Did Focus On The Family Board Force Dobson Out?

By GottaLaff

Will they split the CDs? Who gets the iPod and the flat screen Tee Vee? And custody of the bigotry and self-righteousitude?

A prominent friend and supporter of James Dobson believes Dobson was pushed aside by the new leadership of Focus on the Family, who want the powerhouse evangelical ministry to project a softer image on issues ranging from abortion to gay marriage to relations with President Obama. [...]

[T]his past November, Dobson said on the show that the Focus board had asked him to give up the radio program in a few months time. [...]

Whatever the reason for Dobson losing his radio show, it's clear that a rebranding -- free of Dobson -- is underway at Focus.

He is nowhere to be seen on the glossy front page of the group's Web site. Instead, a large graphic invites visitors to watch a 4-minute video on "The Focus Story" with President Jim Daly.

The kinder, gentler Focus? As in Soft Focus? Like this?

Focus on the Family Action to launch new website at XPAC 2010

By GottaLaff

Earlier, I wrote a snark-infested post about the kewlest of kewl XPAC (with !!!!) and all its "cool conservative" participants! But here's something I missed:

In a press release today, Focus on the Family Action has just announced that it will launch a new website "geared at social policy-minded young adults of the “millennial,” 20-something generation." The website will be launched at the first-ever XPAC (Xtreme Politically Active Conservatives) event that will be held in tandem with CPAC this week in Washington, D.C..

The Web site will be geared at policy-minded 20-somethings who take a special interest in social issues.

I do have to admit, Rushpublic policy-minded 20-somethings who attend XPAC (!!!!) do, indeed, have social issues.

Here are "the experts" who will be the spokespeople at the event (click on image to enlarge):


How kewl and awesome are they, right? Gnarly!

H/t: ChristianAlerts

Focus on the Family to air second ad during Super Bowl pre-game

By GottaLaff

My previous posts on this subject are here (scroll).

So!

One Super Bowl spot wasn't enough.

Nor was collaborating with CBS on writing the ads enough (something that CBS does with no other advertiser).

Now Focus on the Family is getting outright piggy. Their second ad-- yes, second-- will air during the pre-game show, starring the Tebows:

More details on the organizations ads:

Although Focus on the Family won’t reveal its ads’ details, CEO Jim Daly says the original ad was rejected by CBS. In it, Pam Tebow, who was advised by a doctor to have an abortion for medical reasons when pregnant with her son, said, “Both of our lives were at risk.”

“They felt that was too much,” he says. “So we dropped the line. We didn’t fight them.” The word “abortion” is never used.

The ad is “an open discussion on the sanctity of human life — not just the issue of abortion,” Daly says. It was made for less than $100,000 with “a bit of humor in it — in fitting with the Super Bowl theme.”

I bet it's a real laugh riot. Maybe they'll even do a CBS Tebow sit-com spin-off, "The Peoples' Anti-Choice Awards".

Oh, and in the interest of fairness, since CBS won't air this Planned Parenthood pro-choice response ad, TPC will:

Focus on the Hypocrites

By GottaLaff

I received a very interesting e-mail today from a friend who forwarded me correspondence between her and her insurance representative. The company? Principal.

Hmm, "Principal". Principal.... Why does that name sound familiar? Oh yeah:

[...] Focus on the Family provides its employees insurance through Principal, a company that -- you guessed it -- covers abortion procedures.

Yes, Focus on the Family uses Principal as its health care insurance. And Principal offers abortion coverage.

Funny, that same coverage won't be available under the government-sponsored plans if the Stupak anti-abortion amendment makes it into the final legislation.

As my pal in the e-mail wondered, do the House insurance plans "cover this evil procedure as well?"

Now check out the exchange between Principal and my friend (I removed names, but kept everything else intact):

-----Original Message-----

Subject: FW: Medical: Interest in an employer-sponsored product

Comments and Questions:

I am considering several different companies for my health insurance. My employer has given quite a wide variety of choices. As I am a pro-choice woman, I only wish to support those health organizations covering first-term abortions. Could you please reply via email or you may leave a message on my voice mail. I don't have much time and I am really hard to get hold of as I travel quite a bit.

Here is the reply:

------ Forwarded Message

From: _____ @principal.com

To: _________

Subject: Medical Coverage Inquiry

Dear Ms. ___ :

Thank you for using our website to contact us regarding medical coverage.

The first term elected abortions are something that is offered on our group plans. However, the employer has to choose this option for it to be covered on the plan.

