Top Christian right political groups "too busy to comment" on Robertson

[ck4829]

Pat Robertson's August 22 call for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez generated demands for an apology from members of Congress and religious groups spanning the ideological spectrum, including the National Council of Churches, the National Association of Evangelicals, and the National Clergy Council. Yet several leading Christian right political groups -- such as the Family Research Council, the Traditional Values Coalition, Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America, the Christian Coalition of America, and the American Center for Law and Justice -- have maintained silence on the matter. Another major Christian right political outfit, the American Family Association, excused Robertson's comments as having been made in "frustration" during an August 25 radio broadcast and quoted the conservative Media Research Center offering a lukewarm endorsement of Robertson's comments.

When contacted by The New York Times on August 24 to discuss Robertson's remarks, the Family Research Council, the Traditional Values Coalition, and the Christian Coalition each declined to comment, claiming they were "too busy."

The Family Research Council (FRC) has remained mum on Robertson since rebuffing the Times. FRC president Tony Perkins devoted his weekly radio program, Washington Watch Weekly, to his organization's campaign against the proposed .xxx Internet domain for pornography websites, ignoring the Robertson controversy. Perkins has yet to discuss Robertson's remarks in his daily "Washington Update" email newsletters. Following Robertson's call for assassination, on August 26, FRC issued a newsletter denouncing People for the American Way as "People for Getting in the Way."

Silence on the issue has prevailed at James Dobson's Focus on the Family, which sells an audio cassette featuring a discussion among Dobson, Robertson, and attorney Jay Sekulow, titled The Supreme Court Speaks Out. As the controversy over Robertson's remarks exploded in the media on August 25 and 26, Dobson devoted two consecutive radio programs to discussing "the causes and signs of stress in children and how parents can help alleviate that stress"; he has yet to acknowledge the controversy on the air. There has been no mention of the controversy on Focus on the Family's website or in its related publications. Instead, the site features articles such as "Five Aspects of a Godly Man." An excerpt: "God HAS created men with a desire to fight for truth and stand against evil and injustice. We see this in little boys who like play guns, as well as in the longing for significant purpose that a man experiences when watching a movie like Braveheart."

http://mediamatters.org/items/200508300004

[Bluzmann57]

1. Well of course they're too busy

But if Jesse Jackson or someone like him would have made those remarks, Dobson and the rest of the wingnuts would have been calling for Jackson's head. And Braveheart was a factual movie, supposedly, so what exactly is Dobson trying to say? That watching a depiction of a historic event makes one more of a man? Please help me out here. I really don't understand what they are trying to say. Or better yet, shut up Dobson.

[texpatriot2004]

2. I think we should pull a Sinclair Broadcasting thing on them. You

know, a coordinated email campaign to ask them how they could be "too busy" to comment.

[TlalocW]

3. If only Tinky Winky or Spongebob were involved somehow

Then they would be willing to speak out!

TlalocW