Senate Democrats are still trying to avert the nuclear option (blocking every last bit of Republican legislation). They are asking nicely that Bill Frist pull out of a telethon to fan the flames of ignorance and Christian fundamentalist righteous indignation.

According to Reuters, the telecast is

organized by Christian conservatives that portrays Democrats as “against people of faith” for blocking President Bush’s judicial nominees…

Frist aides said he had no plans to withdraw from the event, scheduled for April 24 and billed as “Justice Sunday.”

The telecast may come just days before a Senate showdown over Republican threats to change the chamber’s rules to ban procedural hurdles known as filibusters that Democrats have used to block 10 of Bush’s judicial nominees while helping confirm 205 others.

Wait. It gets worse.

Organized by Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group, the telecast is to being offered to churches and Christian radio and television networks nationwide, a spokesman for the group said.

A flier for it includes the message: “The filibuster was once abused to protect racial bias, and now it is being used against people of faith.”

Personally, I think Democrats like Ted Kennedy and Harry Reid, who are urging Frist not to do this bad thing, should instead continue the successful strategy used to fight the fake Social Security crisis: ignore it. If Republicans scream and sputter and no one takes the bait, they are left running back and forth, mouthing both sides of the “debate.” Works for me.