Leesburg Regional Medical Center in Florida for praying "in Jesus name." The hospital says it was because he refused to be "respectful of the different religious beliefs of our patients and ... lead them in their faith in their time of need." In what comes as a surprise to absolutely nobody, former Navy Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt is already on the case and will be joining a march in protest of Harvey's firing this weekend.
Posted by Kyle at 2:38 PM | Permalink
Heritage Foundation Official: Bin Laden 'Aping' Democrats
Mike Franc, apparently forgeting Bin Laden's call for tax cuts. Meanwhile, Gary Bauer: "Victory is a values issue."
Posted by Ezra at 11:33 AM | Permalink
September 13, 2007
AFA Does Not Want Fries with That
The American Family Association recently took time out from its work against hate-crimes protections for gays and religious pluralism to launch an attack on a series of sleazy TV ads for hamburgers. In urging its supporters to contact local TV stations to halt the Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s ads, however, AFA’s automatic-outrage-generator unfortunately left letter-writers with the option of demanding satisfaction from all media outlets, leading one frustrated newspaper editor to pen an editorial titled “Please quit sending these generic letters.” From the Salem, Oregon Statesman Journal:
I haven't taken time to watch the commercials, but they must be pretty tasteless (no pun intended). …
But I digress. My point is not the commercials; it's the letter-writing campaign. The generic letter is from the American Family Association web site. It's to be sent to TELEVISION STATIONS; they air commercials, newspapers don't.
One has to wonder about the smarts of these letter writers, if they don't follow the directions on the Web site, if they misspell the Statesman Journal's name and Hardee's name, if they send the letters to towns that don't have a Hardee's or Carl's Jr. -- and if they participate in a generic letter-writing campaign, which usually gets ignored.
From what people have told me, the commercials are awful. Still, don't expect to see any of these letters in print anywhere in the country. Opinion editors automatically toss generic letters.
UPDATE: More from the Lebanon, Pennsylvania Daily News and the Spartanburg, Georgia Herald-Journal.
UPDATE 2: More from the Racine, Wisconsin Journal Times, the Arizona Daily Star, and the Bakersfield Californian.
Posted by Ezra at 4:39 PM | Permalink
Shoes v. Strict Constructionism
A new video from Concerned Women for America confirms what we've suspected all along: the one issue more pressing to women in this country than the need for new shoes is the confirmation of strict constructionist judges:
Posted by Kyle at 1:39 PM | Permalink
September 12, 2007
Poll Finds 'Christian Nation' Notion Catching—Thank the Far Right's Marketing Effort
USA Today reports on a new poll from the First Amendment Center, showing that a disheartening 55 percent of Americans believe that “The Constitution establishes a Christian nation.” For this we can no doubt thank, in part, the efforts of pseudo-historian David Barton and other religious-right activists who have made “Christian nation” a catchphrase, meant by them to signify that the separation of church and state is a “myth.”
Just today, in fact, Roy Moore rebuked those who consider the Constitution to be “a ‘secular’ document.” Moore is scheduled to question Republican candidates for president at the Values Voter Debate on Monday, and he added, “The recognition of the sovereignty of God is an essential prerequisite for liberty. … If presidential candidates do not clearly understand that God is the source of liberty, they will not protect those liberties from intrusive bureaucracy.”
Moore, the former chief justice of Alabama, has his own version of the First Amendment: He lost his position on the state’s Supreme Court and became a right-wing hero for refusing an order to remove a two-ton Ten Commandments monument from the courthouse, placed there to instruct petitioners that the Bible formed the “foundation” of U.S. law. He also called on Congress to prevent the first Muslim member from assuming office, and when a Hindu chaplain gave a guest convocation in the U.S. Senate, Moore asserted, “Our senators must acknowledge that one, true God in Whom America has trusted.”
Posted by Ezra at 5:38 PM | Permalink
Viguerie Tries to Start a Fight
It is not very often that right-wing leaders offer up op-eds setting out their blatantly partisan agenda for all the world to see. But today, right-wing direct mail pioneer Richard Viguerie did just that in the Los Angeles Times, urging President Bush to nominate someone to replace disgraced Attorney General Alberto Gonzales - someone whose primary qualification appears to be the ability to start a fight with Democrats:
If the Democrats block the confirmation, expose them for their partisanship, for their refusal to be tough on law enforcement out of fear that they will upset their own base, and for their efforts to use the unelected judiciary to create policies that would never be enacted through a democratic process.
