December 7, 2005--The Judge Who Stole Christmas
While the media has been focusing its attention on President Bush’s Plan for Victory and the reunion of David Letterman and Oprah, the campaign to secure support for Judge Alito’s appointment to the Supreme Court has been pushed below the fold. One intriguing aspect of that effort resurfaced the other day in a report in the NY Times about how conservative Evangelical groups have launched a new advertising blitz to coincide with the holiday, or should I say, Christmas season (see story linked below).
It’s precisely about that—the distinction they are drawing between “holiday” and “Christmas.”
You see, as part of what they are representing as the secularization of America, under court and Liberal pressure (read ACLU), municipalities in their end of year displays and stores in their end of year marketing, have been required or pressured to substitute “holiday” for “Christmas” in their decorations and advertisements. But now, noting that a majority of Americans (88 percent in a recent Pew poll) are OK with people saying “Merry Christmas” rather than “Happy Holiday,” coupling this with Judge Alito’s judicial record of support for “religious expression” (his ruling that a Jersey City end of year display on public grounds could include a Nativity scene and, thank you, a Menorah), various conservative religious groups are attempting to hitch the campaign in support of Judge Alito’s nomination to Santa’s sleigh.
Through ads, right wing talk shows, and sermons by pastors to born-again congregations, conservative advocates are taking advantage of the holiday/Christmas spirit to make the point that if Alito is able to join the Supreme Court he will not only tip the court toward overturning Roe v. Wade but also will make the country once again safe for Christmas.
He would join others fighting the good fight. For example, he would join a colleague from one of the other branches of our government, the Congress, where Speaker Hastert recently took the courageous position to change the name of the House’s “holiday tree” back to “Christmas tree.”
Which makes me wonder what they in the House these days are calling those deep fried potatoes to which the bulky Hastert appears to be so addicted?
It’s precisely about that—the distinction they are drawing between “holiday” and “Christmas.”
You see, as part of what they are representing as the secularization of America, under court and Liberal pressure (read ACLU), municipalities in their end of year displays and stores in their end of year marketing, have been required or pressured to substitute “holiday” for “Christmas” in their decorations and advertisements. But now, noting that a majority of Americans (88 percent in a recent Pew poll) are OK with people saying “Merry Christmas” rather than “Happy Holiday,” coupling this with Judge Alito’s judicial record of support for “religious expression” (his ruling that a Jersey City end of year display on public grounds could include a Nativity scene and, thank you, a Menorah), various conservative religious groups are attempting to hitch the campaign in support of Judge Alito’s nomination to Santa’s sleigh.
Through ads, right wing talk shows, and sermons by pastors to born-again congregations, conservative advocates are taking advantage of the holiday/Christmas spirit to make the point that if Alito is able to join the Supreme Court he will not only tip the court toward overturning Roe v. Wade but also will make the country once again safe for Christmas.
He would join others fighting the good fight. For example, he would join a colleague from one of the other branches of our government, the Congress, where Speaker Hastert recently took the courageous position to change the name of the House’s “holiday tree” back to “Christmas tree.”
Which makes me wonder what they in the House these days are calling those deep fried potatoes to which the bulky Hastert appears to be so addicted?
posted by Steven Zwerling at
10:10 AM
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