James Dobson

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Focus on the Family Founder James Dobson Dead at 89

Child psychologist who started a radio show was long a campaigner against abortion, gay rights

(Newser) - Dr. James Dobson , a politically influential child psychologist who started a radio show counseling Christians on how to be good parents, founded the conservative ministry Focus on the Family, and was long a campaigner against abortion and gay rights, died on Thursday. He was 89. His death was confirmed...

Tea Party Shifts Focus to Kentucky

Palin backs Rand Paul over Trey Grayson

(Newser) - After taking down Bob Bennett in Utah, the Tea Party has a new target: Kentucky. Tea Party activists and other conservative critics yesterday shifted their sights to the state's mid-May primary for their next big challenge to a political establishment they have vowed to upend. The Kentucky race pits Secretary...

Women's Groups Rip Super Bowl Anti-Abortion Ad

CBS refuses to yank Focus on Family spot

(Newser) - Furious women's groups are demanding that CBS yank a controversial anti-abortion Super Bowl ad by an ultra-conservative evangelical organization. It's the first time Focus on the Family, which battles gay marriage and abortion rights, is spending millions to deliver its message during the NFL's big game. "We urge you...

Olbermann to Prejean: WTF!?!

Host slams pageant queen for self-righteous attitude

(Newser) - Keith Olbermann ripped “holier-than-thou know-it-all” Carrie Prejean in the new “WTF!?!” segment of his show last night, Gawker reports. “This is no longer about her opinion, it’s about her,” Olbermann insisted, tweaking the beauty queen on the First Amendment: “Your grandfather did...

Prejean: 'Satan Set Gay Trap for Me'

She rejected devil and 'stood up for God' on gay marriage, Prejean tells Dobson

(Newser) - Miss California has told a Christian radio program that "Satan tried to tempt me" with the gay marriage pageant question that rocketed her into controversy. "I wanted to sound politically correct" and win the Miss USA pageant, Carrie Prejean told evangelical leader James Dobson yesterday. "Then God...

Sick of Compromise, Christian Right Drops Politics

New generation of religious conservatives question old guard's tactics

(Newser) - A new generation of religious conservatives is turning its back on political activism, Kathleen Parker writes in the Washington Post. Today's Moral Majority accuses Christian leaders like James Dobson of bringing the cultural wars from churches to Congress and compromising their beliefs. Now, “Dobson and the Christian right political...

Focus on the Family Chair Dobson Resigns

Promises to continue preaching conservative views on his own

(Newser) - James Dobson is stepping down from his perch atop Focus on the Family, the AP reports, saying he wants to “lessen his administrative burden.” The conservative evangelist said he’ll keep playing a big role in the organization he founded, and will keep pushing his political agenda. Though...

Evangelical Dobson Softens on McCain

Given Obama 'threat,' Republican appears to be lesser of two evils

(Newser) - James Dobson still won’t formally endorse John McCain, but the evangelical leader voiced support for the Republican candidate in a radio broadcast today, the AP reports. “Barack Obama contradicts and threatens everything I believe about the institution of the family and what is best for the nation,”...

Obama Just Wants Evangelicals Not to Fear Him
Obama Just Wants Evangelicals Not to Fear Him
ANALYSIS
Jun 27, 2008 2:47 PM CDT

Obama Just Wants Evangelicals Not to Fear Him

Reassuring those unlikely to vote for him will cool opposition, could win over undecideds

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s plan to cut the Democrats' evangelical deficit (68%-30% in 2000, 78-21% in '04)? Convince the religious right he’s not the devil. That’s a “radically different” course from the one taken by John Kerry and Al Gore, what Jeff Greenfield, on Slate, calls a “...

Evangelical Dobson Slams Obama

Focus on the Family head blasts 'fruitcake' Constitution interpretation

(Newser) - One of the country's most prominent evangelical leaders says Barack Obama is "distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own world view," the AP reports. Focus on the Family head James Dobson recorded an 18-minute screed that was released ahead of his radio show today,...

Young Evangelicals Shifting Left
Young Evangelicals Shifting Left
Feb 11, 2008 5:55 PM CST

Young Evangelicals Shifting Left

Many are dropping hot-button issues to take on media and Internet porn

(Newser) - Young evangelicals are dropping hot-button GOP issues like abortion and gay marriage to embrace less controversial causes, a new survey says. Internet porn, liberal media, and AIDS orphans now top their political hot list, and many young evangelicals who still rank abortion as number one also pick Barack Obama—a...

