Relilgious right rallies around Dobson

The head of the ultra-conservative Family Research Council is shocked - SHOCKED- that the United States Senate wants to know what assurances Karl Rove gave to James Dobson about Harriet Miers' intentions toward Roe v. Wade.

In an e-mail to supporters, FRC president Tony Perkins likens the senate's curiosity to a religious persecution.

Liberal Senators Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Chuck Schumer (D- N.Y.) are threatening to subpoena Dr. James Dobson to require him to appear before the Judiciary Committee. They want to know what Dr. Dobson knows about the President's Supreme Court nominee, Harriet Miers. This is a highly selective inquisition. They were incurious when Judiciary Committee staffer Manny Miranda came upon computer files that showed collusion between liberal groups and committee members to block Bush judicial nominees. No subpoenas then, even though Miranda found memos that detailed liberals' purely political reasons for blocking Miguel Estrada: He was Hispanic and might become eligible for the Supreme Court. Were the liberal groups and their committee cohorts subpoenaed? Not on your life! Instead, Manny Miranda was fired.

"Liberal" Senator Arlen Specter? Pardon my incredulity, but... what?

It has come to this, apparently. If you do not consider outlawing abortion the be-all and end-all of American politics, you are deemed a liberal.

Well, welcome aboard, Senator Specter. You can put your stuff in there. Breakfast is at seven.

Never mind that Chuck Shumer, while outspoken on this issue, has the power to require precisely nothing in the Senate Judiciary Committee. This is the how it works when the same party controls the House, the Senate and the White House, Mr. Perkins. There is nobody else to blame.

And, let us remember that the "Manny" Miranda case involved stolen information regarding Democratic strategy on fighting Bush's extreme-right judicial nominees. This is a far cry from simply wanting to know if the White House is assuring interested parties that the fix is in on the Supreme Court.

The assertion that Democrats objected to Miguel Estrada's ethnicity is beneath contempt.