Backbenches and backbones.

Some media attention was finally focused last week on the latest entry in George W. Bush's judicial parade of maniacs: Alabama Atty. Gen. William Pryor, nominated to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. This guy is easily the most extreme of the bunch, making even Sen. Rick Santorum come off like a jolly gay pride devotee. It's no surprise that Karl Rove and the gang continue to offer up demagogic judicial nominees as payoffs to the Christian right, but that doesn't make it any less alarming or outrageous.

Pryor has called Roe v. Wade "the worst abomination of constitutional law in our history." He defended infamous Alabama state judge Roy Moore, who posted the Ten Commandments in his courtroom and had them engraved in a monument in the court building's rotunda, where they stay, awaiting an appeal from a higher court. Pryor believes that accepting homosexuality and decriminalizing gay sex acts will lead to sex with human corpses, as well as assorted members of the animal kingdom.

"A constitutional right that protects 'the choice of one's partner' and 'whether and how to connect sexually,'" Pryor has written, "must logically extend to activities like prostitution, adultery, necrophilia, bestiality, possession of child pornography and even incest and pedophilia (if the child should credibly claim to be 'willing')."

Pryor was quietly nominated on April 9, just before the Santorum debacle unfolded. We'll never know if the Bush Administration would have had the gall to nominate a guy like this after the public outrage over Santorum's remarks comparing gays to bigamists, polygamists and adulterers. But at this point the Bushies are standing by their man.

Last week Pryor appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee, explaining, among other things, that he canceled a trip to Disney World because "Gay Days" were being held there. Apparently he had to "protect" his two precious little girls?who frolicked behind him during his Senate committee appearance?from what he believes to be evil queens prancing around the Magic Kingdom.

The nomination of Washington lawyer Miguel Estrada to the federal bench was filibustered by Democrats because Estrada had no record to go on and wouldn't answer Senate Democrats' most basic questions. He's refused to talk to anyone about his views?which all indicators show to be far to the right?nor would he speak with inquiring columnists like me about some of his other relevant but under-the-radar activities. Pryor has instead let his opinions and his family life define him. The reason he's letting it all hang out is because he's got a record five miles long, and it would be ludicrous for him to try to backtrack or obscure his positions, as most Bush nominees do. This is a man who, after all, vigorously defended an attempt to ban "any device primarily designed or marketed as useful for the stimulation of human genital organs" in the state of Alabama. (Can't you just see it now? With their father pushing a guy like this, it's only a matter of time before the Bush twins are revealed to be using big black dildos and power drill-like vibrators.)

Pryor has defended the rights of high school athletes to pray "spontaneously." He believes that "we derive our rights from God and not from government" and that "God has chosen, through his son Jesus Christ, this time and this place for all Christians...to save our country and save our courts."

Tell me I'm jumping to conclusions again, but after reading those words I can't help but think about the capture two weeks ago of alleged Christian terrorist Eric Rudolph, charged with bombing the 1996 Olympics, a gay bar in Atlanta and two abortion clinics in Alabama. The leader of the church to which Rudolph once belonged claims that all Caucasians "occupy a place of prominence in the plan of God." With would-be judges like Pryor ridiculing the "so-called separation of church and state" and imploring believers to "save our country," is it any wonder where crackpots like Rudolph get their sense of empowerment?

Apparently, even some of Bush's staunchest apologists just can't swallow this one down. The Log Cabin Republicans have done an "analysis" of Pryor's positions and it seems they just cannot defend the guy?like they quite easily defended John Ashcroft back during his nomination hearings, though Ashcroft has been a vicious antigay crusader for years. Nor?to their credit, I suppose?do the Log Cabinites think they can stay silent on this one either.

"An analysis of Mr. Pryor's work finds compelling evidence that he would be a jurist incapable of fair-minded review of matters of concern to gay and lesbian Americans," the group opined.

Well, duh. Now if they could only do an "analysis" on the slew of other nominees offered by Bush?as well as Bush's positions and policies?they might actually be credible.

Democrats in the Senate may filibuster Pryor or send him to the full Senate for a vote, forcing moderate Republicans to vote against a Bush nominee?or show what utter lackeys they are. But Rove and the gang's intent might not be to actually get Pryor through. Nominating him is a win, even if they lose: They show the religious right leaders that they'll go to the mat for them, at a time when the fundies are steamed about Bush's not having spoken out further on Santorum. They also lay the way for the Supreme Court battles ahead. This is part of the master plan: Throw out the most kooky nominees now so that any far-right Supreme Court candidate down the line will seem centrist by comparison.

"What can President Bush be thinking?" Ralph Neas of People for the American Way asks. "Maybe President Bush thinks Bill Pryor will make other far-right judicial nominees look tame. Maybe he thinks any Supreme Court nominee will look good in comparison. Or maybe Pryor is this month's political protection payment to satisfy the demands of the Religious Right political leaders and their allies who are constantly on guard for any signs of moderation. Whatever the explanation, there is no excuse for this nomination."

Michelangelo Signorile hosts a national radio show each weekday from noon to 3 p.m. EST on Sirius Satellite Radio, stream 149. He can be reached at [www.signorile.com](http://www.signorile.com).