Revival Time at MoveOn.org

Byron York attended a "Rally for Fair Judges" rally in Washington that was put on by MoveOn.org. These folks used to be on the far left wing of the Dem party, but since the recent elections and the elevation of Howard Dean to Chairman of the DNC, suddenly MoveOn is the Dem hope for the future. They're still nuts, but now they can raise a lot of money.

Can you imagine a few years ago such an organization drawing the top leadership of the Dem party in the Senate? It would have never happened. They would have stayed away from these folks like Superman avoids kryptonite. Not anymore. If MoveOn says jump, the Dems line up to take a shot at it.

At times during MoveOn.org's "Rally for Fair Judges," held yesterday at the Washington Court Hotel near the Capitol, it was hard to tell if the left-wing organizing group had planned a political rally or a revival meeting.

The purpose of the gathering, attended by several hundred MoveOn supporters, was to denounce Republicans who are considering the "nuclear option" to end the Democratic filibusters of several of President Bush's nominees to the federal courts of appeals. Several Democratic hardliners, including Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, California Sen. Barbara Boxer, Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin, and New York Sen. Charles Schumer, addressed the crowd. But the star of the show was the 87-year-old senator from West Virginia, Robert Byrd, who had been an advocate of the "nuclear option" back in the 1970s, when his party was in the majority. Now, he opposes it with every fiber in his body, and he portrayed stopping the GOP as a religious crusade.

"Praise God!" Byrd yelled as he waved the copy of the Constitution he famously keeps in his coat pocket. "Hallelujah!"

The crowd erupted into hearty cheers. Byrd denounced what he called a Republican plan to "pack the courts" and said that "our Constitution is under attack." He exhorted everyone to take action.

Read the whole thing - it's pretty funny.