Interesting comments from the Family Research Council's regular e-update service:
As FRC and others have noted, the Democrat Party is now hostage to extremist groups that have hijacked its agenda and dictate its agenda. That was never more in evidence than at the third day of the hearings on the nomination of John Roberts to serve as Chief Justice.
Several such groups testified, and showed just how radical, unreasonable and one-sided they are. For instance, Marcia Greenberger, President of the Women's National Law Center, was forced to admit, under questioning from Senator Orrin Hatch, that her organization had never endorsed a Republican nominee to the Supreme Court. Likewise, Karen Pearl, interim president of Planned Parenthood, weakly defended the fact that they, too, had never endorsed a Republican nominee to the Court by asserting they had not opposed the nomination of Sandra Day-O'Connor.
In fact, Senator Jeff Sessions (R, AL) introduced a New York Times article from 2001 that asserted that Greenberger urged the Democrats to change the rules of the game regarding Republican nominees to the Supreme Court - to oppose nominees who were "merely" well-qualified. Sessions suggested Greenberger may be the unacknowledged "mother" of the Democrats' discreditable filibuster tactics against well-qualified women and men nominated by President Bush to the federal judiciary.
Pearl and Greenberger asserted that Roe v. Wade was beyond question and that Roberts should have endorsed it despite the facts (a) that more than half of Americans disagree with that view, (b) as does one major political party, and (c) while cases challenging various aspects of Roe's pro-abortion legacy are pending before the very court on which Roberts is supposed to sit as an impartial jurist. Pearl's and Greenberger's extreme pro- abortion positions seemed even to frustrate abortion advocates Arlen Specter and Diane Feinstein.
With the hearings concluded, you can be sure such extremist groups will be pressuring Democratic senators to oppose Roberts and all future nominees from President Bush. Will the Democratic Party continue to listen to them? The Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on the Roberts' nomination on September 22, with the full Senate to take a final vote the following week.