If we can be of further assistance, please email us back by clicking on the ‘REPLY’ button on this page, or call the Principal Benefit Verification Line at 1-800-____.

Sincerely,

Principal Financial Group

How about that? Confirmation of Focus on the Hypocrites' coverage right there in black and white.

From: Laffy

To: Focus on the Family

Subject: Medical Coverage

Dear Focus on the Family:

Your jaw-droppingly pious, double-dealing, fraudulent b.s. makes me want to puke.

Have a good day!

Laffy

Don't let the door hit ya...

By GottaLaff

Buh-bye now. See ya. Toodles. James the Quitter is throwing in the towel.

I'd shed a few tears, but I'm too busy celebrating:

But Friday's announcement that James Dobson is leaving Focus on the Family's daily radio show has much bigger political ramifications. Whereas Falwell and Kennedy had watched their power fade decades earlier and Weyrich was a behind-the-scenes Washington player rather than a cultural force, Dobson is still hugely influential among millions of Americans, particularly evangelicals. By leaving his radio show, Dobson is giving up his biggest platform.

Tsk, tsk, tsk, what a shame. Maybe I'll send him a Sponge Bob Squarepants DVD as a going away present.

Going forward, Dobson will turn some heads when he appears as a guest on Focus radio shows or on the Fox News Channel. But you can't maintain the kind of bond honed through daily contact with listeners with occasional media appearances.

This is the end of an era.

Not quite the end...

...ClusterFox awaits.

Does Focus on the Family Fund Abortions?

I love it when a headline makes me do a double take. Amy has a point though, why won't FOTF hold itself to the same standard it demands of others?

It does if you hold the organization to the same standard it uses to insist that health reform would result in publicly funded abortions.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the fungibility argument that many pro-life groups and politicians have employed to oppose health reform. The problem, they say, is that if any insurance plan that covers abortion is allowed to participate in a public exchange, then premiums paid to that plan in the form of taxpayer-funded subsidies help support that abortion coverage even if individual abortion procedures are paid for out of a separate pool of privately-paid premium dollars. You can debate about whether it makes sense to use this strict standard, but that's the argument.

But are those pro-life organizations holding themselves to the same strict standard? As it happens, Focus on the Family provides its employees health insurance through Principal, an insurance company that covers "abortion services." A Focus spokeswoman confirmed the fact that the organization pays premiums to Principal, but declined to comment on whether that amounts to an indirect funding of abortion.

Even if the specific plan Focus uses for its employees doesn't include abortion coverage--and I'm assuming it doesn't--the organization and its employees still pay premiums to a company that funds abortions. If health reform proposals have a fungibility problem, then Focus does as well. And if they don't think they do have a fungibility problem, then it would be interesting to hear why they think the set-up proposed in health reform legislation is so untenable.

New Focus on the Family Chief Wants 'More Families Like Obama's'

By GottaLaff

Jaws "went clunk". Lerve that:

Imagine you're at Focus on the Family to watch founder James Dobson formally step down from the board after three decades. The newly powerful ministry president—the micro-managerial Dobson is now officially powerless—steps to the mic and says: "What we want to see are more families like Barack Obama's." [...]

The Denver Post reports on Focus's newish CEO, Jim Daly, who wants to trade Focus's image as a Christian right group in for one of as a family-focused ministry.

Dobson rarely engaged directly and publicly with political opponents, although he sometimes met them behind the scenes. Daly expects to be more open.

"We're in a democracy. How do we express Christian ethos in a way that draws people into the discussion?" Daly asked. "We are the church. We have to be more understanding and not expect the world to act like the church. We also don't accept the church acting like the world."

[SNIP]

"What we want to see are more families like Barack Obama's," Daly said.

"Everybody's jaw went clunk, including Dr. Dobson's," Daly recalled, laughing. "But we can respect what Obama does well. We can focus more on the positive. And I respect his family."

Daly says he is results-oriented, not an ideologue.

"When those who are right, left and center all say, 'Let's make abortion rare,' let's meet at that starting point," Daly said. "Let's shove off the rhetoric and get together on practical matters."

Cuh-lunk!

VIDEOS: Tony Perkins spews , Rachel Maddow warns, Focus on Family...don't ask

By GottaLaff

The video is from April 2009:



Via Crooks and Liars:

...I received a sick e-mail from Citizen's Link, a part of Focus on the Family.

'Killing is never the answer, whether it’s an unintended pregnancy or to stop abortion.'

