There is a battle royale going on between former Majority Leader Dick Armey and James Dobson of Focus on the Family, a radical right group.
In last Sunday’s edition of the Washington Post, Armey argued that Republicans face an electoral rout because they abandoned the principles of limited government and became the party of huge deficits, Terry Schiavo, flag burning, and same-sex marriage. He pins much of the blame for this on Dobson and other Christian leaders on his FreedomWorks website, and has called them “thugs” and “bullies” in recent interviews.
Dobson and others are predictably shocked and dismayed at Armey’s remarks, saying he is a bitter man who is sore that Dobson supported an opponent of Armey’s for the post of majority leader.
One comment by the radical right was particularly telling as it condemned Armey: “If it weren’t for the [anti same-sex] marriage amendment in Ohio, John Kerry would be president. So shut up, Dick,” said Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention and an ally of Dobson’s–which goes to show once again that the GOP’s stooges only care about so-called “family values” insofar as it helps their candidates get elected.
Not that I feel particularly sorry for Dobson and his ilk, but Dick Armey sure didn’t refrain from using social wedge issues when it suited him, such as pushing the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act” in 1996 (which uselessly told the states they could ignore same-sex marriages from other states when they could already do so under the Full Faith and Credit clause of the Constitution), a craven act of GOP politicking intended to force Clinton to choose between his liberal base and the independent vote during his re-election. I think he’s being a tad bit hypocritical.
Sometimes it’s just best to sit back and watch your opponents destroy each other..it sure is a lot of fun!
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