Colbert King says it like it is
The Washington Post columnist takes on the religious right's attack on judges and Democrats, especially Family Research Council head (and psycho) Tony Perkins, the host of Frist's controversial Sunday pandering event.

Where do those on the religious right get off thinking they have the right to decide who is in and who is out? Who appointed them sole promoters and defenders of the faith? What makes them think they are more holy and righteous than the rest of us?

They are not now and never will be the final arbiters of Christian beliefs and values. They warrant as much deference as religious leaders as do members of the Ku Klux Klan, who also marched under the cross.

Harry Reid warns of theocracy, and King compares it to the KKK. That sounds about right.

And finally on this issue, Andrew Sullivan provides this quote from JFK and rightly points out was intended to address anti-Catholic sentiment but today would bizarrely be considered an example of anti-Catholicism:

"I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute -- where no Catholic prelate would tell the President (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote -- where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference ... I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish -- where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source -- where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials."

Talk like that, framed centrally within our Constitution, was once the purview of the Presidency. Today, it would relegate one to fringe status. What the hell has happened to us?

On the positive side of fringe development though, it looks like independent and socialist-leaning Vermont congressman Bernie Sanders will become the next Senator from the great state, replacing retiring Senator Jeffords. Smartly, Democrats look to be stepping aside so there's no threat of a split.