an atheist so religion is no friend of mine, but what the hell does it have to do with her job?

She passed the bar. That's all that matters. If she was a lousy lawyer her belief in God has nothing to do with it.

If anyone is guilty of changing the subject, it's Rep. Cohen. Trashing Regent U. and its law school might be fun, but it's the kind of talk best reserved for Georgetown cocktail parties. The focus should be on Ms. Goodling's actions and recollections. When there are serious issues on the table, it's appalling that we're wasting time on this garbage. It also supports Republican claims of Democratic elitism and hostility towards Christians and their institutions. Most voters didn't even go to college, much less Harvard or Yale, and indulging this kind of mindless snobbery during a congressional hearing only hurts the credibility of Democrats everywhere.

"Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, went even further. He suggested that Cohen's line of questioning might cause anti-Christian bigots to act out violently against Christians. If that occurred, he said, "The person on this committee could possibly be charged under the Hate Crimes bill."

Neanwhile, a student of Liberty U. was arrested for having home-made bombs in his car that he intended to throw at people protesting at Falwell's funeral...

What was that again about anti-Christian bigots liable to act violently?

Maybe he didn't go about it well, but it is a very legitimate point. Regent is a terrible law school, barely accredited, with abysmal bar passage rates. Yet while the Bush administration has been in office, their grads have been hired for some very prestigious posts.

It seems to be a blatant case of faith over talent.

Rep Cohen was obviously trying to suggest that Regent provides a sub-par legal education and that Ms. Goodling and the Bush administration hired so many Regent graduates because of their religious beliefs rather than their legal qualifications.

"Many of us feared this day would come, but we did not realize it would arrive so soon, when the fact that someone was a Christian would be the subject of a line of questioning as to how someone performed their job at the Department of Justice or any other agency in the United States government,"

Personally, I worry more about someone in the Justice Department basing their decisions on their Christianity instead of the law. Asking about a university dedicated to using legal training to further religion doesn't seem too far off the mark to me.

"Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, went even further. He suggested that Cohen's line of questioning might cause anti-Christian bigots to act out violently against Christians. If that occurred, he said, "The person on this committee could possibly be charged under the Hate Crimes bill.""

The Hate Crimes bill that the Republicans have fought tooth and nail - Gohmert is either being ironic, disingenuous, or unbelievably hypocritical. I vote for the latter two of the three.

Bunch of verbal bomb-throwing a-holes should know all about inciting to violence. What about the Moro building, attacks on abortion clinics, or the fundie nutjob who left a bomb in Olympic Park?

Make me puke.

have a mental disorder. She is a firm believer in the Tooth Fairy, and this supercedes her belief in the law.

Religious schools have no business running law schools, just like law schools have no business running theology departments.

I can't fathom where Cohen was going with that line of questioning. Just go ahead and turn her into a martyr, why doncha? A Christian on her level has got to have a Olympic-sized persecution complex, so there's no need to test that water. This was as stupid as Kerry/Edwards calling out Mary Cheney as a lesbian. It's just ham-fisted and can only backfire. Stick to the fact that she's incompetent, there's no need to go down the religious road. People can figure that out for themselves if they are willing to.

the biggest difference between God and Goerge W. Bush: God's acolytes don't believe that He is George W.

The Constitution states that the government "shall establish no religion". What Cohen is getting at is that the Justice department is getting very close to establishing of a religious background test for applicants to work there. Monica has been doing the screening of applicants. What is it about her qualifications that allows her to be the one to screen applicants? is it her brilliant constitutional law academic background? Obviously not. It is her solid religious education background. The Republicans must change the Constitution of uphold it.

I can agree that it was a poor choice for Cohen to sidetrack onto in this forum. I can't agree that it has nothing to do with what Goodling did or did not do at the DOJ. There is the big picture part of it -- a university with an active founder who advocates removing separation of church and state protections. Then there is the small picture stuff -- asking an applicant for a DOJ position if they've ever cheated on their wife. Again, this hearing wasn't the forum for getting to the motivations behind that maybe (maybe) but it's fair to want to know what the hell she was thinking when asking that question. My guess is that her Christian ethics, such as they are, informed her on that sort of questioning of a job applicant.

Fault Cohen for poor choice and timing but let's not pretend that Goodling's religious beliefs aren't part of her political beliefs and both played a role in what she did and did not do at the DOJ.

The fact that she is a Christian, and where she went to school may give us background on her motivation and and lack of qualifications, but the issue is whether or not she broke the law. Cohen's line of questioning was a red herring in that respect.

I didn't think it was off-topic at all; the Republicans managed to derail Cohen's inquiry (and I think this was right before Conyers adjourned the session for three votes and lunch)

"What is the will of almighty God, our creator, on the legal profession?" he asked, apparently attempting to provoke some reaction.

Goodling wisely dodged. "I'm not sure that I could define that question for you," she said.

That was the key that got lost in the exchange. Goodling and her Bush League handlers clearly had a standard in mind for candidates that was unlawfully applied to career applicants, a standard that revolved around candidates being good Republicans ("friendlies") -- either Federalist Society "dead constitution" sickoids, and/or fundamentalist "one nation under God" zealots.

Now, when called on it, she pretends that she can't define the will of God, even though that's the GOP's bread and butter -- their whole morality revolves around it (hence "gay = evil", "secular = satanic", and so on). That was precisely the lens through which she vetted candidates -- her "faith system" as she repeatedly termed it.