Happy Justice Sunday!

What are you going to wear tonight? Where are you going for "Justice Sunday" feast?

I know where the business community will be, at least if this LA Times article is true; they'll be in the vomitorium:

The country's leading business lobbying associations, close GOP allies in recent legislative efforts and political campaigns, have told senior Republicans that they would not back the Frist initiative to force votes on President Bush's judicial nominees.

Business leaders say they fear the move would lead to a shutdown of Senate action on long-awaited priorities — as Democrats have threatened if Frist moves ahead with a rule change that they say would drastically alter the traditions of a body designed to respect the rights of the minority party.

"If we do that, then all else is going to stop," Thomas J. Donohue, head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said during a meeting with reporters Friday.

By the way, the Theocrats trying to turn back the clock on society about 1000 years don't really seem to care about these concerns:

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, the group sponsoring "Justice Sunday," drew applause during a recent private meeting of activists by mentioning the potential for a Senate shutdown.

"That might be the best thing," said Perkins, according to an audio recording of the March meeting provided by the advocacy group Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

"As I've sat in this city, been here in this city, you know, gridlock is not a bad thing," he said. "Rarely do they do things for us. Usually it's against us."

Their dismissal is probably because the recent alliance between Theocrats and GOP business elites is anything but traditional. The business community is only now waking up the the monster they've created by allowing people like James Dobson and Tony Perkins to consolidate their power.  Before long these two constituencies will recognize just how much they are at odds: that the sex the business community uses to sell practically everything is abhorrent to the theocrats; that the personal morality on which the theocrats supposedly base their existence is a persona non grata in the business world.  Business is about one market under God; Theocracy is about one nation under (the thumb of) God.  Once the business elements of the GOP recognize how damaging the theocrats can be to their agenda, they'll realize (too late) that their tenuous alliance is at once impossible to keep together (too much conflict) and impossible to break apart (loss of the majority).

By the way, the world's most inartful Senate Majority Leader is always trying to blame his yet-to-be-acted-upon actions on the Democrats, despite all evidence to the contrary:

Frist and his staff are already assigning blame to the Democrats for threatening to shut down Senate business, predicting it is Democrats who will suffer. "A vote to shut down the Senate in fit of pique would be irresponsible, and the American people, I believe, would let the Democrats know that in no small voice," said Frist's spokesman, Robert Stevenson.

Despite the confident and aggressive statements from the majority leader's office, Republicans were confronted with new polling data showing that their plans were not popular.

Internal GOP polling compiled by the Winston Group and presented late last week to Senate staffers showed that 51% of registered voters opposed the idea of changing the rules — compared with 37% who backed it. Even among voters who identify themselves as conservative Republicans, opinion is divided enough to pose concerns for party leaders, with more than a quarter in that category opposed to the rule change and two-thirds supportive.

And this telling quote shows how Republicans look at politics as the ability to reward their friends:

A former Frist aide, Manuel Miranda, was less sympathetic, arguing that Congress has already rewarded business for its support by passing the class action and bankruptcy measures.

"You already got your payback," he said, framing the argument he and others will make to business leaders. Besides, he said, business ultimately "won't be affected much at all" by Democratic threats to shut down Senate actions.

This split between business conservatives and evangelical fundamentalists is only going to get worse and worse. THe fundies believe in absolute morality and absolute truth, and they won't likely cotton to perceived "stabs in the back" like this. If the nuclear option fails, or especially if Frist loses his cajones and doesn't go through with it, I can definitely see a third-party Theocrat candidate for President in 2008 (Brownback, Robertson, hell, even James Dobson) that will deliver the Presidency to the Democrats.  I didn't think that at the beginning of the year.  But now I think it's inevitable.