True Believers Don't Get Squeamish

It appears, if that garbage can liner known as the New York Times can be believed, that some toes on the Left are actually beginning to curl a bit at the already infamous NARAL smear ad against SCOTUS nominee Judge Roberts linking him with anti-abortion violence (via GOP Bloggers):

Several prominent abortion rights supporters as well as a neutral media watchdog group said the advertisement was misleading and unfair, and a conservative group quickly took to the airwaves with an opposing advertisement...

Frances Kissling, the longtime president of Catholics for a Free Choice, said she was "deeply upset and offended" by the advertisement, which she called "far too intemperate and far too personal."...

Walter Dellinger, a former acting solicitor general in the Clinton administration and longtime Naral supporter, sent a letter on Wednesday to the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and its ranking Democrat, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, respectively. Mr. Dellinger said he had disagreed with Mr. Roberts's argument in the Bray case but considered it unfair to give "the impression that Roberts is somehow associated with clinic bombers." He added that "it would be regrettable if the only refutation of these assertions about Roberts came from groups opposed to abortion rights."

Dellinger, it seems, is not the only one:

The abortion rights group NARAL has launched a desperate smear attack on Supreme Court nominee John Roberts based on lies and distortions of his record. Individuals and organizations across the entire political spectrum have criticized the group for the misleading TV ad it is now running, but so far Democratic Party leaders have been silent on the issue, giving the appearance of putting politics before principle.

There is no question that the ad is inaccurate and unfair. Factcheck.org, a project of the non-partisan Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, issued a lengthy statement calling the ad false and misleading. Walter Dellinger, who served as acting solicitor general to President Clinton, stated of the ad: “It is not fair to characterize Judge Roberts' brief or argument in any way as a position that would excuse violence any kind.”

Even longtime pro-choice activist and leader Frances Kissling reacted negatively, saying she was “deeply upset and offended by the ad, as a pro-choice person, I don't like being placed on the defensive by my leaders. NARAL should pull it and move on.” [rimshot]

Judge Roberts' record makes clear that he has never condoned or supported the bombing of abortion clinics. While a lawyer in the Reagan administration he wrote a memo arguing that abortion protestors who resort to violence deserve no special treatment or considerations for pardon. "No matter how lofty or sincerely held the goal, those who resort to violence to achieve it are criminals," he wrote.

We were very disappointed to see Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) actually defend this vicious NARAL ad and repeat NARAL's false accusation against Judge Roberts. We were further disheartened to see her issue an abortion litmus test for Judge Roberts as well, when many in both parties have disavowed such litmus tests.

It is time for Democrats of good faith to take a stand against this type of sleaze. We call on party leaders to publicly condemn these attacks and assure the American people that the confirmation process will not be hijacked by special interest groups looking to turn inflammatory and misleading rhetoric into expanded visibility and donations to fill their coffers.

Judicial Confirmation Network
Committee for Justice
Coalition for a Fair Judiciary
Family Research Council
National Legal and Policy Center
Traditional Values Coaliton
American Family Association
Third Branch Conference
Restore America
Faith2Action
Manuel S. Klausner, General Counsel, Individual Rights Foundation
Center for a Just Society
Russell Johnson, Chairman,William Greene, President, RightMarch.com
Center for Moral Clarity
Gerard Health Foundation
Culture of Life Foundation
National Institute of Family and Life Advocates
Daly & Associates
Thomas R. Glenn, President, Glenn Mortgage Service, Inc.
American Family Association of Pennsylvania
Ohio Restoration Project

Wow. Looks like NARAL has managed a feat I would have thought unattainable - they've disgusted most of the political spectrum.

Not that the loony left fringe has noticed:

ABC News reporter Jake Tapper last night said that ABC contacted four "leading abortion-rights groups and the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate today" regarding the outrageous NARAL ad about Judge Roberts. "Not one of them expressed any problem with this misleading ad," which "accuses Judge Roberts of supporting violent anti-abortion criminals," according to Tapper's report....

Senator Barbara Boxer spoke at San Francisco's Golden Gate University, and according to the San Jose Mercury News, she "echoed charges" made in the NARAL ad, stating that "Roberts sided with some of the nation's most violent anti-choice extremists." [emphasis added]

Kinda puts Pat Leahy's comments in an altogether unsurprising hypocritical light, huh?

Those who have convinced themselves that Judge Roberts will be confirmed without a political death match are deluding themselves. If you think this NARAL attack is despicable, just wait. By the time they're through with him, Roberts will be (figuratively) sporting red skin, horns, a forked tail, a square mustache, a taste for human flesh, and a fondness for rectally gang-banging his adopted kids with his wife's strap-on power tools.

Robert "That's Bullshit" Novak is reporting that the current "hard count" of pro-Roberts Senate votes stands at 60. That's down already from the 65-70 that were being speculated even a week ago. And the hearings don't start for another three and a half weeks. That's nearly a month for one vicious media slasher buy after another from the denizens of the DU/Sorosian/Kos-ack fever swamps. More than enough time to drag the red-state Dems back to the reservation by their tools and set the stage for a balls-to-the-wall filibuster.

With all due respect to the bipartisan signatories listed above, this ain't rocket science. The Democrats are in the indefinite minority on Capitol Hill, and Hillary Clinton can't recapture the White House for another three and a half years. The Judiciary is all they have left, and their majority on the Supreme Court is its crown jewel. Systematically laying waste to John Roberts and his entire family is the Left's last line of defense. If JR gets through - particularly through exercise of the Constitutional option - there'll be nothing to stop Michael Luttig, Edith Jones, et all from following in his wake. The "fundie barbarians" will have crossed the seventh hill. The empire will have fallen.

Their only possible recourse is to make the process so vicious that Republicans are either bulldozed away from breaking the filibuster or intimidated from sending up any more conservative nominees - even "stealth" ones.

Might make those of their comrades with an echo of a one-time vestigal conscience uncomfortable. But those "traitors" have no say in the party of Michael Moore, Ralph Neas, and Cindy Sheehan, where decency is closet fascism, fairness is for losers, and civility is for wimps.

And John Roberts will become an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court over their cold, dead bodies.

Until the President's next SCOTUS appointment.

Hey, I don't sometimes refer to those people as "zombies" for nothing.

UPDATE: Well, whaddaya know? NARAL has made a tactical retreat:

After a week of protests by conservatives [and quite a few libs], an abortion rights group said Thursday night it is withdrawing a television advertisement linking Supreme Court nominee John Roberts to violent anti-abortion activists.

"We regret that many people have misconstrued our recent advertisement about Mr. Roberts' record," said Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America.

"Unfortunately, the debate over that advertisement has become a distraction from the serious discussion we hoped to have with the American public," she said in a letter Thursday to Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA), who had urged the group to withdraw the ad.

No, Nancy, you regret that so many people didn't "misconstrue" your hit spot in your own political/ideological camp and were practically bums-rushed into speaking out against it. That's where you miscalculated, and it's the tactical well you'll keep going back to because all the others have long ago dried up.

If it's true that a person ultimately takes on the look of what s/he is, I would avoid public (and private) rest rooms if I were you.

[HT: Rhymes with Right]