I just tried the above link and found also that it said the page did not exist. I just ignored that and clicked "Go to blog homepage." It is the second article down. Or you can just go to http://www.huckabeepolls.blogspot.com

All-in-for-Mike:

Congratulations on your opportunity to speak at the Washington D.C. tea party. I will pray that God will give you the words and message that you need.

Justgrace:

I have been reading with a great deal of interest all of the posts about Dr. Dobson and others that I thought would willingly endorse Gov. Huckabee. I have loved and respected Dr. Dobson for years, and I still do. I agree that his ministry has been far more a ministry to the family than to politics. I was greatly disappointed, however, to hear Tom Minnery and his cohort extoll the virtues of Romney, while treating Gov. Huckabee's candidacy almost as a joke. As the political arm of Focus on the Family, what they do does reflect back on Dr. Dobson and his organization. Perhaps Dr. Dobson erred in his choice of Mr. Minnery to head that part of the ministry...I don't profess to know!

It was also very interesting to listen to the interview between Steve Deace and Mr. Minnery. To whomever posted that link, "Thank You". I thought Mr. Deace made some compelling arguments that Mr. Minnery did not seem comfortable with. I, along with many of you, sent several emails to Mr. Minnery expressing my concerns over his treatment of Gov. Huckabee as opposed to his very enthusiastic, excited discourse on Romney. Also, I am still puzzled over why the evangelical world responded to Gov. Huckabee as it did.

When icons such as Bob Jones and others come out vocally supporting someone who, I believe, only gave lip service to the things that they profess to believe whole-heartedly in, it creates a doubt, and a question in my mind about their actions. While I certainly do not want to be judgemental of them, I can't help but wonder why they took the position they did. I also corresponded several times with Gary Bauer, but I never felt he ever gave me a satisfactory answer as to why he never supported Gov. Huckabee. As for Pat Robertson, I believe his reasoning for supporting Guilani was flawed, but he, like the rest of us, is only human.

I firmly believe that we need a man of God in the White House. I wonder if Gov. Huckabee is that man, but I don't know the mind of God. My husband and me continually pray that God will raise up a leader who will allow himself to be led by God and his Word.

I thank all of you who write here. I check in almost every day, and get most of my national news from here. It is a blessing to be able to come here to read your loving and thoughtful comments.

God bless!

Did you already see http://www.AnnCoulterApology.com ?
They have an amazing video of various conservative radio and TV hosts, confronting Ann Coulter, asking her why she lied about Romney's record. In the course of the video, they talk about some of the things in his record that his followers DON'T want anyone to know.

Also try MassResistance.com or MassResistance.org

Thank you for your good thoughts, Hannamarha! I am unable to hear Steve Deace's comments on radio, so it makes it hard for me to know if he was being unfair with Minnery. What you suggest, that perhaps some of Dr. Dobson's associates were not properly prepared or able to decide accurately political issues may be part of the reason for the wrong (we believe) endorsement of Romney.

One factor we may need to keep in mind here is how the economy is affecting the mood of Christian ministries. The economic downturn is causing many on the staff of Focus on the Family and even Billy Graham Evangelistic Association to be laid off work. A recent writer's conference I attended in Colorado Springs gave me opportunity to visit with editors and notice their anxiety over their jobs, how their ministries must be curtailed, and what their future holds. In light of this, I have even more compassion and concern that we stick together, and not be too harsh. I think God will use these hard times to purify us all. Hopefully, this will help conservatives to ponder and return to the values that brought greatness during the Reagan era.

I think it is great that you corresponded with Gary Bauer and held him to account. Also, others like Minnery need to answer our respectful questions. And I pray we will become of one mind and heart about God's plans for the future leadership of our country.

I don't believe that being wrong is a sin per se. The question to ask is, "Even though the person was wrong, did he or she do his due diligence?" Failure to do one's due diligence, especially in a grave matter, can indeed be a sin. And failure to do one's own homework, and instead just copying someone else's, is more than likely a sin.



But what did Dobson actually say about his "error"?



