ConfirmThem

By AndrewHyman Comments () / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

A group opposed to the Democratic obstruction of judicial nominations went too far recently, by picketing outside a Dairy Queen run by the wife of Colorado's Democratic Senator Ken Salazar. But then Sen. Salazar assumed that the group was part of another group, and so Salazar promptly called the other group the "Antichrist."

The Rocky Mountain News has a piece by Mike Littwin about the whole thing:

Suddenly the key number in the debate changes from 61 for invoking cloture to 666 for invoking the beast…. [T]here was Salazar on Colorado Springs TV talking about James Dobson and Focus on the Family and saying, "From my point of view, they are the Antichrist of the world."

I'm not qualified to jump into a debate about who might or might not be the Antichrist. From my reading, it's, well, too early to tell. Politically speaking, though, this was a minor disaster. That's why he apologized. But an apology won't change the fact that Salazar has given away much of the high ground he had gained in his fight with Dobson.

....

[M]aybe it was the picketing of his wife's Dairy Queen --- not, it turns out, by Dobson's group. . . . Here's how Salazar put it: "After being relentlessly attacked in telephone calls, e-mails, newspapers and radio stations all across Colorado, having my faith questioned, and having my wife's business picketed . . . I spoke about Jim Dobson and his efforts and used the term 'the Antichrist.' I regret having used that term. I meant to say this approach was un-Christian, meaning self-serving and selfish." Un-Christian? Self-serving? Selfish? Which part of that sounds like an apology? At least he didn't say the devil made him do it.

For background about Salazar's changing stance in the filibuster controversy, here's a good piece from the Denver Post.