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.”
I'm having a little trouble understanding why one can't be both a social conservative and a small government Republican.
Since Armey doesn't have a seat to defend, do you think the Republicans are using him to send a signal of "it's ok to vote Republican, we're not really run by those dreadful religious types" ?
Reagan was a Goldwater type of conservative. Limited government, less taxes and regulation, pro business and strong national defense. Against the idea of abortion, pro family and certainly a values guy but not if it meant expanding government.
Give me one of those any day of the week.
What did Hannity do?
Conservative favorites to join ACLU (11/24/02)
Excerpt:
The elder George Bush won the presidency against Michael Dukakis in 1988 in part by suggesting it was beyond-the-pale liberal to be "a card-carrying member" of the American Civil Liberties Union now the group is signing on as consultants two of the most flamboyant conservative Republicans in Congress.
But now the group is signing on as consultants two of the most flamboyant conservative Republicans in Congress:
* Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia, who was defeated in a primary election this year, called for President Clinton's impeachment before the Lewinsky affair was known. The American Conservative Union, which ranks members of Congress according to how they vote on issues important to conservatives, has given Barr a 100% rating.
* House Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas, who is retiring, has skirmished with Democrats in often acid terms. In 1994, he told them that "your president is just not that important for us." His ACU rating is 97%.
Because social conservatives want "Big Government" to prevent abortion and "mercy killing."
Christians are very "mind your own business" until you start killing helpless people. Incidently, Dobson is running people off because he votes what he feels is right. Armey is running people off because he is calling people names and making unsubstantiated accusations. There is a difference.
Last night he endorsed Rudy Giuliani, ignoring the fact that he is pro abortion, pro gun-control (actually confiscation), in favor of illegal immigration/invasion/amnesty, higher taxes, and homesexual marriages. I would say Hannity pushed a few conservatives' overboard.
So that is why it always sounded like he was slurring his words. Interesting and sad.
Why does the limited government, low tax block deserve a place at the table more than the people you don't like?
All of politics is about using the power of pursuasion to establish the values you believe best as the values the nation follows. Then you compromise so you can at least keep things tolerable.
As far as I know there is no single "conservative Christian manefesto" and for the most part no desire on the part of conservative Christians to force people to choose.
In fact, the reverse is true. Except in the case of abortion, which the opposed see as murder in cold blood, what the conservative Christians want is to keep private immorality out of the public policy arena. Which does more to force a morality on someone - refusing to allow homosexals who already live together to call themselves spouses or demanding that everyone accept them as such?
Shalom.
Conservatives who favor limited government will, at times, hold positions similar to those of the ACLU. Free speach and privacy being two of them.
I can't bring myself to do it, as long as the Democratic Party would just as soon leave us defenseless to the Muslim fanatics. At the moment, though, that and low taxes are the only things keeping me in the GOP.
But it is to the point where I can't bring myself to vote for Katherine Harris. Having looked at the third party candidates, I'm probably going to write myself in just to so I can say I voted.
Besides, I'm too upset & too emotional to give my own reply, and yours says it best!!
Thanks!
Shame on 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.