Nebraska abortionist LeRoy Carhart says George Tiller's abortion clinic in Wichita, Kan., will reopen Monday. Carhart, who was at the center of the U.S. Supreme Court decision on partial-birth abortion, has been helping at Tiller's clinic for more than 10 years.

But the family said it has not made a decision about the long-term plans for the clinic, after Tiller was shot to death Sunday.

"The Tiller family's focus, of course, is to determine what is in the best interests of the employees and the patients," the family said in a statement.

Carrie Gordon Earll, senior bioethics analyst at Focus on the Family Action, said it's clear what is in the best interest of the patients. "Killing is never the answer, whether it’s an unintended pregnancy or to stop abortion," she said. "We’re speaking the truth about the precious lives of these preborn children. And, despite this tragedy, we are not going to stop."

Maybe the clinic might feel it's in the best interests of everybody staying alive since Dr. Tiller was murdered. He hasn't even been buried yet and FOF is attacking the clinic and talking about the best interests of the patients. Not a word about the women who go there. Cretins.

We see how much his murder has affected them. They've created new words like "preborn," so I imagine they've come up with something like protecting the rights of the "thoughtborn" children, although they wouldn't say it in public. That must be the thinking process they have when they refuse to engage in contraception, sex education and the Plan B pill. We have to protect the rights of the thoughtborn because somebody has to.

I'll let Rachel take it from here:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Miss California to James Dobson: 'Satan Was Trying to Tempt Me'

By GottaLaff

Posting from school means I have very little time, a very slow computer that blocks every site imaginable, and therefore, very few options. Commenter Babzter sent this along in an email, which helps enormously. Consider it a follow-up to my previous post. Brought to you by Focus on the Shamily:

Dobson: It sounded, Carrie, like your first reaction was to hedge, to say "Well, this is a free country" and then something took over.

Prej ean: It really was a switch.

Dobson: And you did one of the most courageous things I've seen anybody your age or anybody else do. What was going on in your mind?

Prejean: I started off by saying I want to win this pageant so bad, I've worked so hard, I wanted to sound politically correct but still stay true to my values. But I just knew at that moment that God was just telling me "Carrie, how bad do you want this? Are you willing to compromise your beliefs for a one year crown of Miss USA." And I just knew right there . . . And I said you know what and the switch went off. And I said, "A marriage should be between a man and a woman and that's how it should be. "

. . . . And I knew there was no way I was going to win Miss USA. No way.

Dobson: So you put it on the line, that's what I mean when I said you're courageous because this was the goal of your life to that point. And yet you gave it up. And yet the Lord is using you all over this country.

Prejean: And we are all faced with that at times. And just by me being here, I want to encourage other people that when you're faced with an issue which you know in your heart what to say, but you're faced with someone asking it, don't ever compromise that just for pleasing them. Your goal should be to please God, not to please man . . . .

Dobson: Why did you give the answer you did with regard to the affirmation of marriage?

Prejean: . . . I felt as though Satan was trying to tempt me in asking me this question. And then God was in my head and in my heart saying, "Do not compromise this. You need to stand up for me and you need to share with all these people . . . you need to witness to them and you need to show that you're not willing to compromise that for this title of Miss USA."

And I knew right here that it wasn't about winning. It was about being true to my convictions.

Looks like Miss Cali fits right in with The Family. Her all-American, God-sanctioned message: Satan and Teh Gays are bffs. God only loves those who revere Opposite Marriage. And Carrie's winning a crown in a beauty contest would have pleased God enormously.

Nothing wrong with that logic at all. Nope.

You can listen to the full interview here.

Source: Only 'Pro-Life' White House Officials Invited to Prayer Day Event

So, they set up an event, then dictated who could and could not attend, then bitched because no one attended? How in their warped little minds would it have worked for President Obama to attend then? Guess all their fauxrage was just that, a big fat fake.

Focus on the Family founder James Dobson scolded the White House for neglecting to send a representative to yesterday's National Day of Prayer event at the Capitol, but a source familiar with the situation said the Obama team didn't have much of a chance. That's because the event organizers stipulated that the White House representative had to be opposed to abortion rights, according to this source.

"The administration's representative had to be pro-life," says the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "Nobody else was allowed to go."

National Day of Prayer Task Force Marketing and Media Manager Becky Armstrong declined to comment on the report. An E-mail message sent yesterday to Focus on the Family's vice president for media relations, Gary Schneeberger, went unreturned. The prayer day task force operates out of Focus's Colorado Springs headquarters and is chaired by Shirley Dobson, the wife of the Focus founder.

