Religious Right Leaders' Ties to Abramoff Keep Coming Up
jhutson printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Wed Mar 08, 2006 at 12:52:25 PM EST
Jack Abramoff comes up in connection with religious right leaders Ralph Reed, Lou Sheldon, and James Dobson. Illustration by Jonathan Hutson

Campaign to Defend the Constitution (DefCon) launched an ad campaign on March 8, 2006, including a full-page ad in The New York Times that highlights what it calls hypocrisy over gambling by three religious right leaders -- Ralph Reed, former executive director of the Christian Coalition; Rev. Lou Sheldon, chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition; and Dr. James Dobson, founder and head of Focus on the Family. DefCon's print and broadcast ads focus on connections between convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and these major figures of the religious right, all of whom have taken high-profile positions against gambling. Reed and Sheldon have received money that originated from Abramoff's gambling industry clients, who have in various ways benefitted from the actions of all three men. Defcon invites you to send a letter to these pious, pandering prophets, telling them to "practice what they preach."

The letter states:
For years, you've attacked the freedom of women to control their own bodies, waged war on gay marriage, and fought to erode one of the most central tenets of our Constitution: the separation between church and state.

You've always claimed the moral high ground, asserting the right to tell people how to live and condemning millions of Americans for actions you deemed immoral. But your high ground is washed away. After years of condemning gambling as a social ill, you're caught knee-deep in pro-gambling campaigns hatched by indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

It's time to stop telling others how to act, and start practicing what you preach.

End your hypocrisy.

Even before DefCon held a press conference to release details about the campaign, the ads had an immediate impact in focusing media attention and forcing responses to questions that had previously been batted away with only silence or angry counter-attacks. Dobson and Focus on the Family are now providing detailed responses in stories than ran in the March 8 editions of The Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News. Dobson denies that he knowingly benefitted Abramoff's clients. But his organization worked against a proposed Indian casino in Louisiana that also was opposed by one of Abramoff's Indian casino clients.

Our colleague Max Blumenthal, who is a DefCon Advisory Board Member, noted on Talk to Action that mainstream media has up to now expressed little interest, and little energy, in pursuing developments in this major scandal. As a result, Reed, Sheldon, and Dobson have largely gotten away with stonewalling and generalizations, instead of answering detailed questions completely and forthrightly. Blumenthal writes:

While I wrote about this for The Nation and Media Matters, there has been very little mainstream press interest on Dobson's role in Abramoff's schemes. So far, some of the best -- and most adversarial -- reporting on the Abramoff/Reed/Dobson saga is coming from the Christian media, namely from Marvin Olasky's World Magazine.

Dobson's camp has even attacked a reporter from the conservative evangelical World Magazine for daring to pose tough questions.

While Talk to Action has been highlighting religious leaders' involvement in the Abramoff corruption probe, and pointing out connections between Abramoff and dominionist leaders, the mainstream media has largely been asleep. What do we have to do to rouse the media hounds, draw them a picture?

Thankfully, Talk to Action is not alone in sounding the alarm: several investigative journalists have picked up the scent, and help is on the way from DefCon to get their reporting taken seriously and to frame public debate on the hypocrisy of these three religious right leaders.

Maybe, at last, the mainstream media will be spurred from complacency so that the American people will get more detailed answers from religious right leaders about their ties to Abramoff, instead of stonewalling and attacks against those who dare to question them.




Display:
Tom Minnery, Focus on the Family's senior vice president of government and public policy, told the Denver Post, "The left is even more desperate than I thought. We're just amazed they keep trying to re-fashion the same stuff."

Two points: (1) World Magazine is a conservative evangelical publication, not a member of "the left" as anyone defines it, and Mr. Minnery has attacked one of its reporters for daring to ask tough questions -- to which Focus on the Family did not fully respond.

