Sen. Frist `judges deserve respect, not retaliation'

Republican Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee ...

WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist was telling conservatives on Sunday that judges deserve "respect, not retaliation no matter how they rule," and he defended his effort to strip Democrats of their ability to block votes on President Bush's court nominees.

"I don't think its radical to ask senators to vote. I don't think its radical to expect senators to fulfill their constitutional responsibilities," Frist said. [...]

"Our judiciary must be independent, impartial and fair," Frist said in his taped remarks.

"When we think judicial decisions are outside mainstream American values, we will say so. But we must also be clear that the balance of power among all three branches requires respect - not retaliation. I won't go along with that," Frist said.

Respect? Mainstream? Independent? Impartial? Fair?

Senator, who are you trying to fool?

Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX): "The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior" ("DeLay: Judges will answer for Schiavo actions", New York Times, 4/01/05)

Sen. Tom Coburn's (R-OK) Chief of Staff: "I'm a radical! I'm a real extremist. I don't want to impeach judges. I want to impale them" ("In Contempt of Courts", The Nation, 4/11/05)

DeLay: "Our next step, whatever it is, must be more than rhetoric" ("DeLay says judges have 'overstepped' authority", Houston Chronicle, 4/08/05)

Dobson Compared America's Judges to the Klan: "I heard a minister the other day talking about the great injustice and evil of the men in white robes, the Ku Klux Klan, that roamed the country in the South, and they did great wrong to civil rights and to morality. And now we have black-robed men, and that's what you're talking about."
(Media Matters, 4/11/05)

Senator, you might have tone down your rhetoric, but the mainstream of your party does not want a fair, independent, impartial judges. They only respect judges loyal to the Conservative cause.

With the hate rhetoric coming from you and your supporters, retaliation is not far behind.