As always, Dobson begins his show with his now famous weasel words before any liberal bashing session: "We're not trying to tell you how to vote. We're just telling you to vote."  This statement has about as much meaning as the phrase "for entertainment purposes only" on the bottom of an infomercial screen. Curious how the IRS seems to be completely bamboozled by it, though.

Then, after assuring his constituents that he really does condemn Mark Foley's actions (two or three times for good measure), Dobson delivers a Republican talking points tour-de-force:

• Democrats have done it too (Stubbs, Frank, et al) without having to resign.


• The boy was eighteen when it happened (not that he said it mattered, but he thought he should mention it anyway).


• The page boys egged Mark Foley on.


• Foley's aberrant behaviour was a natural consequence of the homosexual agenda.


• Foley was gay, so he was not "one of us".


• The liberal media knew for a year but waited until the last day of the session just before the election to release the information.


• The liberal media's only goal is to demoralize the "values voters" into not voting in the mid-terms.

The fact that most of this is blatently false doesn't disturb Dobson one iota -- you can't let the facts get in the way of a good liberal bashing session.

Dobson does not pass up the chance to expresses his admiration for how that paragon of moral virtue, Rush Limbaugh, reported the issue.  But, curiously, he fails even to mention the Republican leadership or Dennis Hastert by name until the final couple of minutes of the broadcast.

Would he finally address the failings of the Republican leadership that left the page boys unprotected from a sexual predator in their midst?  Nope.  Not one word about it.  Even when he says it is not his place to become involved in  the "political matter" (hah!) of whether Dennis Hastert should resign, he neglects to even mention why the Speaker's position is under fire.  Ignore it, and maybe it will go away.

Dobson also spends much of his time accusing the "liberal media" of wanting to destroy the voting base of the "values voters" with charges of hyprocrisy over the Mark Foley affair.  He is incredulous that the media could generalize the actions of one man to include all of the religious right.   How ironic then that he turns around and immediately condemns "almost all" liberals of not being able to tell right from wrong.  Does he really believe that nearly half the population of the USA has no moral compass?  Unbelievable.

To think that a few years ago I actually had a modicum of respect for James Dobson.  I never did agree with him, but at least he spoke his mind and appeared not be be swayed by political considerations or engaged in political spin.

Today, those days are long gone.  His show this morning proves beyond all reasonable doubt that Dobson is simply a mouthpiece for the conservative wing of the Republican Party.  He refuses even to address the failings of the Republican party.  Nothing can be said that will damage the prospects of his party in the forthcoming elections.

His own words condemn him.  Dobson is a hyprocrite of the highest order, and no amount of whining about liberal media bias will ever change that reality.

(Also posted on dailykos)