(2) This is not all "the same stuff": the slot machine illustration and the nickname "Games Dobson" are all-new.


by jhutson on Wed Mar 08, 2006 at 01:31:58 PM EST

This is not all "the same stuff": the slot machine illustration and the nickname "Games Dobson" are all-new.

All-new instant classics. ;-)

Great post, Jonathan.


by moiv on Wed Mar 08, 2006 at 10:18:53 PM EST
Parent

You're developing your own political cartooning language. I like it.

by Bruce Wilson on Wed Mar 08, 2006 at 11:40:07 PM EST
Parent



While the involvement of Reed and Sheldon is clear, it seems that the Dobson link is far more tenuous. For example, the CDC backgrounder claims Dobson recorded phone banking messages, but the cited source, the Washington Post, does not say this. Max B.'s article says that "Dobson and friends" took part in activities including phone banking -- is the specific claim original reporting?

Also, in the Rocky Mountain News article linked above, the CDC says that Dobson produced radio spots that were paid for by Abramoff clients, which is partially true in the case of the Miss. Band Choctaw campaign against the lottery in 1999. But the RM News article is talking about the La. Coushatta campaign against the Jena Band Choctaw in 2002 -- and I can't find any reports that Dobson did the same thing.

These kinds of technicalities are like a get out of jail card for Dobson to successfully dodge the attack and to discredit CDC.

by Ezra on Thu Mar 09, 2006 at 01:59:40 PM EST



WWW Talk To Action


Cognitive Dissonance & Dominionism Denial
There is new research on why people are averse to hearing or learning about the views of ideological opponents. Based on evaluation of five......
By Frederick Clarkson (374 comments)
Will the Air Force Do Anything To Rein In Its Dynamic Duo of Gay-Bashing, Misogynistic Bloggers?
"I always get nervous when I see female pastors/chaplains. Here is why everyone should as well: "First, women are not called to be pastors,......
By Chris Rodda (199 comments)
The Legacy of Big Oil
The media is ablaze with the upcoming publication of David Grann's book, Killers of the Flower Moon. The shocking non fiction account of the......
By wilkyjr (111 comments)
Gimme That Old Time Dominionism Denial
Over the years, I have written a great deal here and in other venues about the explicitly theocratic movement called dominionism -- which has......
By Frederick Clarkson (101 comments)
History Advisor to Members of Congress Completely Twists Jefferson's Words to Support Muslim Ban
Pseudo-historian David Barton, best known for his misquoting of our country's founders to promote the notion that America was founded as a Christian nation,......
By Chris Rodda (113 comments)
"Christian Fighter Pilot" Calls First Lesbian Air Force Academy Commandant a Liar
In a new post on his "Christian Fighter Pilot" blog titled "BGen Kristin Goodwin and the USAFA Honor Code," Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan......
By Chris Rodda (144 comments)
Catholic Right Leader Unapologetic about Call for 'Death to Liberal Professors' -- UPDATED
Today, Donald Trump appointed C-FAM Executive Vice President Lisa Correnti to the US Delegation To UN Commission On Status Of Women. (C-FAM is a......
By Frederick Clarkson (126 comments)
Controlling Information
     Yesterday I listened to Russ Limbaugh.  Rush advised listeners it would be best that they not listen to CNN,MSNBC, ABC, CBS and......
By wilkyjr (118 comments)
Is Bannon Fifth-Columning the Pope?
In December 2016 I wrote about how White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who likes to flash his Catholic credentials when it comes to......
By Frank Cocozzelli (251 comments)
Ross Douthat's Hackery on the Seemingly Incongruous Alliance of Bannon & Burke
Conservative Catholic writer Ross Douthat has dissembled again. This time, in a February 15, 2017 New York Times op-ed titled The Trump Era's Catholic......
By Frank Cocozzelli (64 comments)
`So-Called Patriots' Attack The Rule Of Law
Every so often, right-wing commentator Pat Buchanan lurches out of the far-right fever swamp where he has resided for the past 50 years to......
By Rob Boston (161 comments)
Bad Faith from Focus on the Family
Here is one from the archives, Feb 12, 2011, that serves as a reminder of how deeply disingenuous people can be. Appeals to seek......
By Frederick Clarkson (177 comments)
The Legacy of George Wallace
"One need not accept any of those views to agree that they had appealed to real concerns of real people, not to mindless, unreasoning......
By wilkyjr (70 comments)
Betsy DeVos's Mudsill View of Public Education
My Talk to Action colleague Rachel Tabachnick has been doing yeoman's work in explaining Betsy DeVos's long-term strategy for decimating universal public education. If......
By Frank Cocozzelli (80 comments)
Prince and DeVos Families at Intersection of Radical Free Market Privatizers and Religious Right
This post from 2011 surfaces important information about President-Elect Trump's nominee for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. -- FC Erik Prince, Brother of Betsy......
By Rachel Tabachnick (218 comments)