(snip)

But the well-placed source said the only Obama cabinet secretary to receive an invite to yesterday's event was Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, an anti-abortion rights Republican. LaHood did not attend the event.

Focus on the Family moves to D.C., but not "primarily to beat up Obama"

By GottaLaff

James Dobson hands over the reins of Focus on the Family to Jim Daly and his crew, and look what happens:

For the first time, the conservative Focus is opening a Washington office. Tim Goeglein, the group's vice president of external relations, says his job is not primarily to beat up on President Obama's policies but to get Focus's mission better known. "If social conservatism is the spear, then Focus is the tip of the spear," says Goeglein. He is uniquely qualified. A senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, he was former President Bush's aide de camp on conservative and Christian issues. "Tim brings with him a wealth of experience and relationships that will prove invaluable to our efforts to defend the sanctity of human life, protect the institution of marriage, and ensure the religious-freedom rights of Christians," Daly says.

In other words, their efforts include divesting women of their rights, proselytizing bigotry, and breaking and entering government institutions, courtrooms, and classrooms with the intent of leaving a trail of religious residue.

Beating up on Obama will just have to take a back seat to all of that. That's all there is to it.

James Dobson: We've lost the culture wars

By GottaLaff

Welcome to today's episode of "Blaming Bill", brought to you by James "Show Me the Money" Dobson:

In a farewell address to the staff of Focus on the Family, James Dobson conceded that evangelical conservatives had lost most of the recent so-called “culture war” battles. Attributing the right’s recent failures to the “internet” and the election of Bill Clinton, Dobson said, “Humanly speaking, we can say that we have lost.” He added that the nation is now “absolutely awash in evil“:

The battles that we fought in the Eighties now, we were victorious in many of those conflicts with the culture, trying to defend righteousness, trying to defend the unborn child, trying to preserve the dignity of the family and the definition of marriage. We fought all those battles and really it was a holding action. […]

[W]e made a lot of progress through the Eighties but then we turned into the Nineties and the internet came along and a new president came along and all of that went away and now we are absolutely awash in evil. And we are right now in the most discouraging period of that long conflict. Humanly speaking, we can say that we have lost all those battles, but God is in control and we are not going to give up now, right?

Right as you can get. Far right.

Focus on the Family CD narrator arrested for luring teen for sex

By GottaLaff

Juan Alberto Ovalle in his booking photo on charges of Internet luring.
(Photo/1st Judicial District Attorney)

Crazy Christian perv alert!

A Colorado Springs man who narrates the Bible in Spanish on CDs and works in the Spanish broadcasting department of Focus on the Family appeared in court Monday in Golden on two felony counts of using the Internet to lure a 15-year-old girl for sex, The Denver Post reports.

Juan Alberto Ovalle, 42, was arrested Friday when he drove to Lakewood to meet the girl — who turned out to be an undercover officer — after discussing various sexual acts he wanted to perform with her, the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office said.

Ovalle, a native of the Dominican Republic, is listed as the “Voice Narrator/Artist” of the Spanish Reina Valera Biblia, available on 64 CDs, and can be heard here discussing an upcoming Focus on the Family conference with directors of the evangelical empire’s outreach to the Spanish-speaking community. [...]

Ovalle “came to know the Lord at the age of 14,” according to a Web site offering his Spanish Bible narration for sale, and founded Spanish Christian Audio in 2001 to “help Christian organizations with their audio needs.”

Dios mio! Apparently, those weren't the only needs he wanted to help with.

Ew Factor: Officially off the charts. Say "adios, " Juan. "Adios, Juan":

After first encountering the officer who was posing as a 15-year-old girl in a chat room last week, Orvalle made “sexually graphic statements in a chat room to a person he believed to be an underage teen,” the district attorney’s office said. When the undercover officer said her mom wouldn’t be home the next day, Orvalle said he was “horny” and made arrangements to come to her house, according to an arrest affidavit cited by The Post.

Those good old Focus on the Family values. Always thinking of the children.

They've obviously fallen apart since Dobson abandoned them. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

H/t: Oliver

UPDATE: More, including the affidavit, here, at Pam's.

Dobson resigns as chairman of Focus on the Family

By GottaLaff

Buh-bye now... sort of:

Conservative evangelical leader James Dobson has resigned as chairman of Focus on the Family but will continue to play a prominent role at the organization he founded more than three decades ago. [...]

Dobson, 72, will continue to host Focus on the Family's flagship radio program, write a monthly newsletter and speak out on moral issues, Daly said. [...]