Exactly. In spite of the shortcomings of the so-called family leaders, I still think God worked things out as He pleased. I don't think it was time for Huckabee yet. After all, even though Judas committed an unthinkable sin by betraying Christ, it was still all part of God's plan.

Since I admire your presence and comments here very much, Halcyon, I respect what you are saying. Yes, we expect our leaders to do a far better job of "due diligence" in the future. Look what not doing that has brought: a liberal, socialist President and a powerful congress following his mad turn into socialism.

Thank you for the kind comment, justgrace. And right back at ya.



Yep. Of course, we can all hope that it truly is darkest before the dawn.

It seems I've had little computer time now for a few days. And, this topic more than most others here currently still offers the most interest for me.

Lemme touch "legacy", a little, with remarks on diverse perspectives. I am quite sure (though lacking specific evidence) that there are millions of Americans --primarily evangelical Christians of one sort or another-- who have been touched in some way by the work of Dr. Dobson, and who pay little or no attention to electoral politics, and even with communities more reclusive and homogeneous, like the Mennonites.

They encounter him through radio, through their churches (for example, in bulletin inserts) and through retail Christian book stores. And, what they encounter substantively, has been, and continues to be mostly not about electoral politics. IOW, they see a Dobson almost invisible to the MSM.

Without even bothering to look up statistics, I would bet anyone a steak dinner that Dobson's book "Dare to Discipline" has been his best selling book. And, it wouldn't surprise me at all if it beat his next three titles combined. And, it would only surprise just a little if it beat all his titles combined.

I could be wrong, but I've never seen it on a clearance table, and I've seen a number of his other titles there. And, I've seen it on the bookshelves in homes of people who are not avid bookbuyers, but have that book, the bible, several issues of the Farmer's Almanac, Strong's Concordance, and the dictionary, on their small unassuming bookshelf.

Dr. Dobson came on the scene at an opportune time to be a traditionalist counterweight to the Dr. Spock type conventional wisdom which had been sucking the oxygen out of the social discussion of healthy child rearing for a generation.

And, many of these folks intimate with this other Dr. Dobson will never read the political tomes cataloging who were the most important political activists of the late 20th, and early 21st century.



As to "Dobson on childcare" (see my previous remarks in this post), I suspect you are a generation late. And, have the cart before the horse.

The simple fact the nation knows who Dr. Dobson is, is directly related to this childcare work. "Dare to Discipline" (and a few others) came first, and then the radio show and Focus on the Family. He got a radio show because he already had a national reputation for work which God uses to touch lives.

Beyond that, the pro life movement is not entirely about electoral, or judicial politics. And, no one has been a bigger force (from what I've seen) in promoting Crisis Pregnancy Centers, and adoption options, and various other social non_political works. So, far more than mere endorsements have to be factored into even the part of the legacy which is bracketed off as "pro life movement".



1988 is actually a quite appropriate analogy to your argument here. George H.W. Bush was the Mitt Romney of his day! A well-to-do establishment patrician, with a political pedigree in the moderate wing of the Republican party, who had previously been pro choice, and then switched in time to run for the Republican nomination for POTUS.

What's more... 1988 was an open and contested primary with at least two candidates who had better reputations on the pro life issue: Pat Robertson, and Jack Kemp (I was Kemp supporter that year). Well-known religious conservatives (who had spoken to Bush) in those days assured voters that George H.W. Bush's conversion on the pro life question was genuine.

It was a more believable conversion, because H.W. didn't have to live with difficult to explain embarrassing You Tube videos. And also, because he had at least eight years of time since his last public pro choice comments, with no intervening contradictions, and those years were spent serving Ronald Reagan. His only red flag that I recall was that it came out that Barbra Bush disagreed with her husband.

The parallels between 2008 Romney and 1988 H.W. are really quite striking.

Moreover, it is important (I think) to pro life puritans such as we, that all the nominees in the Republican party have had the weak exception position. Bush 41, Bob Dole, even Dubya, and John McCain have all had the "Rape Incest, Life of the Mother" trio, as do most of the candidates who run for POTUS, including Willard Mitt Romney!