Key Evangelical Leader to Endorse Huckabee

First primary endorsement ever for Focus on Family founder

(Newser) - One of the most influential Evangelical Christian leaders in the nation is expected today to endorse Mike Huckabee, providing a major boost to his campaign among conservatives, AP reports. James Dobson, founder of Colorado's Focus on the Family organization, has never before endorsed a Republican presidential candidate during a primary...

Can the Right Grin and Bear Him?
Can the Right Grin and
Bear Him?
Feb 1, 2008 3:00 PM CST

Can the Right Grin and Bear Him?

Some conservatives forgive McCain's flaws, but haters hold out

(Newser) - As John McCain assumes the GOP frontrunner position, can right-wingers look past the maverick's previously unacceptable positions on immigration, gay marriage, campaign finance, tax cuts, and global warming?Some of them are warming up in a hurry, reports the New York Times. “He has moved in the right direction strongly...

WH Told to Reveal Visitor List
WH Told to Reveal Visitor List
Dec 17, 2007 7:36 PM CST

WH Told to Reveal Visitor List

Court rules that Bush and Cheney's appointments are public knowledge

(Newser) - Who stops by the White House or Dick Cheney's place is a matter of public record, a district court judge ruled today, blocking the Bush administration's attempts to keep visitor logs sealed. Liberal watchdogs had argued the information is covered by the Freedom of Information Act, while President Bush had...

Norris Credited With Huck Boost
Norris Credited With Huck Boost
Dec 5, 2007 1:55 PM CST

Norris Credited With Huck Boost

Action star a multi-generational icon, but also a true Christian conservative

(Newser) - Like the last shrewd Arkansas politician before him, Mike Huckabee isn't discounting the punch of star power—particularly when it's coming from martial arts tough guy Chuck Norris. Seriously, says Newsweek’s Howard Fineman. Not only did the action hero provide needed publicity, but he’s a known born-again Christian...

Blackwater CEO Thick as Thieves With Bush, Christian Right

Prince's ties date to White House internship

(Newser) - The CEO of embattled Blackwater USA has deep ties to the GOP and the religious right, beginning with a college internship in the first Bush White House. Erik Prince’s security firm's federal contracts have grown from under $1 million in 2001 to over $1 billion today, and he's made...

Christian Right Seeks Rudy Alternative

If the faithful can't find a candidate soon, he'll be the winner

(Newser) - The religious right’s failure to coalesce around anyone in the GOP’s top presidential tier could throw the party’s nomination to socially liberal Rudy Giuliani, the Los Angeles Times reports. By favoring unrealistic candidates such as Brownback and Huckabee, and doubting the conservative zeal of Romney and Thompson,...

Thompson Losing Evangelicals
Thompson Losing Evangelicals
Sep 27, 2007 12:31 PM CDT

Thompson Losing Evangelicals

Balk at endorsing candidate who won't talk about his religion, doesn't back gay marriage ban

(Newser) - Fred Thompson, once the longed-for alternative to a field of uninspiring GOP candidates, didn't get through his campaign's first official month before the religious right started jumping ship, Politico reports. Thompson's refusal to back a gay marriage ban, past lobbying for an abortion-rights group, and refusal to talk religion has...

Anti-abortion Groups Split by Late-Term Ban

Purists rip Dobson for praising limits, not full prohibition

(Newser) - The recent Supreme Court ruling against partial-birth abortions has ignited a battle among anti-abortion groups, the Washington Post reports. The bickering highlights a divide between groups working for a wholesale ban and those seeking limits. In newspaper ads, a religious coalition ripped the ruling as "wicked" and slammed longtime...

Giuliani Loses Dobson's Vote
Giuliani Loses Dobson's Vote
May 18, 2007 6:58 AM CDT

Giuliani Loses Dobson's Vote

Focus on the Family founder cites abortion support, "moral concerns"

(Newser) - Christian evangelist James Dobson came out swinging against Rudy Giuliani after the former mayor admitted last week that he supports abortion rights and same-sex domestic partnerships. Dobson says he won't vote for Rudy if he wins the GOP nomination, citing those issues and "moral concerns"  over his marital...

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