While Focus on the Family emphasizes that it devotes most of its resources to offering parenting and marriage advice, it is best known for promoting conservative moral stands in politics.

Dobson, a child psychologist and author, has gotten more involved in politics in recent years. He endorsed Republican John McCain last year after initially saying he would not, and also sharply criticized Democratic candidate Barack Obama. [...]

Gay-rights and liberal groups issued statements Friday warning that Dobson is not leaving the scene. Americans United for Separation of Church and State portrayed the move as Focus on the Family "merely rearranging the deck chairs on its big, intolerant ship."

May the big, intolerant ship finally spring a leak and sink.

UPDATE:

Steve Benen looks at Dobson's legacy: "Few modern figures on the political scene hate quite as many people, with quite as much intensity, as James Dobson. Gays, minority faiths, the First Amendment, Girl Scouts, SpongeBob Squarepants ... if you don't think, act, or believe as Dobson does, you're an enemy. (One of my personal favorites is when Dobson insisted that gay marriage 'will destroy the Earth.' He wasn't kidding.)"

Obama Calls for National Day of Service

This sounds all well and good, but check out what I highlighted-

Barack Obama is calling for a national day of service to take place on Jan. 19, the federal holiday for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday and the day preceding Mr. Obama’s inauguration as president.

Mr. Obama and Joseph R. Biden Jr. are planning to roll up their sleeves themselves that day and perform some as-yet-unspecified service work in Washington, D.C.

The Presidential Inaugural Committee is putting the wheels for the project in motion with calls and e-mails to national service organizations. The committee is reaching out to organizations of all sizes and ideologies, including faith-based groups, unions and businesses as well as political groups — from Moveon.org on the left to Focus on the Family on the right — to motivate their members to participate.

I now officially have a headache. Some of FOF's greatest hits here.

Palin: God will do the right thing on election day

Why yes, yes she will. Not without reason that Pam calls her Bible Spice.

FINDLAY, Ohio (CNN) –- In an interview posted online Wednesday, Sarah Palin told Dr. James Dobson of “Focus on the Family” that she is confident God will do “the right thing for America” on Nov. 4.

Dobson asked the vice presidential hopeful if she is concerned about John McCain’s sagging poll numbers, but Palin stressed that she was “not discouraged at all.”

“To me, it motivates us, makes us work that much harder,” she told the influential Christian leader, whose radio show reaches tens of millions of listeners daily. “And it also strengthens my faith because I know at the end of the day putting this in God’s hands, the right thing for America will be done, at the end of the day on Nov. 4.”

Focus On Family Pulls Controversial Obama 'Rain' Video

Mocking works.

DENVER -- Focus on the Family Action has pulled a video from its Web site that had asked people to pray for "rain of biblical proportions" during Sen. Barack Obama's acceptance speech at Invesco Field on Aug. 28.

The political arm of Focus on the Family pulled the video Tuesday after a number of complaints from Focus members.

Stuart Shepard, the director of digital media for the group, wrote and started in the video that he described as "mildly humorous."

In the video, Shepard called for Christians to pray for "abundant, torrential" rains during the Democratic nominee's acceptance speech in order to disrupt it. He had asked Christians to pray for rain that would create flash flood warnings and "swamp the intersections."

In the video, Shepard said he hoped the rain would start "two minutes before the acceptance speech begins."

James Dobson accuses Obama of 'distorting' Bible

By Paddy


Oh nooes!! Dog bites man!!! Honestly, (once again) who the heck thought this was deseving of a headline, let alone any attention? You mean, James "Shower With Your Son To Show Him A Hetro Wee-Wee" Dobson, Daddy "Pain is a marvelous purifier" Crackpot doesn't like Obama? Did anyone tell the media that Obama is a Democrat, and therefore not even viable in the eyes of this seriously disturbed preacher?

Fine then, if the reporters and talking heads are too dumb to figure out that even if Obama never said a word about the Bible or religion, Dobson would find a way to criticize him about something, need to get a grip and start coupling their discussion of this non-event with this actual newsworthy bit from January-

A prominent Christian leader whose radio and magazine outreaches are solidly in support of biblically-based marriages – and keeps in touch with millions of constituents daily – says he cannot consider Arizona Sen. John McCain a viable candidate for president.

"Speaking as a private individual, I would not vote for John McCain under any circumstances," said James Dobson, founder of the Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family as well as the Focus Action cultural action organization set up specifically to provide a platform for informing and rallying constituents.

Since this would involve thinking and reporting, I'm guessing I'm asking too much.