Posted on 09/27/2006 11:30:48 AM PDT by truthandlife
Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey has launched an attack on Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, saying Dobson and his "band of thugs” are "nasty bullies” and accusing the Republicans of pandering to the Christian right.
In an interview with Ryan Sager, author of the book "The Elephant in the Room: Evangelicals, Libertarians, and the Battle to Control the Republican Party,” Armey said the GOP was "adrift and rudderless” in its commitment to small government.
When pressed by Sager about what he feels is wrong with today’s Republican Congress, Armey – who became majority leader when the GOP took control of Congress in 1994 and retired in 2003 – said: "The criteria of choice in just about every behavior you see in Congress today is politics. Where in the hell did this Terri Schiavo thing come from? There’s not a conservative, Constitution-loving, separation-of-powers guy alive in the world that could have wanted that bill on the floor.
"That was pure, blatant pandering to James Dobson. That’s all it was. It was silly, stupid, and irresponsible. Nobody serious about the Constitution would do that. But the question was will this energize our Christian conservative base for the next election.”
Sager asked why it seems that Christian conservatives are more powerful now than in the 1990s. Armey replied: "To a large extent because Dobson and his gang of thugs are real nasty bullies. I pray devoutly every day, but being a Christian is no excuse for being stupid. There’s a high demagoguery coefficient to issues like prayer in schools. Demagoguery doesn’t work unless it’s dumb . . . These issues are easy for the intellectually lazy and can appeal to a large demographic.”
Armey, who was first elected as a Congressman from Texas in 1984, toned down his remarks – but only slightly – in an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal on Sept. 23. He again brought up Dobson: "The national representatives of the social conservative movement used to be sophisticated and tolerant. Today, they are sophomoric and angry. It's an embarrassing spectacle seeing leaders bullied around by the likes of James Dobson, or watching the Christian Coalition team up with MoveOn.org in support of bigger government.”
Armey – now chairman of FreedomWorks, a national grassroots advocacy organization – did not reserve his criticism for the GOP, going on to write: "Perhaps the only thing more embarrassing than being a loyal Republican in this election season is being a loyal Democrat. Although the party has offered no proposal to fix Social Security, the aspiring House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and the Senate majority leader hopeful, Harry Reid, held yet another press conference recently denouncing the secret Republican plan to "privatize" the failing entitlement.
"While Democrat pollsters are no doubt telling their candidates that the P-word will effectively scare seniors and other swing constituencies to the polls, this strategy has consistently failed in past election cycles.”
Well, Dick, you must be from the commie left then.
So bye and dont let the door hit you in the Butt.
Armey can whine all he wants, but the right to life is a fundamental right.
and not a minute too soon, it seems
Well, yeah if you starve them all to death.
I feel the same way whenever those ubiquitous "burning the flag"--Republican and "raise the minimum wage"--Democrat bills appear in Congress during Election years.
No big fan of dobson myself, but sounds like Dicky is morphing into Bob Barr's sister.
Armey has his principles and sticks to them. He was the one who singlehandedly prevented "Operation TIPS" from becoming reality.
-Eric
If DICK had kept his in his pants, he would still be in the Congress!
LLS
Someone in the Republican party needed to admit it....
Dick Armey thinks I'm a thug. Doesn't that beat all?
James Dobson is no thug, nor does he have a gang of bullies. I am sick and tired of the overblown rhetoric from Democrats, but this, from a Republican, is a real stab in the back.
This is the thanks we get for saving the Republicans hides in 2000, 2002, and 2004.
Thank you for posting that - how on earth could Armey miss the obvious!
It seems the old Republican minority is angry that the Christian Right decided to fight back after decades of being rolled and ignored on State and Federal policy.
Armey's comments are not very helpful, to anyone.
I surely lost a ton of respect I used to have for him. I am appalled to read his views on Dobson.
Dobson works through an ability to persuade, not through thuggery.
Good news...sounds like the religious conservatives have the liberarians, log cabins, and liberals dead in their tracks.
Hey Dick, say hello to all your buddies at the ACLU.
Tell 'em the vast rightwing Christian conspiracy is out to get 'em.
BOO!
Sounds like the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican.
Wow, that's disappointing.
Yup.
Dick why don't you just cut your wrists, you are not presidential material.
Wow. Mild-mannered James Dobson, a bullying thug? Who would have guessed?
And he wasn't even on my list of people to fear meeting in a dark alley!
shut up, Armey. You're no conservative.
No kidding. It's hard to imagine a more humble, reasonable and self-controlled man than James Dobson.
Dick has spent too much time at the ACLU. It's infected his brain and his heart. He's become dishonest.
He's even adopted their tactics: If you can't defeat their arguments, demonize them...
