Reply #6: From Raw Story: [View All]

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http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Group_to_celebrate_JudeoChristian_faith_stump_1205.html

Group to celebrate 'Judeo-Christian faith,' stump for court nominee

RAW STORY

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A radio ad by a third-party group will celebrate the 'Judeo-Christian faith' of the United States while concurrently promoting Judge Samuel Alito, President Bush's nominee to the Supreme Court, RAW STORY has learned.

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A press release from the group follows. The ad is online at fidelis.org.




Fidelis President Joseph Cella stated: "This season is a special time when many Americans commemorate our Judeo-Christian roots. So while we prepare for our celebrations and give thanks for our treasured religious freedom, we unfortunately have to prepare for those freedoms to be attacked by the ACLU and their allies. These same allies are fighting to topple the nomination of Judge Alito."

The initial phase of the campaign is a web-based commercial and advertisements with a planned radio phase to follow.


Media and some liberal groups are now calling into question his Roman Catholic faith, by asking how a so-called "Catholic majority" on the Supreme Court would influence the direction of the court. Liberal groups are also citing Judge Alito's 1999 decision in ACLU v Schundler allowing a religious holiday display in front of the Jersey City, N.J. city hall that included a Christian Nativity scene and a Jewish Menorah as proof that Judge Alito would further erode their extreme version of the "wall of separation" between church and state.

((So, the new RW talking point on Scalito is that Dems do not want more Catholics on the Supreme Court...we are discriminating against Catholics.))

This from Carpetbagger: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/


When C. Boyden Gray was chair of the Committee for Justice, a far-right activist group committed to supporting Bush's more conservative judicial nominees, he and his organization ran an attack ad when Senate Dems blocked Appeals Court nominee William Pryor. As Gray and the CFJ put it, Dems on the Judiciary Committee, many of whom are Catholic, were sending a signal that "Catholics need not apply." To oppose Pryor, in other words, is to oppose Catholics.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who is Catholic, not only was offended by the scurrilous and baseless attack, he held a grudge. When Bush nominated Gray to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Durbin put a hold on the nomination because Gray helped orchestrate these ridiculous attacks of judicial nominations. Last month, Gray sent — by both fax and first-class mail — a profuse apology for the 2003 ad, and Durbin allowed the nomination to move forward.



The Committee for Justice (CFJ), which defends and promotes constitutionalist nominees to the federal courts, today announced release of its latest ad, "Religious Freedom," to run in Colorado, Wisconsin, and West Virginia throughout this week. The ad will air more than 2,000 times on 108 stations. The ad's text is:

"It's the season when Americans celebrate our traditions of faith … and once again religious freedom is under assault.


"Some courts and judges have supported this radical agenda, but not Judge Sam Alito, President Bush's nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court. Throughout his career, Judge Alito has consistently upheld the Constitution's protection of free religious expression. Now, these liberal groups are attacking Judge Alito because he won't support their agenda."



Several conservative groups, meanwhile, plan a major push beginning Monday to portray Alito's opponents as anti-God. Talking points for the effort, which will involve ads and grass-roots organizations, were laid out in a strategy memo by Grassfire.org, which opposes abortion and same-sex marriage. Alito's opponents are united by "an agenda to purge any and all references to religion from our public life," the memo says.