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Dick Armey Slams Dr. James Dobson
Newsmax ^ | 9/29/06 | Newsmax Staff

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.”


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: ac; armey; christians; dickarmey; dobson; govwatch; jamesdobson; libertarians; persecution; republicans; rinowatch; terrischiavo
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To: Dave S

Army plans to run and picks the wrong people to criticize, I'm not a fan of Dobson, but Army has slid down the slope has become a progressive. He has just come out of where he has been hiding, I haven't herd him comment on any issues, I guess silence is golden.


181 posted on 09/27/2006 3:01:30 PM PDT by boomop1 (there you go again)
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To: Fiji Hill
Is Armey permitting himself to be a useful idiot for the opponents of the Christian right?

Just because you religious zealots have to be led around my the noise doesnt mean that everyone else has someone else thinking for them.

182 posted on 09/27/2006 3:04:17 PM PDT by Dave S
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To: colorado tanker

You had that for much of the country's history when there was a social consensus. Among other gifts the 60s left us with a culture war. Progressives using the Supreme Court to force their mores on the whole country spawned attempts by both sides to use the government to their own ends.


183 posted on 09/27/2006 3:04:24 PM PDT by Pelham (McGuestWorkerProgram- Soon to serve over 1 billion immigrants)
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To: Dave S

When is your tee time? After cocktails?


184 posted on 09/27/2006 3:08:09 PM PDT by dinoparty
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To: LibLieSlayer
That is not what an retired FBI agent I know that worked in DC told me.

I dont even think Army was married.

185 posted on 09/27/2006 3:09:49 PM PDT by Dave S
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To: TommyDale

No surprise. Hannity's 'conservatism' often sounds more like Javits, Percy and Rockefeller than Barry Goldwater, so Giuliani would fit.


186 posted on 09/27/2006 3:11:59 PM PDT by Pelham (McGuestWorkerProgram- Soon to serve over 1 billion immigrants)
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To: Celtjew Libertarian

Reasonable point of view for anyone unaware of all the details of the T.S. situation.

Unreasonable point of view for an informed person, besides human monsters.


187 posted on 09/27/2006 3:12:09 PM PDT by OldArmy52 (China & India: Doing jobs Americans don't want to do (manuf., engineering, accounting, etc))
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To: LibLieSlayer

No rant. You said that Armey had been having extra-marital sex. It's up to you to provide the evidence of that, don't you think?


188 posted on 09/27/2006 3:18:29 PM PDT by MineralMan (Non-evangelical Atheist)
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To: truthandlife

I just unsubscribed from his FreedomWorks.


189 posted on 09/27/2006 3:20:25 PM PDT by AmericaUnite
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To: Dave S
Just because you religious zealots have to be led around my the noise doesnt mean that everyone else has someone else thinking for them.

Judging from your grammar, punctuation, and logic, you must be a public school graduate.

190 posted on 09/27/2006 3:23:29 PM PDT by Fiji Hill
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To: TommyDale

I don't agree with Giuliani either, but Hannity is largely focused on the Most Important Issue of our time (security), and on that front Giuliani is dead on in that. I doubt as a President he would push a liberal agenda with or without a Republican majority in congress. That's just his views.. I'm not enthusiastic about Giuliani, but lets be practical...


191 posted on 09/27/2006 3:23:44 PM PDT by Schwaeky (Welcome to America--Now speak English or LEAVE!)
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To: Dave S
Just because you religious zealots have to be led around my the noise doesnt mean that everyone else has someone else thinking for them.

Your bigotry is hampering your ability to think.

192 posted on 09/27/2006 3:26:14 PM PDT by ibheath (Born again and grateful to God.)
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To: EternalVigilance

Either you posted to the wrong person or you have serious reading comprehension problems. I've seen you around here long enough to know that you probably just posted to the wrong person. No problem.

Regards,
LH


193 posted on 09/27/2006 3:51:45 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: OldArmy52
Reasonable point of view for anyone unaware of all the details of the T.S. situation.

Unreasonable point of view for an informed person, besides human monsters.

Personally, I think Michael Schiavo got away with murder and Terri should have been kept on life support. But given that there was insufficient evidence to demonstrate that and that there was no document that Terri Schiavo had signed, giving over the power of attorney to someone else, it was, properly, her husband's decision to make.

If, God forbid, my family were to end up in such a situation, I'd like the decision to be made without having to look over my shoulder and see if Congress is watching. Especially since there's no guarantee it will always be a Republican Congress.

If that makes me a monster, then I'm a monster.

194 posted on 09/27/2006 3:53:34 PM PDT by Celtjew Libertarian ("Don't take life so seriously. You'll never get out of it alive." -- Bugs Bunny)
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To: BritExPatInFla
"Then maybe we can work towards getting those undecideds and middle-of-the-road voters back into the fold..."

...and elect more of the likes of Chafee and Snowe. Heck, maybe you could even thaw out Nelson Rockerfeller and put him on the ticket.

195 posted on 09/27/2006 4:02:16 PM PDT by Proud_texan (Philosophy consists very largely of one philosopher arguing that all others are jackasses.)
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To: Celtjew Libertarian

Terri's husband starved her to death. If he had done that to his german shephard, he'd have been thrown in jail, but because we as a culture worship death and the "right" to kill, he was praised...

Sickening.

Ed


196 posted on 09/27/2006 4:07:05 PM PDT by Sir_Ed
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To: Schwaeky
I don't agree with Giuliani either, but Hannity is largely focused on the Most Important Issue of our time (security), and on that front Giuliani is dead on in that.

The 3000 dead from 9/11 doesn't count up that much against the forty million unborn murdered since Roe became law. This supposed security focus isn't as highminded as some would make it out to be.

Who we are and what we do is always more important than who our enemies are and what they do. Not that I'm suggesting passiveness on terrorism here. Just that it's too easy to say that so-and-so is tough on security so that makes them a good pick. Ask yourself this: if Xlinton (or Madame Xlinton) were tough on terrorism, would you find them acceptable in the White House? And then recall that Giuliani is untested on foreign policy and holds the same liberal positions across the board as do the Xlintons.

I'm not voting for Rudy Clinton. If Karl were resurrected and running as the Dim candidate with a 50% lead over all other Republicans, I still wouldn't vote for Giuliani.
197 posted on 09/27/2006 4:07:41 PM PDT by George W. Bush
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To: George W. Bush
...If Karl Marx were resurrected...
198 posted on 09/27/2006 4:09:43 PM PDT by George W. Bush
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To: Binghamton_native
I guess I need to say that I do not know whether this accusation is true or not... I do not know Armey. I was once told by someone that worked in and out of DC that it was true. I questioned a bit more, and was shown a clipping from a Dallas Newspaper that had certain allegations about Armey and some younger women. Henry Hide, Newt, klintoon, and several other prominent pols of the era had to resign over pressure from this sort of thing. That is why I find it plausible that it may be true.

Being pissed at Dick over this statement had my fingers typing something I would not ordinarily say on FR. I am guilty of doing that, for certain.

LLS
199 posted on 09/27/2006 4:09:55 PM PDT by LibLieSlayer (Preserve America... kill terrorists... destroy dims!)
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To: truthandlife

Dick seems to be off his meds....


200 posted on 09/27/2006 4:12:00 PM PDT by pointsal (q)
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