Posted on 11/15/2004 1:04:53 PM PST by hinterlander
Republican senators who support Sen. Arlen Specter's bid to chair the Judiciary Committee could face retribution from disgruntled conservative and Christian voters, warned Dr. James Dobson in an interview Monday with HUMAN EVENTS.
Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family Action, a political group he organized to help re-elect President Bush, said Specter is frantically trying to save his spot atop the Judiciary Committee after suggesting Bush shouldn't bother nominating pro-life judges.
Specter has since distanced himself from his November 3 comments, but the protests against him haven't diminished. For the second straight weekend, he appeared on Sunday morning news programs trying to allay fears voiced by activists like Dobson.
"It may not be possible to derail Senator Specter," Dobson conceded to HUMAN EVENTS, "but if they [Republican senators] don't do that, I think it ought to be very clear that when the senator reneges on his promise to do the right thing, it's going to be remembered."
Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee are expected to meet with Specter this week, which will be followed by a secret vote taken in January to elect a chairman. Their offices have been inundated with phone calls protesting Specter's possible promotion.
GOP-imposed term limits are forcing Sen. Orrin Hatch (R.-Utah) to step down as the committee's chairman. Next in line is Sen. Chuck Grassley (R.-Iowa), who would rather lead the Finance Committee than Judiciary, leaving Specter with the most seniority.
"He's been out there for the last week on every show that would invite him," Dobson said of the Pennsylvania senator. "He's been trying to save his chairmanship by bobbing and weaving and telling us that he didn't mean what he said when he said what he meant."
Dobson has used his radio program, which reaches 7 million listeners per week, to rail against Specter's possible ascension. Other conservative and Christian interest groups are protesting as well, including a scheduled demonstration Tuesday at the office of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R.-Tenn.).
"We're certainly going to do everything we can to let people know that Senator Specter not only threatens the court, but he is also the champion of stem-cell research and he is opposed to protection of marriage within the Constitution," Dobson said. "This man is going to be in an extremely powerful position to oppose most of what President Bush was elected to do. That is irritating a large number of people."
Dobson said Specter owes his victory to Bush, who chose to campaign with him instead of his more conservative Republican primary opponent, Rep. Pat Toomey. Specter narrowly beat Toomey by a little more than 17,000 votes in the April primary.
"He was very clear about what his intentions are," Dobson said in reference to Specter's November 3 remarks. "It's not only the court, he stands in opposition to just about everything the President ran on in terms of the moral and social agenda. How arrogant is that?"
Robert B. Bluey is Assistant Editor for HUMAN EVENTS
I'm not trying to look good; I'm merely pointing out that you're saying that I get special treatment and at least I have been suspended before; you're one of the nastiest posters on here and you've never been touched.
And I, unlike you, have never had the nerve to post that I'm going to leave unless others are silenced.
It's not my job to police every thread and correct every over-enthusiastic young conservative.
Ponder it all you want.
*********************************************************
To illustrate how exit poll results should be read, let's use the following hypothetical results as an illustration.
VOTE BY GENDER | SMITH | JONES | BROWN | |
TOTAL
|
2004
|
2000
|
2004
|
2004
|
Male (43%)
|
46% |
-7
|
53% | 1% |
Female (57%)
|
50% |
+5
|
48% | 2% |
The first column of numbers shows how many people who voted today fell into each category. In our example, that means 43 percent of all voters were men and 57 percent were women.
*********************************************************
The keyword being all.
FGS, we all know that WAS your job. You sure were there from the get-go, calling everybody Obama supporters.
I would have thought your job was to be honest.
I'm only nasty to those who are nasty to me or those people and principles I care about.
Most other people know me as quite polite and mild-mannered.
I only called Obama supporters 'Obama supporters'.
You, for example, were a functional Obama-supporter; just as today you are a functional Specter-supporter.
Demoralizing our troops is not a friendly act, Howlin.
Keep telling yourself that. Perhaps you'll convince yourself.
You are a functional liar.
So were you in charge or weren't you?
I won't make any apologies, though, for doing all I could to try and defeat Obama...especially to those of you who did every thing you could to pull down the Republican nominee for the duration.
And don't you suppose those "incompetents" did a lot more damage to the campaign in Illinois than lil' ol' me down here in Georgia?
I doubt I influenced even one Illinois vote -- and I don't think your constant whining and sniping here won Keyes any votes either.
I can't believe that Spectre is up for this position. Spectre, who either by inattention or neglect helped set the stage for Ira Einhorn to escape to France, as he was under suspicion of murdering his girlfriend. He was the State's Attorney, IIRC, at the time. Spectre was named on America's Most Wanted in connection with the Einhorn case, when it was profiled. And this is the man about to chair the Judiciary Committee?
It is unbelievable that this should be our fate, now that we've finally gained a working majority in the Senate. He cannot be trusted, and that's not a guess.
Plus, around 77% of those who identified themselves as "white evangelical born again" supported the Republicans. I believe the percentage of Hispanics was closer to something like 35%.
A sizeable voting block that supported a winning party by almost 80% certainly should have some "clout" with the party. And most certainly much more clout than a voting block consisting of 8% of the voters of which only around a third of them support the winning party.
Seems like the message we're hearing from some on this thread is, "Don't call us, we'll call you -- in about three and a half years." Evangelical "Born-agains" as well as other Christians and Social Conservatives have just as much right to voice their concerns and opinions as anyone else. And they have the right to exercise their political clout as well.
I totally agree.
This is a man who bears more hostility to Christians and pro-lifers than most Democrats. He's proven that for years.
Too many have worked too long and hard to stand silently by at such a time as this.
Are you saying that the quotes in which Dobson threatens Senators who don't do the "right thing" are inaccurate? Are Dobson's remarks sort of a "you had to be there in order to discern what he REALLY meant" kinda thing?
I understand the Religious Right quite well. To one degree or another, I've worked with Richard Viguerie, Howie Phillips and Gary Jarmin - but James Dobson?! C'mon, get real here, EV. You're no fool. You know better than this!
How are comments like this a threat?
Dobson is doing two things that liberals hate: A) Informing citizens about the current political realities, minus the hostile media filter, and B) Telling the truth.
Both of those things are considered a threat to their hegomony, by them.
In 2000, of the ~106 million Americans who voted, 14.84 million identified themselves as part of the Religious Right and 11.87 million voted for GWBush.
In 2004, of the ~118 million American who voted, 27.14 million identified themselves as members of the Religious Right and 21.16 million voted for PresBush.
Here's two links to the exit polling data I refered to on this thread.Exit poll of 2004 and exit poll of 2000.
>>>>Evangelical "Born-agains" as well as other Christians and Social Conservatives have just as much right to voice their concerns and opinions as anyone else. And they have the right to exercise their political clout as well.
Amen.
Of course we do, and we should! But you catch more flies with honey. Just do it in the right way that's all anyone is saying! (I think most feel that way anyway! :-)
This Spectre needs to be BORKED.
>>>I'm grateful for James Dobson's help. He has millions of listeners and access to many media forums. He also fights for what he believes and has been a soldier in the trenches for freedom for many years.<<<
Ditto.
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Amen to that, kiddo!
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