Tuesday 5 July 2005

Conservatives Threaten Taco Bell Boycott, Justice Weekends

Economic Message To Bush If Gonzales Placed On High Court

Fearing that President Bush will turn his back on them, high-powered conservatives groups announced yesterday that should the President nominate Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to the Supreme Court, they will immediately call for a boycott on Taco Bell, as a means to, economically, punish the President.

"We want the President to send up to the Court, the man with an axe that he will take to Roe v. Wade" declared Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council. 'We expect nothing less".

Late last week, The New York Times reported, a delegation of conservative lawyers led by C. Boyden Gray and former Attorney General Edwin Meese III met with the White House chief of staff, Andrew H. Card Jr., to warn that appointing Mr. Gonzales would splinter conservative support.

"Splintered?", scoffed the Dr. James Dobson, leader of Focus On Family. "We've never been closer … We're all peas-in-a-pod on this issue".

Perkins, Dobson and the Southern Baptist Convention's Chairman Rob Zin, in a joint statement, declared they are ready to call on their followers a boycott of Taco Bell, should the President send Gonzales to Congress for the Supreme Court opening, created by the retirement last week of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Taco Bell Corp, a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc, is the nation’s leading Mexican-style quick service restaurant chain, with over 6,500 restaurants in the U.S., and another nearly 300 operating in Asia, Europe, Canada, and Central and South America.
In 2003, Taco Bell generated sales of $1.6 billion in company restaurants and $3.8 billion in franchise restaurants

Zin and his Southern Baptist's just called off a eight-year boycott of Walt Disney (See 23 June The_Garlic)

A spokesperson for Yumi Brands, looking to ward off any boycott of it's Taco Bell chain, appealed for calm, non-partisan debate in Congress and stated that they "trust the President will make the proper choice".

Taco Bell also announced a new special promotion - The Supreme Taco - and indicated that they will donate a certain percentage of the proceeds to the three conservative groups.

Alberto R. Gonzales, who was sworn in as the nation's 80th Attorney General back on February 3, 2005, was raised in Houston, the second of eight children born to Pablo and Maria Gonzales. His father, who died in 1982, was a construction worker, and both his parents were children of immigrants from Mexico with less than a high-school education themselves.

Senator Orrin G. Hatch, a conservative Utah Republican, spoke highly of Gonzales, whom cultural conservatives oppose.

Gonzales ''is a terrific human being, a good lawyer . . . a person who can handle the job. If the president chooses Alberto Gonzales . . . I think we would all feel pretty good about it," Hatch said on CBS's ''Face the Nation." ''If he gets picked, I'm certainly going to support" him, Hatch said.

Both Republican and Democrats said they were prepared for a fight, with Republicans demanding an up-or-down vote on Bush's eventual nominee and Democrats holding out the possibility they may mount a filibuster if they can't accept the president's selection.

''It's really up to the president, whether we're going to have someone that is a consensus candidate, someone that can bring the country together, someone that can rally the Republicans and Democrats," Senator Edward M. Kennedy said Sunday on ABC's ''This Week."

Two other Democratic senators, Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware and Patrick Leahy of Vermont, said yesterday that they hoped a filibuster could be avoided, but would not rule out the option.

Senate Leader Bill Frist was unavailable for comment. Aides indicated he was reviewing videotape of potential nominees. House Leader Tom DeLay issued a brief statement, indicating his lobbyists haven't given him his position on the issue yet.

Dobson and Perkins, who organized this past Spring's 'Justice Sunday's' indicated they may extend and expand the program.

'We'll march across this country with Justice Monday's, Tuesday's, Wednesday - the whole darn week - if we have to" declared Dobson. "We'll hold'em right out on Pennsylvania Avenue so the President can't say he didn't hear us".

The President, who will be at the G8 Conference this week in Scotland, indicated before the July 4th holiday break that he will not announce his decision before July 8th, after he returns from the G8.

Scott McClellan, White House Spokesperson, stated that 'The President just hopes everyone will hold their water".

McClellan added that the President also hopes that the Taco Bell boycott will be called off "immediately"

"The President is rather fond of those Double-Decker Taco things. He'll have two, or three of them when he's down in Crawford".