Romney probably thought it strange that his position, which was identical to every Republican nominee of the last 20 years including the darling of evangelicals George W. Bush, and he (Mitt) was not thought of as sufficiently pro life.

Sometimes that can be an incredible blessing. Ever heard of the book "We Got Fired--and It's the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Us"? Well, someone needs to write, "I Got Disconnected from the Internet--and It's the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me!"

LOL! My DH took the kids to his folks' for 5 days so I could stay home and get caught up on all the projects around the house which suffered during my Huck-a-holic period (Dec. 2007 - Sept. 2008) and then my work for McCain/Palin (Sept. 2008 - Nov. 4, 2009). Then there was Thanksgiving and Christmas to get ready for. Then we prepared for and went on a 7-day free Caribbean cruise, without the kids! yea!

All of which is to say....my house and domestic order were neglected for a 13-month period! So last week I cleaned out ALL the closets in the house and sold the clothes at a consignment sale. This past Saturday I went through all our files and re-organized them, making more room and order. Yesterday I ran errands all day and stocked up on food. Today I spent 5 hours cleaning out the basement /storage area. I gotta tell ya, that place looks SOOO much better, and I FEEL soooo much better! There is a big pile of trash and cut-up boxes at the curb.

I know this is all rather off-topic, but ya'll are my Huck-a-friends, and I wanted to invite you to rejoice with me! "Let all things be done decently and in order" (I Corinthians 14:40).

My next post is back on topic.

Here is Kathleen Parker's take on this controversy, printed in The Washington Post on Sunday, April 5, 2009, page 19 (Opinion pages):



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 26_pf.html

Hope you didn't have any withdrawal symptoms afterward. And I'm glad that you spoke to that mountain of mess and cast it into the sea!

Well, I did have pretty bad withdrawal.... and they tried to treat it with the political equivalent of Methadone (Sarah Palin). But when she got barbecued by Katie Couric and other interviewers, I went screaming back to HucksArmy.com and HuckPAC.com for a daily fix!!

Parker's article was dead on. I don't know whether to say "amen" or "oh, me!" Or, as Voddie Baucham says, "If you can't say 'Amen' you oughta say 'Ouch'!"

I'm very conflicted about the future of the Republican party, and more broadly, about the future of conservatism in general. I really do think the Republicans need to go the way of the Whigs. They have no credibility. Look at them now . . . a golden opportunity to absolutely destory the lunacy happening on a literally daily basis in Washington, and they can't seem to get their act together. And why? The reason is simple: those idiotic moderates continue to think they can tell SoCons what to do; and many SoCons let them (as this article well points out).

This is precisely why I didn't vote for McCain. This is going to force not only the Republican Party, but SoCons and religious conservatives of all stripes, to decide what is more important: principle or politics. Our "leaders" sold us out and chose the latter. Now it's time to rebuild.

Don't we all accede that the big cultural battles are being lost, to some extent? Who's to blame? They who tried to make a difference in politics, broadcasting, counseling, who made some mistakes and were not effective enough?

Or is it perhaps those Christians who decided to let someone else do the battle for them...like most of us. I believe it is too often the silent churches. We are that one institution of society that should by right of our numbers be able to have such an effect on our nation that nothing could stop us. But we are compromisers, too often. I feel that the majority of the pastors in our country have been strangely silent and uninvolved. Is it because of 501c tax laws, with the government dictating that the pulpit cannot be used freely if we want to have our deductions?

We conservatives are far from being innocent of blame, ourselves. We like to put all the responsibility on those few leaders who have tried and tried to get the ear of American conservatives. When they take some ill-conceived action in hopes of retrieving some small amount of success, we crucify them. But where were we when the march for life was held? (I know many here have been working hard; I am talking of churches in general, where we feel we must keep our mouths shut not to alienate some of the members who are pro-choice)



I fundamentally agree, and yet I think Christians should always be a light and salt in their communities and government. Our mistake is not involvement in politics, but not enough of us being willing to speak out with a united voice. And in the area of "religion," our increasingly liberal and socialist government is going to try to quiet the Christian voice even more. They have taken the public schools, they have silenced the pastors. What now?, dear sober-thinking army?"