This week, the Senate votes on President Obama’s nomination of District Court Judge David Hamilton to the Seventh Circuit.  Because of Hamilton’s fundraising activities for ACORN, his leadership positions with the Indiana branch of the ACLU, his statements supporting judicial activism, and most importantly, his rulings putting liberal ideology above the rule of law, he is the first and only Obama circuit nominee to draw heated opposition.

There are many examples of Judge Hamilton’s tendency towards liberal judicial activism.  However, the most bizarre and controversial instance is Hamilton’s 2005 ruling prohibiting prayers that mention Jesus Christ in the Indiana House of Representatives, but allowing prayers that mention Allah.  While troubling in any context, the religious double standard in Hamilton’s ruling is particularly deserving of close scrutiny in light of Major Nidal Hasan’s recent shooting rampage at Fort Hood. 

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Promoted from diaries. - Moe Lane.

I debated posting this video, because it is a child. If I had found a transcript, I would have used it instead. But, I’m hoping people will be mindful that it is a child, mourning for his Grandpa. The fact that he is being exploited to spout policy promotion that he likely doesn’t even understand is on the Adults, not on him.

I post it only to show the hypocrisy and the gross opportunism prevalent on the left and on vile display during this entire week filled with nauseating Kennedy hagiography.

What Would Jesus Do? We are to believe that he would wink away negligent homicide in favor of Obamacare, evidently. Homicide? No big whoop; the REAL danger is tonsil poaching and feet pilfering by evil profiteering doctors. Profits are the true sin, you know.

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As President Obama called on his activists around the country to attend “thousands of events this month” in an effort to convince legislators that they, not the 55% of voters who oppose the Obama/Kennedy/Pelosi health care overhaul proposals, represent the majority of Americans (or, as a DailyKos diarist put it, “the collective will of the American people”), the Democratic National Committee was releasing an ad decrying the Obamacare-opposing “mob” as a bunch of Limbaugh-loving, Bible-carrying, extremist “birther” sheeple.

The ad is below:

Interestingly, the same crowd that is currently spending time and money to organize a campaign denigrating the “mob’s” dissent spent the last 8 years proclaiming such “mob” actions to be the quintessential example of Constitutionally-protected, God-given Freedom of Speech. This includes the current President, who spent that time and the decades before it acting as a professional rabble-rousing astroturfer (something that makes his sensitivity to such tactics understandable, but his apparent inability to recognize real dissent and outrage, rather than its manufactured counterpart, more than a bit puzzling).

As Jim Geraghty wrote this morning in a post titled “When More Than Half Dislike Your Ideas, It’s More Than ‘The Right-Wing Base’“:

I think the DNC — and Democrats, and the Obama administration — are on the verge of making a serious error by dismissing folks who show up at constituent meetings as “the mob.” …Skepticism of this health care plan goes way, way beyond “the right wing Republican base.” Alternatively, the right wing Republican base now amounts to a bit more than half of the voting public. …In the face of numbers like these, what do Democrats gain from a message like this[?]

Beyond being a whiplash-inducing reversal of position from the last 8 years (remember Hillary Clinton screeching “WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO DEBATE AND DISAGREE WITH ANY ADMINISTRATION!”?), the left’s change of position on both free speech and community organizing has negated what they portrayed as President Obama’s strongest qualification for the office (which isn’t saying much, given his overall lack of qualifications): his experience as a community organizer.

Even more striking is the fact that those the DNC and Obama now insultingly claim are organizing and provoking the angry “mob” are, to use Obama campaign rhetoric from just last year, doing the same work Jesus did when He was on the earth.

It’s often striking to consider the swiftness of the people’s reversal on Jesus Himself, from a king’s entrance on Palm Sunday to condemnation and crucifixion just days later. With the Democrats’ sudden 180° on the actions of those they compared to Jesus just months ago, we have a living, current example of just how such a change can happen.

For several years now the Democrats have sought to overcome the GOP’s advantage with Christian voters.  But their attempts to use “Jesus talk” have not been taken seriously by Christian conservatives, as their policies have largely flown in the face of their words.  There are some on the so-called “Christian Left” who have taken up with the Democrats, much like they have accused Christian conservatives of being beholden to the GOP.  In the 2008 Presidential election, however, the results were as they have been for quite some time: the evangelical Christian vote went to the GOP.

Despite punditry on Obama’s outreach and McCain’s lukewarm (to ice cold) support from some evangelical leaders early in the campaign, evangelicals voted just as they have done in previous contests. Three-quarters of evangelicals voted for McCain, which is the same level of support given to Bush, though Green notes that turnout was lower.

But now it appears that President Obama has taken a new approach to trying to win over the Christians - use the word “Jesus” a lot.  According to a new article by the Politico’s Eamon Javers, Obama has used the word “Jesus” more often than even President George W. Bush.

More than four months into the Obama presidency, a picture is emerging of a chief executive who is comfortable with public displays of his religion — although he has also paid tribute to other faiths and those he called “nonbelievers” during his inaugural address.

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