Focus on the Family

A voice of fire and brimstone from the Far Right is warning senators that they “will be in the bull’s-eye” if they block any of Bush’s judicial nominees.

The warning came from James Dobson, founder of the ultra-conservative Focus on the Family. Like many Republicans, Dobson is claiming that Democrats alienated moderate voters by “obstructing” Bush’s agenda during his first term. (Earth to the Bible Brigade: This is a 2-party system. The opposing party – representing 48% of the electorate – is going to “obstruct” and disagree with the party in power. Bush’s job title is President; not King or CEO.)

Referring to Tom Daschle, the Senate Minority Leader who got voted out of office last November, Dobson said “Let his colleagues beware, especially those representing red states. Many of them will be in the bull’s-eye the next time they seek re-election.”

Focus on the Family has a mailing list of 2.5 million, plus 13 radio and TV programs. The group was one of the main instigators of the get-out-the-vote drive to inject the Old Testament into current American politics by bringing Fundamentalist Christians to the polls last November.

Republicans are pretending to be appalled at Democrats for obstructing Bush’s judicial nominees, even though they themselves perfected this tactic during Clinton’s presidency. Bush had 204 of his judicial nominees confirmed during his first term, and the federal judicial vacancy rate is the lowest it’s been in 16 years. One school of thought is that Bush purposely nominated some of the most controversial, ultra-rightwing judges he could find, so that when they were turned down by Congress, he could point the finger at these “obstructionists” and create a bogus campaign issue.

A Democratic spokesman dismissed Dobson’s threat as an “attention grab,” pointing out that Dobson’s message reached the news media before it reached the senators he was threatening.