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July 23, 2005 08:00 AM UTC

Empty Threats From SpongeDob

  • 27 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

James “SpongeDob” Dobson was the subject of a big story in the Rocky Mountain News today. The story focuses on Dobson’s heavy-handed attempt to grab the ear of Republican leaders and hold on tightly in regards to several issues:

Fight abortion. Block gay marriage. Stop stem cell research. Get tougher on obscenity. Keep God in the public square. And above all else, Dobson said, deliver new U.S. Supreme Court justices who will defend all of that in the courts.

If Republicans don’t deliver, Dobson told one interviewer, then “they’ll pay a price.”

We wrote about this back in January, and we said the same thing then: Dobson’s threats are silly. They are silly not because he doesn’t have influence – he does, to an extent – but because it’s a bluff that’s easily called. If Republicans don’t do what the SpongeDob says, he’s going to do what? Tell his supporters to vote Democrat? Tell them to not vote at all? What good would that do? Dobson’s power is power perceived, but the results don’t justify the concern.

Green Party supporters used similar logic (we’ll show you!) in 2000 in promoting Ralph Nader for President, and all it got them was a President who was much further from their viewpoints than Democrat Al Gore would have been. Dobson threatens everybody, but it’s hard to argue that his threats are working. President Bush has generally patted him on the head and smiled, and Senator Trent Lott has been among those telling him to back off.

Dobson ranted and raved about the filibuster issue, and where did that get him? In the end, a deal was made that was generally considered a victory for Democrats.

 

Even when Republicans listen to him, they sometimes end up regretting it. Take this example from the News:

Some Republicans fear the party is being set up for a crash.

Whitman, former New Jersey governor and EPA Administrator, said religious conservatives such as Dobson have exerted influence that goes “far beyond what the numbers justify.”

She points to the fight earlier this year over the fate of Florida hospice patient Terri Schiavo. Dobson and others persuaded Congress and President Bush to intervene in a court case, hoping to restore the woman’s feeding tube.

“Because of very sophisticated tactics and the ability to reach the opinion-makers and the leaders of the Congress . . . they were able to get Congress to act quickly – faster than they do on almost anything of national importance,” Whitman said.

Later, however, polls showed that a large majority of the general public opposed congressional intervention. Whitman said it suggests that the evangelical movement “may be a mile wide but an inch deep.”

Now Dobson is demanding to get his way with Supreme Court nominees.

The chance to reshape the nation’s courts represents Dobson’s greatest hope after 35 years of battling what he sees as society’s moral and cultural decline.

Dobson was happy with Bush’s nomination of federal Appeals Court Judge John G. Roberts on Tuesday to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Now he’ll jump into the fray by asking his millions of faithful listeners to hold senators’ feet to the fire during the confirmation.

Forgive us if we say, “Whatever.” Dobson undoubtedly has influence, but let’s stop pretending that the Republican sun rises and sets with his heavy hand. He may be starting to realize that himself:

Focus [On the Family] spokesman Hetrick said Dobson will support “politicians of any stripe” who stand up for traditional values.

“His heartfelt desire is to promote a pro-family, pro-life agenda, not to engage in the game of partisan politics,” Hetrick said in an e-mail interview.

Again, empty words. Dobson isn’t going to find a Democrat who represents everything he wants, and Republicans know that. When Republicans do what Dobson wants (such as in the Terry Schiavo case), they risk looking bad because of it. But if they don’t do what he wants…so what? Dobson doesn’t have a realistic alternative, and Republicans are increasingly figuring that out.

Is Dobson still a powerful figure? Absolutely. Is he the influencial dealmaker that he and the media sometimes make him out to be? No. Sorry.

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27 thoughts on “Empty Threats From SpongeDob”

  1. Ya – but there’s lots of money in the business, and for Dobson to turn a profit, he’s got to be the hard core conservative puppet master.

  2. First off I love the nickname spongeDob and second I have often wondered myself of this mysterious “pay the price” threat that Dobson continually puts out there.  Just read about the site in todays Rocky.  Keep up the good work.

  3. He’s not speaking to the party, doesn’t care about it.  SpongeDob (great name) intimidates individuals.  Punish one and the rest line up really fast.  His folks are recruiting candidates to do primaries from the religious right not simply the extreme right. There is a new meaning for RINO–Religion Is Number One. 

    watcher

  4. Ask Ramey Johnson what the religious right means when they say Republicans “will pay a price”.  The far right will eat their own if their agenda isn’t “honored”.  Sad but true.  When the far left alientated the Southern Dems they weakened the party.  The far right is going down the same road. I hope they wise up soon.

  5. James Dobson may not represent all Republicans, and maybe not even a majority.  But he represents enough that-at least on the national level-the GOP ignores him at their peril. Had the Religious Right sat on their hands during 2004 (like they did to Bush pere in 1992) John Kerry would be president.  The Rocky was correct in that Dobson isn’t a party man.  He has an agenda and will only support those that help him achieve it.

  6. GOPer has a point, but in the end it’s a self-defeating point.  At least the Naderites were voting FOR someone in 2000, even if their short-sightedness cost them significantly.  GOPer is right in that Dobson’s crowd staying home would have cost the Republicans the Presidency, but who would they have voted FOR?  The Natural Law party? 

    Instead, the “Religious Right” sell their religious integrity to corporate and military power brokers, trading in Jesus for the promise of Leviticus.