If they don't confirm the first nominee, send up another, making sure that he or she is "worse" (from the Democrats' perspective) than the first one. If they block that one, do it again.
…
If the Republican Party is to fight its way back, the president must fight his way out of the low 30s in his approval ratings and back into the 50s. Much depends on the course of the war in Iraq, but the beginning of political recovery will come with a take-no-prisoners nominee for attorney general.
…
The time to change course is now, or never. If the president picks a fight over this nomination by appointing a qualified conservative, the GOP base will stand with him. If he tries conciliation again, expecting a different result, he will become the lamest of lame ducks.
“If he tries conciliation again”? When exactly was the last time Bush tried that? Has he ever tried it?
You also have to love Viguerie’s logic that Bush should nominate someone explicitly for the purpose of angering Democrats and thus gaining partisan advantage while claiming that, if Democrats oppose the nominee, Republicans will be able to “expose them for their partisanship.”
But given that Bush has recently signaled that he is, like always, more than willing to pick a fight purely for political gain, it will not come as much of a surprise if he takes Viguerie’s advice when it comes to naming his next Attorney General.
Posted by Kyle at 4:00 PM | Permalink
The Liberal Media?
Not really, finds a new report from Media Matters: "The results show that in paper after paper, state after state, and region after region, conservative syndicated columnists get more space than their progressive counterparts."
Posted by Kyle at 2:31 PM | Permalink
Thompson Says He Doesn't Want to Talk About God
Bloomberg reports that Fred Thompson says "he isn't a regular churchgoer and doesn't plan to speak about his religion on the stump ... [he] later told reporters that his church attendance 'varies.'''
Posted by Kyle at 11:13 AM | Permalink
"Their Blood Will Be on Our Hands"
The Christian Defense Coalition is holding a rally Thursday that will feature "a public display of red stained gloves, laid out on the lower Capitol terrace, symbolizing the blood of thousands of religious minorities that will be on our hands if we do not protect religious liberty in Iraq."
Posted by Kyle at 11:04 AM | Permalink
"Expect Action and Suspense" At GOP Debate
So promise the organizers of the Values Voter Presidential Debate, where candidates will face "rapid fire" questions and even be granted "Wildcard Minutes" to be used "whenever they want, however they want—from challenging another candidate to interrupting a round of questions!"
Posted by Kyle at 10:52 AM | Permalink
September 11, 2007
Global AIDS Relief Official Reaches out to Religious Right
Kent Hill, an official with the U.S. Agency for International Development, recently appeared on Pat Robertson’s “700 Club” to tout the efforts made by the Bush Administration’s global AIDS initiative (called PEPFAR) to fund faith-based groups and abstinence outreach.
As we’ve noted, PEPFAR provided increased funding for AIDS relief, but also came with controversial restrictions seemingly keyed to ideology, most prominently a requirement that two-thirds of money for prevention of HIV transmission—including preexisting funding channels—go to programs dedicated exclusively to promoting abstinence-until-marriage and fidelity. This anti-condom measure was seen as a sop to the Religious Right, as were grants awarded to politically-connected faith-based groups. The Center for Public Integrity has a long report on the issue.
Although there was support among aid groups for the “ABC” strategy (“Abstinence, Being Faithful, and Condoms”) in principle, the requirements heavily favoring abstinence caused confusion and program cuts for condoms and mother-child transmission prevention. Hill, however, characterizes it as “a debate as to whether behavior change is possible” which has brought “some criticism from all sides.”
Hill, a history professor and former president of Eastern Nazarene College, served from 1986-1992 as head of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, a right-wing group founded to support President Reagan’s Cold War efforts in Central America, mainly by insinuating ties between the mainline National Council of Churches and communist groups or the KGB. IRD was known in the 1980s as “the official seminary of the White House” (Nation, 4/17/89, via MT).
(AP photo via Center for Public Integrity.)
Posted by Ezra at 5:13 PM | Permalink
FOF Lays Off Thirty
The Colorado Springs Gazette reports: "Focus on the Family announced Monday that it is laying off 30 employees and reassigning 15 others ... 'Our budget was fairly aggressive. The projected budget was $150 million. It looks like it will come in about $8 million under, at $142 million.'”
