After James Dobson spent the last week bragging about the insider information he received about Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, the Focus on the Family founder went to the airwaves yesterday to cover his ass (via C&L):
What did Karl Rove say to me that I knew on Monday that I couldn’t reveal? Well, it’s what we all know now, that Harriet Miers is an Evangelical Christian, that she is from a very conservative church, which is almost universally pro-life, that she had taken on the American Bar Association on the issue of abortion and fought for a policy that would not be supportive of abortion, that she had been a member of the Texas Right to Life. In other words, there is a characterization of her that was given to me before the President had actually made this decision. I could not talk about that on Monday. I couldn’t talk about it on Tuesday. In fact, Brit Hume said, “What church does she go to?” And I said, “I don’t think it’s up to me to reveal that.”
. . .
We did not discuss Roe v. Wade in any context or any other pending issue that will be considered by the Court. I did not ask that question. You know, to be honest, I would have loved to have known how Harriet Miers views Roe v. Wade. But even if Karl had known the answer to that and I’m certain that he didn’t, because the President himself said he didn’t know, Karl would not have told me that.
In other words, though his certainty about how Miers would rule on Roe is the reason for his endorsement, it never even occurred to actually ask about Miers’ views on abortion. Hey James, is lying a “family” value?
To translate my feelings about Dobson into a phrase easy for his followers to understand, I think the man’s getting way too big for his britches. It’s one thing to be outspoken on your own radio show about a political issue, but let’s not forget that Dobson also participated in the Administration’s conference calls to conservative activists as well. He’s gone from objective bystander to fully-integrated cog in the spin machine.
Dobson’s part-time job as a Bush shill is just the latest attempt to fully integrate himself into the political establishment. He wants to be an insider so bad it hurts, as you can tell from the first two paragraphs of his official biography :
For James Dobson, the stakes on November 2, 2004 — Election Day — couldn’t have been higher. The renowned child psychologist, best-selling author, popular radio host, and founder of Focus on the Family had devoted his entire life to the preservation of the family, and now all he held dear seemed to be hanging in the balance. Although he had rarely before campaigned in a way that could be considered strictly partisan, this election year Dobson had become convinced that he had no choice but to jump into the political fray with both feet. And when he did, he determined to give all he had for the cause.
By the time the 2004 campaign was over, Beltway heavyweights from Tom Daschle to Arlen Specter, media pundits, Democratic operatives, Focus on the Family listeners, and Dr. Dobson readers from coast to coast had gained a much better appreciation for who Dobson was and what he could accomplish.
Dobson seems keen on reinventing himself as a kingmaker in the Pat Robertson mold, and he’s already had good practice in using his multimedia empire to go after Big Brothers Big Sisters, Procter & Gamble, Disney, Macy’s, and Microsoft. The Miers nomination is just the latest test to see if Dobson’s homophobic armies can be mobilized to support political friends as efficiently as they’ve been used to destroy corporate enemies. There was a time when political activity was seen as an unseemly diversion from “God’s work”, but selling Jesus to the already-saved doesn’t feed the ego the way it used to.
Considering the direction that Dobson is steering his career, I think it’s just a matter of time before his hubris brings him down. I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if God’s humble servant eventually finds himself brought down by a scandal. Real or fake, white collar crime or sexual affair, at some point Dobson’s activism is going to catch up to him. I can’t wait to see it.