    I haven’t heard spongeDob say much about the evils of two-earner families lately, or the inadequacies of the current minimum wage.  You know, things that cause parents to spend too much time away from their children…

    Instead, we have to focus on the critical issue of two guys (or gals) getting a certificate from the State that conveniently formalizes some otherwise complicated legal contracts and signifies their intention to do exactly what they would be doing otherwise, but without legal recognition.  And on making sure that, no matter what the medical (or other serious) consequences to the woman, a fetus at any stage of development is carried to term.

    Dobson may be ignored at a Republican candidate’s peril, but if his rhetoric keeps intensifying, it may be that ignoring Dobson becomes preferable to pandering to him.

  7. PS – I’m making a promise to myself to use the name “spongeDob” on a regular basis whenever Dobson makes a fool of himself – great moniker.  Note to Televangelicals preaching of TV characters – make sure your name can’t be parsed in to the name of the character you are ridiculing.  No-one calls Falwell Rev. Tinky Winky…

  9. I am not a big fan of Howard Dean, but when it comes to Focus on the Family I completely agree with him.  When he was in Denver not long ago he attacked Focus for not focusing on the real issues that today’s families are encountering.  Dean said focus on the family whos primary income earner is only earning minimum wage, or the children that dont have health insurance because thier partents have to choose between paying the ever rising insurance premiums or paying rent.

    Becky is completely right on how if the GOP gives in to “Focus on Your Own Damn Family” they would be heading down the same road as the Dems did with the South.

  10. Phoenix Rising sez:

    GOPer is right in that Dobson’s crowd staying home would have cost the Republicans the Presidency, but who would they have voted FOR? The Natural Law party?

    The Constitution Party is an option for such folk.  Granted, it’s a very marginal choice, but the party did manage to get on the Colorado ballot in ’04.  The party is mostly hard-core Presbyterians.  I think they’re about the only “theonomists” or “dominionists” with an explicit political program.

  12. Maybe we could link SpongeDob and his crew up with the guy who’s trying to move 12,000 people to South Carolina to start some sort of new religious state.  While it wouldn’t get FoF out of our lives, at least it’d get them out of our state.

    Seriously, I agree with the original post and don’t think SpongeDob is as much of a power in politics as he’d like us to believe.  But, the vocal fringe – especially ones with megaphones – tend to dominate debate nowdays.  The media, because of a combination of their desire to show controversy and laziness, uses groups like FoF as an easy way to create for/against in their reporting on policy issues.  FoF has done a great job of exploiting this reality and building itself into a perceived power.  And, it latches onto hot button issues that the media tends to gravitate towards (like gay marriage). By being so strident on these hot button issues, FoF gets a lot of ink.

    Though, you’d think SpongeDob would start to question things when he continually gets treated like a child by the White House. Meanwhile, Bush’s corporate backers are the ones reaping the benefits of his presidency, not the social conservatives.

  13. It is interesting that the democracts behind this site swear that it is dedicated to politics, not the debate of ideology, except when it comes to Dobson and what he believes.  What is the point here?

  15. What is interesting is that he pretends to represent Chrstian values when (we) Christians can’t agree on much.  When are the cowering masses (no pun intended) of main-line church folks going to say this dude doesn’t speak for me?

  16. Boy, this Colorado Pols site is just stuffed full of left-leaning liberals who can see the forest for the trees.  Let’s start with the Post’s biased opening that Dobson’s agenda is to: “Fight abortion. Block gay marriage. Stop stem cell research…”  The terms the Post reporter uses to define the man, show her bias.  Dobson is not about blocking gay marraige.  He is about defending traditional marraige — which has the vast support of Americans despite what the liberals on this site think.  Dobson is not about stopping stem cell research.  He is about doing stem cell research on adult stem cells and umbillical cord stem cells — without killing embryos.  The science on stems to date has shown far more provise working with mature (adult) stem cells than through killing embryos for the research.  And, of course, the liberals tired-old favorite that Dobson is anti-abortion.  No, he’s pro-life. 

    Now, when is the Post going to do that big slam piece on Ralph Neas of PAW or on the MoveOn.Org moneybags.  No, these guys get the kid gloves treatment from the media. 

    Dobson is an influence for good in America.  Deal with it.

    Don

  17. Dobson’s main problem is that he doesn’t know much about Christian theology.  (He is not an ordained pastor.  His degree is in psychology, not theology.)

    I saw an interview one time where he refused to say that he was a sinner.  That’s Christianity 101 and he flunked it.

  18. Alfalfa might not like what Dobson has to say, but to treat him as a “megaphone fringe” will insure Democratic minorities at the national level for a long time.  According to the 2004/2005 US Statistic Abstract, self identified Christians are 76.69% of the adult population (159,506,000 adults).  Baptists and Catholics, both of whose official church positions back Dobson on gay marriage and abortion, account for 53.1% of those Christians (84,703,000 adults). I don’t agree with Dobson on several issues, but I recognize that his views are very much in the mainstream.

  20. Dobson is right, if you have been to any of the Assemblies, many of the Christain people will look for ony right to life leaders. If they can not find one they will not vote. So you have conservities that are not voting you get Salazar elected. I feel this is around the United States, they see you turning your back on them they will not vote.

  21. Don, you’re a bit hazy on those distinctions, aren’t you?

    “Doesn’t want to block gay marriage, wants to defend traditional marriage” – I already asked what he’s doing to defend traditional marriage; lately, it’s been to push to block gay marriage.

    “About doing stem cell research with adult stem cells[…] science to date shows far more promise with adult stem cells[…] – perhaps that’s because the lines of stem cells Bush approved are contaminated with mouse chemistry?

    “anti-abortion, pro-life” – Does Dobson support abortion in cases of medical need?  No?  Case closed – spongeDob is not pro-life.

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