Posted by Kyle at 4:20 PM | Permalink
Religious Right Warns English-Arabic School 'Incubator' for Terrorists
“Dual-language classes give U.S. an edge,” read the headline of an AP story printed last Tuesday in the right-wing Washington Times, lauding New York City’s 67 schools that offer instruction in English plus immersion in a foreign language to student bodies comprised of about half native English speakers and half children with a background in the other language. The two-way immersion approach has not been without pedagogical controversy, but programs in French, Spanish, Chinese, Creole, and other languages have not produced widespread criticism. That changed with the proposal of a dual-language program for Arabic.
The Kahlil Gibran International Academy opened last week following months of backlash from commentators such as Daniel Pipes, founder of the Middle East Forum and a columnist for the conservative New York Sun. A New York City-based group called Stop the Madrassa formed and some Religious Right groups joined in, warning that the school would become a training ground for Islamist extremism.
“Step Aside, English-Speaking Christians,” warned Rod Parsley’s Center for Moral Clarity, claiming the school will “indoctrinate young people in customs of a racist, sexist and intolerant culture.” The Catholic League held a rally to protest the school, and joined Stop the Madrassa to form a group to counter the teaching of “Islamic culture.” And the Thomas More Law Center’s Richard Thompson declared that the school “is a Trojan horse” for “homegrown terrorists”:
This proposed public school is nothing more than an incubator for the radicalization that leads to terrorism … Rather than use the public school system to assimilate Muslims and other immigrants into American culture, New York City is doing everything it can to keep them isolated – a target rich environment for recruiting potential new homegrown terrorists and a recipe for a future 911 disaster, according to my read of the NYPD Report.
As uncomfortable as it makes one feel, we must understand that the political goal of radical Islam is to destroy our Judeo-Christian culture. And the KGIA is a Trojan Horse New York City is building for radical Islam with taxpayer money.
Problems caused by the limited number of Arabic-speaking Americans in Iraq have been widely reported. That may be why the federal government offers funding for K-12 instruction in Arabic, Chinese, and other critical foreign languages. The Gibran Academy's curriculum, posted online, shows standard social studies and math along with Arabic language instruction. Nevertheless, opponents remain committed to their apprehensions: “The burden to prove that it's not a madrassa is on them…” as one member of Stop the Madrassa said.
Posted by Ezra at 3:20 PM | Permalink
Bill Donohue Targets Kathy Griffin
The Catholic League was not happy with Kathy Griffin's acceptance speech at the Emmys and appears to have pressured the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences into editing it before it airs.
Posted by Kyle at 2:00 PM | Permalink
September 10, 2007
The Right Weighs In On Iraq
It looks as if the Right has taken some time out of its never-ending war against gays, abortion, and the secular culture to issue a “Declaration” calling on the US to stay in Iraq and warning of “catastrophic consequences” should US forces withdraw.
Operating under the name The Forgotten American Coalition, Gary Bauer, Don Wildmon, Pat Robertson, Paul Weyrich, John Hagee, Lou Sheldon, Tim and Beverly LaHaye, Janet Folger, Rick Scarborough, Wendy Wright, Morton Blackwell, Gary Cass, Star Parker, Mathew Staver and other have issued the following Declaration:
The Tragic Consequences of A U.S. Withdrawal From Iraq
As leaders of the conservative movement and concerned citizens, the undersigned wish to make our fellow Americans aware of the tragic consequences of a precipitous U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.
Historically, conservatives have always been cautious about foreign intervention and the concept of nation-building. Moreover, conservatives have always viewed national security as the principal reason for foreign intervention.
Still, regardless of what one thinks of the president's decision to overthrow Saddam Hussein and to try to bring representative government to Iraq, we have been engaged there for the past four years at a cost of over 3,600 American lives.
Our military leaders warn us that a withdrawal under fire would be a geopolitical disaster.
The Iraq War must be seen in the broader context of Islamo-fascism's war on America and Western Civilization. It is one front in a global conflict fought from Europe and the Middle East to Africa, the Balkans, the Indian Subcontinent and, finally, to the streets of our cities.
If we pull out now or announce a timetable for withdrawal, the region will be destabilized and Israel further endangered. Iran and Syria, two legs of the axis of evil, will become far more powerful. Reformers in the region will be correspondingly weakened -- perhaps fatally so.
