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.”
It's somewhat humorous . . . almost every time I read that some Republican is not conservative enough (here), their ACU Lifetime Rating is in the 80's or higher. So in other words, and in a good number of cases, "not conservative enough" or its derivative "RINO," really means "this guy failed to agree with me about my pet issue."
"It's somewhat humorous . . . almost every time I read that some Republican is not conservative enough (here), their ACU Lifetime Rating is in the 80's or higher. So in other words, and in a good number of cases, "not conservative enough" or its derivative "RINO," really means "this guy failed to agree with me about my pet issue."
Details, please.
Every heard of the God-given right to life, liberty and property?
Ever read Article One, Section Two of the Florida constitution?
Ever have someone explain to you how the Federal Government has no business getting involved in a State matter? That's the problem around here, a lot of people think that it's OK for the Feds to ignore Constitutional limits.
It's right next to the part where the Constitution says murder is illegal.
Blackwell's loss, presuming it happens, has nothing to do with his being with Christian Conservatives and everything to do with the horrid state of the RINO left leadership under Taft & Co. ruining the good name of the GOP and smearing ALL of our candidates in the state of Ohio. The undertow will likely take down DeWine as well.
Way too many gratuitous and cheap shots at Christian Conservatives and the movement in this thread. It's like reading the hate on DU.
Abortion is a civil rights matter therefore not a state's matter.
What does your position mean? Are you pro-abortion so you think anyone who is pro-life is part of the "Christian Right" demonized by the Democrat party?
Then what are you talking about?
Take it for what it's worth. I will not violate a friendship to stop your rant. Armey is no boy scout... and he is a bob barr turncoat!
LLS
However, it strikes me that the irony is that in watching the GOP Congress the past several years it is NOT the Christian Right members who have most betrayed the core party principles of limited government, lower taxes, personal responsibility - but the antithesis of the Christian Right... the liberal/moderates. These folks seem to have more in common with Democrats on key issues of the size and scope of government than they do the issues some more libertarian-oriented Republicans have raised in this thread.
To me, James Dobson is much more of the solution than the likes of Lincoln Chaffee, James Jeffords, Susan Collins, etc...
Dick Army has always been a libertarian. I'm going to add loony atheist to that too. Terry Schiavo is dead (due to her criminal husband) but that isn't good enough for this jackass.
This thread is truly enlightening in so much as it demonstrates the absence of true conservatism in this forum.
1rudeboy replies: ACU Lifetime Score = 97.
Ouch. That's gonna leave a mark.
AMEN!!!
But to label him as "no conservative" is utter nonsense.
Any respect I had for the Dick has gone out the window if this is true.
And even if that weren't true, how can you mess with a guy whose name is "Dick Armey?"
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.