Respect for Others? or Political Correctness?
The term "political correctness" as used by Conservatives and Republicans has often puzzled me: what exactly do they mean by it? After reading Chip Berlin's piece here-- http://www.talk2action.org/story/2016/7/21/04356/9417 I thought about what he explained......
MTOLincoln (253 comments)
Fear
What I'm feeling now is fear.  I swear that it seems my nightmares are coming true with this new "president".  I'm also frustrated because so many people are not connecting all the dots! I've......
ArchaeoBob (107 comments)
"America - love it or LEAVE!"
I've been hearing that and similar sentiments fairly frequently in the last few days - far FAR more often than ever before.  Hearing about "consequences for burning the flag (actions) from Trump is chilling!......
ArchaeoBob (211 comments)
"Faked!" Meme
Keep your eyes and ears open for a possible move to try to discredit the people openly opposing Trump and the bigots, especially people who have experienced terrorism from the "Right"  (Christian Terrorism is......
ArchaeoBob (165 comments)
More aggressive proselytizing
My wife told me today of an experience she had this last week, where she was proselytized by a McDonald's employee while in the store. ......
ArchaeoBob (163 comments)
See if you recognize names on this list
This comes from the local newspaper, which was conservative before and took a hard right turn after it was sold. Hint: Sarah Palin's name is on it!  (It's also connected to Trump.) ......
ArchaeoBob (169 comments)
Unions: A Labor Day Discussion
This is a revision of an article which I posted on my personal board and also on Dailykos. I had an interesting discussion on a discussion board concerning Unions. I tried to piece it......
Xulon (180 comments)
Extremely obnoxious protesters at WitchsFest NYC: connected to NAR?
In July of this year, some extremely loud, obnoxious Christian-identified protesters showed up at WitchsFest, an annual Pagan street fair here in NYC.  Here's an account of the protest by Pagan writer Heather Greene......
Diane Vera (130 comments)
Capitalism and the Attack on the Imago Dei
I joined this site today, having been linked here by Crooksandliars' Blog Roundup. I thought I'd put up something I put up previously on my Wordpress blog and also at the DailyKos. As will......
Xulon (331 comments)
History of attitudes towards poverty and the churches.
Jesus is said to have stated that "The Poor will always be with you" and some Christians have used that to refuse to try to help the poor, because "they will always be with......
ArchaeoBob (148 comments)
Alternate economy medical treatment
Dogemperor wrote several times about the alternate economy structure that dominionists have built.  Well, it's actually made the news.  Pretty good article, although it doesn't get into how bad people could be (have been)......
ArchaeoBob (90 comments)
Evidence violence is more common than believed
Think I've been making things up about experiencing Christian Terrorism or exaggerating, or that it was an isolated incident?  I suggest you read this article (linked below in body), which is about our great......
ArchaeoBob (214 comments)

More Diaries...




All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. Comments, posts, stories, and all other content are owned by the authors. Everything else © 2005 Talk to Action, LLC.