A Middle East in chaos could result in the disruption of energy supplies, a plummeting dollar and a devastated U.S. economy.
9/11 was in part precipitated by the perception of American weakness and lack of determination. An Iraq withdrawal before our mission is accomplished will convince the terrorists and their state-sponsors that we indeed are the proverbial paper tiger.
The terrorists, including Al Qaeda (which is currently fighting in Iraq), will make us bleed every step of the way out of Iraq. Then, sensing the tide of history running in their favor, they will attack us with renewed vigor on every front.
Those Iraqis who supported our presence and trusted America will be subjected to vicious reprisals by fanatics who have repeatedly demonstrated their utter ruthlessness. A bloodbath resembling South Vietnam and Cambodia in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal isn't hard to imagine. That is a terrible burden for America to carry into the future.
After undercutting foreign leaders who sided with America, we will look in vain for allies for the next confrontation with militant Islam.
It took 20 years to recover from the demoralizing experience of our failure in Vietnam. How long will the post-Iraq malaise last? How will we convince young Americans to enlist in the next effort to combat terrorism, if -- by withdrawing now -- we tacitly admit that more than 3,600 of our serviceman and women died in vain?
What will we say to the veterans, the returning servicemen and the families who lost loved ones in Iraq? We accepted your sacrifices but lacked the determination to back you up?
The main opposition to our involvement in Iraq comes from the isolationist left, which wants more than withdrawal on that front.
It also wants a pull-out from Afghanistan, negotiations with the Iranian and Syrian regimes, the abandonment of Israel and a "dialogue" with Hamas and Hezbollah. An Iraq withdrawal could leave the surrender lobby in charge of U.S. foreign policy for the foreseeable future.
When it comes to a threat to our national security, the easy course is usually the wrong course. Imagine if, a month after D-Day, Washington announced that if victory wasn't secured by the winter, we would begin withdrawing American forces from Europe.
The casualty figures concern us too. But which course is most likely to save American lives in the longrun -- not to mention protect our freedom -- appeasement in the form of a precipitous withdrawal or staying the course?
We believe the latter is the only sensible policy, and urge our fellow Americans not to succumb to defeatism. In the words of General Douglas MacArthur, who led American forces in the Pacific during World War II," In war, there is no substitute for victory."
Signed,
Gary Bauer (Chairman, Forgotten American Coalition)
Joe Barrek
Chris Carmouche (GrassTopsUSA.com)
Don Feder (Don Feder Associates)
Janet Folger (Faith2Action)
Richard Ford (Heritage Alliance PAC)
Rick Scarborough (Vision America)
Mike Valerio
Paul Weyrich (Free Congress Foundation)
Don Wildmon (American Family Association)
(The foregoing all are members of the Forgotten American Coalition Steering Committee)
Daniel Pipes (Middle East Forum)
Pat Robeison ("700 Club")
Phillip Jauregui (Judicial Action Group)
Phil Burress (Citizens for Community Values)
William J. Federer (AmeriSearch)
Wendy Wright (Concerned Women for America)
Dr. Janice Crouse (Beverly LaHaye Institute)
Dr. Jack Wheeler (Freedom Research Foundation)
Rabbi Daniel Lapin (Toward Tradition)
Frank Gaffney (Center for Security Policy)
Herb Zweibon (Americans for a Safe Israel)
Lou Sheldon (Traditional Values Coalition)
Mona Charen (syndicated columnist)
Morton Blackwell (Conservative Leadership PAC)
Gary Cass (Christian Anti-Defamation Commission)
Pastor John Hagee (Citizens United for Israel)
Larry Cirignano (Catholic activist)
Star Parker (Coalition on Urban Renewal and Education)
Clifford May (Foundation for the Defense of Democracies)
Jim Laffejy (Christian Seniors Association)
Michael Heath (Christian Civic League of Maine)
Ted Baehr (MovieGuide.org)
Mathew Staver (Liberty Counsel)
Colin Hanna (Let Freedom Ring)
Craig Shirley (Shirley And Bannister Public Affairs)
Ron Wexler (Ten Commandments Commission)
Foster Friess (Friess Associates Inc.)
