Left Wing Turkeys, Says Independent Women's Forum
Monday November 17, 2:36 pm ET
WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- After last week's talk-athon on Capitol Hill, Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) vowed that the Democrats in Congress will continue to fight against, as he put it, "any Neanderthal" or "right wing turkeys" President Bush nominates for the federal judiciary.
The Democrats, of course, have no choice. Their powerful special interest groups demand this. While the names of these groups may not come as a surprise, their real views and the immense power they exert over Democratic legislators may. Manual Miranda, counsel in Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's office, recently sent around an email composed of strategy memos that had been obtained from the 2001-2002 period when Democrats ran the judiciary committee.
One strategy memo, to Democratic Senator Dick Durban, said that "leaders of civil rights groups" would be meeting with Durbin and that the "the primary focus will be on identifying the most controversial and/or vulnerable judicial nominees," adding that the groups "would like to postpone action on these nominees until next year, when (presumably) the public will be more tolerant of partisan dissent."
The "real bosses" of Democratic legislators, Miranda concluded, are "the liberal interest groups that more or less tell the Senators when to sit, speak and roll over-and which Bush judges to confirm or not."
Key groups are:
The Alliance for Justice (AFJ): Once upon a time AFJ President Nan Aron commented, "President Clinton has a duty to fill judicial vacancies and appoint jurists who share his views." But that was then. Now, Ms. Aron and the AFJ are waging war against Bush nominees. Is this because President Bush has nominated incompetent men and women? No. While admitting that nominee for the Court of Appeal Miguel Estrada's credentials put him at the top of his profession, Aron argued that Estrada is not fit to be a judge because of his ... views. AFJ innocently purports to favor a "fair and independent judiciary," but its own views that are out of line with those of the mainstream. They oppose all forms of Parental Notification legislation but support educational or service grants to prostitutes. AFJ is supported largely by such elite liberal organizations as the Ford, MacArthur, and Joyce foundations. George Soros, the billionaire financier who has earmarked $15 million to defeat President Bush, also provides financial support to the AFJ through his Open Society Institute.
The People for the American Way (PFAW): People for the American Way was founded by "All in the Family" and "Maude" producer Norman Lear. PFAW President Ralph Neas has charged that the Bush nominations aim at "achieving ideological domination of the federal judiciary." PFAW spearheaded the smear campaign against Mississippi Judge Charles Pickering, nominated to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, outrageously and falsely portraying Pickering as a racist in a paper that gained wide currency in the press. PFAW is particularly hostile to the so-called religious right. It led the anti-war protest and maliciously characterizes those who support the President's policies this way:
"To them President Bush is the state, and, therefore, dissent is treason." PFAW has clout with the media. In fact, the nonprofit foundations of several media giants such as CBS, Disney, Time, NBC and the New York Times made headlines by buying tables at a PFAW benefit last year. Is this really the American way?
National Organization for Women (NOW): This organization should really be called National Organization for Some Women. "When they came across women who didn't agree [with them], they said 'those aren't real women,'" pundit Laura Ingraham has noted. While NOW claims to speak for women, it received a black eye with mainstream women for its support of President Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, despite NOW's long-held view of women as victims. NOW has been vigorous in opposing Bush nominees Priscilla Owen, the Texas Supreme Court Associate Justice nominated to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals; Carolyn Kuhl, the Los Angeles Supreme Court Justice nominated for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals; and Janice Brown, the California Supreme Court Justice nominated for the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. NOW has bragged of opposing these women despite their "gender," but it refuses to recognize all independent-minded women who don't toe the NOW line.
What Does The Democratic Party Stand For?
By Judson Cox
Nov 18, 2003, 00:40
Senator Kennedy said the "US Senate (would) continue to resist any Neanderthal that is nominated by this president of the United States for any court." Kennedy called Justice Brown (a black woman born to a family of share croppers, elected to the California Supreme Court) and Miguel Estrada (one of the most accomplished Hispanics in America) "Neanderthals." I guess being called a Neanderthal isn't as bad as being called darky or wetback, but the sentiment is the same. Ted Kennedy thinks they are less than human - savages who have no place in polite (white liberal) society. The Democratic Party no longer believes in civil rights; if you stray from the plantation of the liberal elite, prepare to be figuratively lynched ...