Thanks Dick. Run the conservative Christians off, and the Republican Party will go into eclipse for a generation. Moron.
(Un)fortunately, the ReligiousRightMoral'Majority'ArmyofGod(tm) wing of the party is going to find itself out in the cold if enough mainstream Republicans get tired of their tactics. Then maybe we can work towards getting those undecideds and middle-of-the-road voters back into the fold who were run off or scared off by Dobson and his ilk.
"Where in the hell did this Terri Schiavo thing come from? There’s not a conservative, Constitution-loving, separation-of-powers guy alive in the world that could have wanted that bill on the floor."
It has to do with an oral statement (no written/signed document) from a husband who did NOT have his wife's best interests at heart having more legal say than her own parents.
Eventually we may see a protection of life constitutional amendment (that would address abortion, euthenasia, and discrimination from genetic screening).
If folks like Dick Armey, and others like him, think Jim Dobson is a thug, it's no wonder they always bend their knees in fear to the real thugs in the Democrat Party.
Penis Navy is so yesterday...
Dick tries to come off like he is the one with principals and evangelicals are "political", but I'd say just the opposite: Dick is pandering to the lamestream, saying "look, nudge nudge, now that I'm out of office, please don't think that I really liked all those dopey evangelicals! Invite me back to your Country Club, please!!!"
If being conservative means wanting even more government in our lives to enforce morality then I guess he isn't.
Armey seems seriously jealous of Dobson.
What a midget.
Alienate the ones who like limited government and personal responsibility and the party will be just as dead.
ACU Lifetime Score = 97.
Alienate the core, broken-glass consituency of the GOP and then try to get the most passive, least-dependable segment of the electorate fired up about Lincoln Chafee in 2008.
Look out, Karl Rove! BEPIF's got your number!
Gosh, where does one start on such a pack of lies.
If the Christian conservatives are driven out of the GOP, the GOP will never win another national election again.
"Out in the cold" my patootie. If the Christians started another Party, it would be the majority party again within ten years. Conversely, without Christians, the GOP would quickly go the way of the Whigs.
"Mainstream"? The Christian conservatives are the heart and soul, and the arms and legs of the Republican Party. If you don't like it, go be a Democrat. If the only thing that matters to you in politics is power, what difference will your departure make to anybody?
Oh great, then, if we are lucky we can go back to electing "Republicans" like Gerald Ford! (sarcasm)
If we are going to simply abandon our principals in order to gain back the "middle of the road voters" (as you call them), then the Democrats will most certainly win because they do a better job of buying-off their constituencies. Without principals, Republicans lose. Period.
Another name for it is Biting the Hand that Fed You.
If Armey really feels this way, he should return any extra salary, perks, speaking fees, travel, etc., he earned as Majority Leader. People such as James Dobson and the organization he represents worked hard to ensure he had a majority to lead.
Dang straight. That over-reach marks the first time since 1992 I've considered voting for a Democratic Congressional candidate. I'm not going to do it this year, but we'll see how things go in the next few years....
Neither of those concerns includes giving people carte blanche to murder the weak and helpless.
Well, Mr Armey, Dick, I'll take your opinions about Dr Dobson seriously just as soon as you list all the things you did in your 9 years as majority leader to control the growth of government, eliminate unnecessary programs and departments (hello, Education), and decrease government spending.
The thing about Dick is he is not the leader of the Republican Party and as Christian conservatives, we can vote for our candidates who represent us in the primaries. We can also run as delegates to pick our POTUS nominee for 2008. There is a continued battle within the Republican Party and Christian conservatives have to fight.
A new conservative uprising is stirring and no one should be surprised. The Republican Establishment has been drifting leftward, and a backlash has to come against the Big Government spenders in legislatures and against supremacist judges who order the spending.
We need to continue to fight. Even though I love our President in fighting terror we cannot allow some things to happen. Remember the revolt of what happened after President Bush lined up bipartisan support for his personal top choice for the Supreme Court, feminist Harriet Miers? Conservatives rallied against her nomination, and Bush replaced her with Sam Alito.
The failed Dubai Ports deal gave us another example of how the conservative natives are getting restless. Despite Bush's threat to veto any legislation to kill the deal, Congress heeded the loud and clear message from the grassroots and did exactly that.
We need to continue to fight. The Republican only wins against Democrats if it lines up as the Reagan conservative party.
How many more Republicans will try to destroy the party from within? Yesterday Hannity, today Armey.
Give Armey time...He'll probably offend them as well.
It never fails to amaze me that blowhards are continually discovering with shock that the vast majority of Americans are Christians who hold Christian values, and that Christian values were foundational to our system of government. When do they think our nation began? 1966?
Thanks Dr. Dobson. Run the mind-your-own-business conservatives off and the Republican Party will go into eclipse for a generation. Moron.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.