Place no faith in Frist as a responsible leader

During the Terri Schiavo spectacle, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., claimed that he could diagnose the brain-damaged woman from a videotape. By pandering to groups that would establish an American theocracy, Sen. Frist commits more political quackery.

This Sunday, Sen. Frist will address, through a videotape, what the Family Research Council calls "Judicial Sunday," an event that Protestant fundamentalists will stage in Louisville, Ky., to pressure senators who oppose any of President Bush's nominees for the federal courts. The council, which opposes abortion, embryonic stem-cell research and legal status for homosexual couples, is preaching demagoguery by claiming that those who oppose the president's nominees are "against people of faith." By lending his name, Sen. Frist joins that demagoguery.

The sermon is that Senate filibusters, which southern Democrats infamously used to block civil rights legislation, now are being used by Democratic senators to target God-fearing candidates for the bench. The Family Research Council and its allies -- for whom state and church mix well, providing it's their church -- are upfront about their mission. Focus on the Family, another participant in Sunday's event, took out newspaper ads Sunday, including one in The Post. They target 13 Democrats, including Florida's Bill Nelson, and seven Republicans.

No one would argue that the filibuster is a national political icon; its burial, on negotiated terms, would be welcome. In this case, however, President Bush and some Republicans want to end the filibuster only to keep Democrats from blocking some of the White House's far-right choices. Having used homosexuals as the red meat for religious fundamentalists last year, the GOP has found fresh chum.

The tactic is based on a false premise: Mr. Bush is encountering unprecedented resistance to his court-packing. As a Brookings Institution study showed, however, the length of time for confirming judicial appointments has been growing since 1981, regardless of which party controls the White House and Senate. Early in Ronald Reagan's first term, the average under GOP control of the Senate was one month. Near the end of Bill Clinton's second term, the average was six months, with Republicans in the majority. Democrats have used the filibuster on 10 nominees, but Republicans used other methods to stymie some of Mr. Clinton's picks for the key appeals courts. One choice, for the 6th Circuit, didn't get a vote for four years. It took another four years before the Senate confirmed a choice for the 9th Circuit.

As the Brookings study indicated, a president's best record usually comes at the start of a term, which explains why the White House and its allies are pressing now. Among the candidates supposedly blocked on religious grounds is William G. Myers, who as a lawyer for miners and ranchers argued that the Clean Water Act is unconstitutional. One would assume that religious groups support protection for God's creations, but that would assume that faith is the real issue. Actually, it's politics, and Sen. Frist has lined up on the wrong side.