Tim LaHaye (minister and author)
Beverly LaHaye (Concerned Women for America)
Dr. Rod Majin (The Vanguard.Org)
Melanie Morgan (MoveAmericaForward.org)
Elaine Donnelly (Center for Military Readiness)
Ron Robinson (Young America's Foundation)
Flagg Youngblood (Young America's Foundation)
Posted by Kyle at 5:00 PM | Permalink
Land Tries to Ease Right’s Qualms About Thompson
Over the weekend, the Associated Press reported that many on the Right were beginning to have second thoughts about Fred Thompson:
Prominent evangelical leaders who spent the summer hoping Fred Thompson would emerge as their favored Republican presidential contender are having doubts as he begins his long-teased campaign.
…
Thompson's less-than-clear stance on a U.S. constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage and his delay in entering the race are partly responsible for a sudden shyness among leading evangelicals.
AP reports Thompson came close to winning over the influential Arlington Group but some of its members have since cooled toward his campaign, which validates the rumors we noted last week:
"A month or two ago, I sensed there was some urgency for people to make a move and find a candidate," said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, a Washington-based conservative Christian group. "Right now, I think people are stepping back a little and watching. The field is still very fluid."
In short, as desperate as the Right is to find a candidate it can rally around, they just don’t seem to be sure that Thompson is the one:
"He's got a real opportunity to be the most credible conservative candidate across the board," said Gary Bauer, a one-time presidential aspirant who heads the advocacy group American Values. "Whether he can put it all together remains to be seen. But he's got a real chance to emerge as the major conservative alternative to Giuliani."
Others are skeptical about whether Thompson can fill that role.
Rick Scarborough, a Southern Baptist preacher and president of Texas-based Vision America, said that while he is encouraged by Thompson's strong voting record in the Senate against abortion, he questioned the candidate's commitment to social issues.
"The problem I'm having is that I don't see any blood trail," Scarborough said. "When you really take a stand on issues dear to the heart of social conservatives, you're going to shed some blood in the process. And so far, Fred Thompson's political career has been wrinkle-free."
Of course, there is one right-wing leader who is absolutely convinced that Thompson would be just about the best candidate ever:
Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said Thompson's position is consistent with the former senator's support for limited federal government and giving power to the states.
Land said it is healthy that expectations for Thompson have diminished from unrealistic levels and he does not think evangelical excitement has dimmed for a man he described as a "masterful retail politician."
As Land stated several months ago, “I don‘t endorse candidates,” but that obviously doesn’t mean he can’t shower his candidate of choice with praise every opportunity he gets.
Posted by Kyle at 4:00 PM | Permalink
Thompson on SCOTUS
Fred Thompson discusses the Supreme Court with the National Review: "It’s important that the president not only know and understand and learn about the people he’s going to have to choose but he understands the underlying issues and hopefully knows how to read a case and knows who’s following precedent and who’s not and who’s doing it from the seat of their pants based on their own views of social equity, versus the Constitution and the law. I like Roberts and Alito and Scalia and Thomas."
Posted by Kyle at 2:35 PM | Permalink
IRS Says Dobson's 2004 Endorsements Not Illegal
From the AP: "In a letter to Focus on the Family officials, the IRS states: 'Our examination revealed that Dr. Dobson's reported remarks did not occur in publications of Focus on the Family, did not occur at functions of Focus on the Family, and did not involve Dr. Dobson suggesting that he was speaking as a representative of Focus on the Family.'"
Posted by Kyle at 2:31 PM | Permalink
When You’re Down, Pick a Fight
Suppose you are the President of the United States and you are nearing the end of your time in office with dismal approval ratings and a history of seeing a bunch of your controversial judicial nominees run into opposition in the Senate for a variety of reasons, so much so that you had even been forced to withdraw more than one nominee to the Fourth Circuit because of such opposition.
Would you, in an attempt to find nominees that could win widespread support, consider listening to home state Senators when they make bipartisan recommendations for filling vacancies to that circuit?
Not if you are George W. Bush:
Senator Jim Webb today responded to the White House nomination of Duncan Getchell for the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. After an extensive search to find highly qualified Virginians to fill the two vacancies, Senators Warner and Webb sent five recommended candidates to the White House. Duncan Getchell was not on this list.
“In the spirit of bipartisanship, Senator Warner and I submitted a list of five exemplary candidates to the White House whom this body could support. In an effort to fill the Virginia vacancies on the Fourth Circuit as quickly as possible, we undertook an open and extensive search to find five individuals whom we deemed eminently qualified.
