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?

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.)"

Texas evangelicals helped effort to stop Palin TrooperGate probe

By GottaLaff

Look who donated the big bucks in an attempt to save Interview-Me Palin's abuse-of-powery little keester-- none other than James Dobson:

New state gift disclosures show it cost Liberty Legal Institute and the two law firms working with it $185,000 to represent six Alaska legislators in an unsuccessful lawsuit to halt their colleagues' "troopergate" investigation into whether Gov. Sarah Palin acted improperly in firing the state's public safety director.

The legislators listed a $25,000 gift of services from the Texas-based Liberty Legal Institute. Liberty is the legal arm of the Free Market Foundation, which is associated with evangelical leader James Dobson's Focus on the Family, and lists its guiding principles as limited government and promotion of Judeo-Christian values.

The lawmakers also disclosed a $120,000 gift of services from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, a national firm that appeared at hearings on behalf of Liberty Legal.

Anchorage attorney Kevin Clarkson represented the six legislators in the case as well, and turned to Liberty Legal for its constitutional expertise. The lawmakers reported a $40,000 gift of services from Clarkson's firm.

That brings the total bill for their lawsuit to $185,000. [...]

The six legislators who filed the suit are Wes Keller, Mike Kelly, Fred Dyson, Tom Wagoner, Carl Gatto and Bob Lynn. All are Republicans.

It's nice to have rich friends in low places.

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.”

GW Bush Pastor Launches Pro-Obama Web Site

By Paddy


Karma.

The Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, leader of the largest Methodist congregation in the country, launched a website yesterday titled "James Dobson Does Not Speak For Me." The site is a jab at Dobson, a stalwart of the religious right who this week called Sen. Barack Obama's interpretation of the Bible in a 2006 speech distorted "to fit [Obama's] own world view, his own confused theology."

Caldwell's site launched a day after Dobson's Focus on the Family radio program aired a harsh assessment of Obama's speech on faith and public policy and encourages readers to sign a statement declaring that Dobson does not represent them.

"I think it's a crime and a shame that Senator Obama has had to explain the fact that he's a Christian," Caldwell said in a recent interview. "Criticize his politics. Criticize his stance on whatever, but don't question his faith. Never in the history of American politics has someone said that he is a Christian and someone came back to say, 'No you're not.'"

If Rev. Caldwell's name sounds familiar, it may be because he is the same Rev. Caldwell who introduced President Bush at the 2000 Republican National Convention and last month officiated at Jenna Bush's wedding ceremony at the presidential ranch in Crawford. This election Caldwell is firmly in the Obama camp and doggedly trying to help the campaign bring other pastors and parishioners along.

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.