More details of religious right leader James Dobson's attack on Obama are filtering out (see our earlier post here). According to an email sent out by Dobson, he had this to say, which is rather odd I think:
In a 2006 speech, Obama compared Dr. Dobson to the Left-leaning Rev. Al Sharpton.
"I don’t want to be defensive here," Dr. Dobson says on the broadcast. "Obviously, that is offensive to me.
"He equates me with Al Sharpton, who is a reverend. I am not a reverend. I’m not a minister. I’m not a theologian. I’m not an evangelist. I’m a psychologist. I have a Ph.D. in Child Development from the University of Southern California. And there is no equivalence to us. I don’t want to overreact to it, but this comment was made two years ago, and it’s taken me two years to find out about it."
Now, his gripe with being compared to Sharpton isn't that Sharpton is very liberal, or kooky, or whatever. Dobson's gripe seems to be that he is a psychologist being compared to a minister. Why would Dobson be offended that someone mistook him for a minister? I thought he was a minister. I certainly didn't think that this guy, who regularly lectures other people about what the Bible "really" says, is just a child psychologist. With all due respect to child psychologists, I don't care what any of them think about the Bible - at least not to a greater degree than what anyone else thinks about it. But to be lectured by a child psychologist about what the Bible "really" says is, well, childlike.
"I think he's deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his own confused theology," Dobson said.
"... He is dragging biblical understanding through the gutter."
Pot meet Kettle. Now, what is truly interesting about all of this is that Dobson can't stand McCain. So it's rather interesting that Dobson is now attacking Obama, which in principle helps McCain. Obama has made no secret that he's wooing people of faith, as a fellow Christian. McCain's Christian bona fides aren't that strong - he recently got his faith wrong, and he certainly doesn't talk about God and Christ in the real way that Obama does, in the real way that a real Christian recognizes as, well, real. So Dobson appears to be worried that Obama is a real threat, not just to McCain, but to Dobson's own warped view of Christianity. Of course, the real threat to Dobson is that nobody appears to care what he and his ilk have to say anymore. At least not in politics, and that's Dobson's home turf. He may have loads of red-state followers who are still willing to at least sip his Kool-Aid, but in Washington, he's not exactly the cock of the walk he once was. And he knows it.
I know the extremist religious right is behind the times, but talk about showing up late to the party. Not just any leader could dive in and support a candidate after the game is over. It takes a special kind of leader to stand up and let the world know that he doesn't care how stupid this looks because McCain has won and the time for leadership was weeks or months ago. Who am I to argue for what passes as vision and bold leadership among the Christian crazies? Just don't give up the dream Mr Dobson. Keep fighting on!
Oh my goodness! Flogging the gay boogeyman isn't filling the coffers these days. Time for a happy dance...MSNBC:
Focus on the Family announced Monday that it is laying off 30 employees and reassigning 15 others. It also announced that founder James Dobson had been cleared of accusations that he jeopardized the group's nonprofit status by endorsing Republican candidates.
Most of the layoffs are in the organization's Constituent Response Services department that answers mail and telephone requests.
A drop in projected revenue played a part in the layoffs, and the growth of e-mail and Internet-based communications is behind the reassignments, said Gary Schneeberger, vice president of communications.
It's only 3% of the workforce, but Daddy D has been announcing on his radio show that donations are off. May the trend continue. How about this spin?
"Organizational change, while healthy and positive, is always difficult when it involves a staff reduction," [Focus president and CEO Jim] Daly said in a news release. "Building flexibility into our internal operations is vital to staying engaged with and relevant to our constituents. The adjustments we're making this week, though difficult, will allow us to better serve the families that rely on Focus on the Family in the future."
Well this is going to be fun. The religious right is finally playing the "divorce" card, something our Joe has been predicting for over a year now. They aren't interested in gay marriage, they're interested in all marriages, YOUR marriage(s). And they won't stop until all of America lives under laws that reflect the Baptist view of life.
There are other moral concerns about Giuliani's candidacy that conservatives should find troubling. He has been married three times, and his second wife was forced to go to court to keep his mistress out of the mayoral mansion while the Giuliani family still lived there. Talk about tap dancing. Also during that time, the mayor used public funds to provide security services for his girlfriend. The second Mrs. Giuliani finally had enough of his philandering and, as the story goes, forced him to move out. He lived with friends for a while and then married his mistress. Unlike some other Republican presidential candidates, Giuliani appears not to have remorse for cheating on his wife....
One more question: Shouldn't the American people be able to expect a certain decorum and dignity from the man who occupies the White House? On this measure, as well, Giuliani fails miserably. Much has been written in the blogosphere about his three public appearances in drag. In each instance, he tried to be funny by dressing like a woman. Can you imagine Ronald Reagan, who loved a good joke, doing something so ignoble in pursuit of a cheap guffaw? Not on your life.
Very interesting that Dobson leaves the door open, above, for Republican candidates who cheat on their wives. Per Dobson, it's okay so long as you have "remorse" after the fact. Well, gee, thanks Rev. We'll all make sure to go and break every commandment and then some, then simply say "oops, sorry" and get your blessing for president. Jesus, do these people stand for anything?
Now watch Giuliani in drag making out with Donald Trump (really).
Dobson is the most powerful religious right leader in the Republican party. He is THE leader of the entire movement. He is THE man that Republicans turn to when they want to talk to the religious right. He is the only religious right leader who actually has any significant pull in the Republican party (the others, my conservative GOP friends tell me, are considered kind of kooky and irrelevant). And today he threw a Republican presidential candidate out of Christianity. Absolutely astounding. Who does Dobson think he is, Jesus Christ himself?
At least one religious right Republican, former Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele, criticized Dobson today on CNN, calling Dobson "the extremes" of the Republican party that needs to be avoided.