…
“At the end of this process, Senator Warner and I submitted five outstanding candidates to the President. These five candidates possessed exceptional legal qualifications and received the highest ratings from the legal organizations and Bar Associations. Virginia has a long tradition of outstanding federal jurists. The names that Senator Warner and I offered were consistent with that tradition.
“Today, despite our good faith, bipartisan effort to accommodate the President, the recommendations that Senator Warner and I made have been ignored. The White House talks about the spirit of bipartisanship, lamenting congressional obstructionism. The White House cannot expect to complain about the confirmation of federal judges when they proceed to act in this manner.”
Instead of nominating any of the 5 candidates put forward by Senators Webb and Warner, Bush decided to go his own way by naming yet another Federalist Society member in Getchell:
MCGUIREWOODS HIRED TO DEFEND GOP PLAN
29 August 2001
Richmond Times-Dispatch
The attorney general's office has turned to the Republican- leaning Richmond law firm of McGuireWoods to help it defend a GOP redistricting plan against a Democratic lawsuit.
E. Duncan Getchell Jr. of Richmond has been appointed special counsel to the attorney general's office. The Republican-controlled General Assembly appropriated $500,000 to hire outside counsel if its redistricting plans were challenged in court.
Democrats filed suit in Salem Circuit Court, contending that the House of Delegates and Senate redistricting plans were unconstitutionally gerrymandered to diminish minorities' voting power and reduce representation by female legislators.
In charge of redistricting for the first time, Republicans redrew legislative districts to lump several Democratic incumbents into the same district and thereby create GOP-leaning open seats. The plan resulted in a handful of Democratic retirements in the House of Delegates.
McGuireWoods represented the state in 1981 when a redistricting plan by General Assembly Democrats was challenged. Its partners include former Attorney General Richard Cullen. U.S. Sen. George Allen was a partner in the law firm after leaving the governor's office in 1998.
Taxpayers paid for lawyers to attend PR meeting on redistricting
16 December 2003
Associated Press
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Virginia taxpayers picked up a $570 tab for a Richmond law firm's involvement at a public relations strategy meeting among top Republicans in a redistricting case, two Virginia newspapers reported in their Tuesday editions.
Participants in the meeting included Edmund A. Matricardi III, then executive director of the Virginia Republicans. It was held three days after Matricardi covertly monitored a high-level Democratic conference call about redistricting strategy and an hour before he would do it a second time.
McGuireWoods lawyers Frank B. Atkinson and E. Duncan Getchell Jr. submitted the bill to the Virginia attorney general's office, and the firm was paid at the rate of $285 an hour for attending the two-hour meeting in then-House Speaker S. Vance Wilkins Jr.'s office, the Daily Progress of Charlottesville and the Danville Register & Bee quoted officials as saying Monday.
Democrats questioned whether taxpayers should have paid for the McGuireWoods lawyers' participation in the March 25 GOP meeting.
Matricardi, as you may recall, pled guilty to a felony in 2004 after violating wiretapping laws by eavesdropping on Democratic conference calls.
And then, just for good measure, President Bush also nominated another Federalist Society member, Steve A. Matthews to the same circuit. Matthews just so happens to be a board member of the Collegiate Network - the right-wing media training ground that counts as alumni people like Rich Lowry, Dinesh D'Souza, and Ann Coulter - as well as a board member of the Landmark Legal Foundation, which nominated Rush Limbaugh for 2007 Nobel Peace Prize:
Rush Limbaugh is a nationally syndicated radio talk show host in the United States and one of the most popular broadcasters in the world. His daily radio show is heard on more than 600 radio stations in the United States and around the world. For 18 years he has used his show to become the foremost advocate for freedom and democracy in the world today. Everyday he gives voice to the values of democratic governance, individual opportunity and the just, equal application of the rule of law -- and it is fitting the Nobel Committee recognize the power of these ideals to build a truly peaceful world for future generations.
It is obvious that nothing energizes the Right like a fight over judicial nominees, especially fights that can be carried over into upcoming elections, and it seems if President Bush’s strategy for the remainder of his term is to continue his practice of going out of his way to pick such fights.
Posted by Kyle at 9:26 AM | Permalink