Be well.

They just moved us to twelve hour shifts – 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., bleh… so, yes, I’ll be out ‘defending’ very soon (if you can call pumping fuel defending ). BTW, how’s the weather in Jersey? It is cold as, well, you know, here in Carolina. I heard the north is getting it real bad.

Shouldn’t you be out defending something? ::grin::

Also, I never suggested he was ‘a victim of his own naivete’. I merely pointed out that, regardless of his motives or his personal enjoyment or acceptance of his media status, he would represent christians anyway because the media summarizes protestants with his point of view. My point is that it can’t be helped – the media needs talking heads to survive, and Dobson is vocal enough and provocative enough to speak for christians. It’s just the way it is.

And it makes little difference how Dobson came to be perceived as a spokesman for Christians. My point is that he IS perceived that way, and that he knows it. And, knowing it, he chose to make the statements that he did. To suggest that he is a victim of his own naivete is, itself, naive.

As has been noted, I think the idea that there is no difference between Dobson and Khamenei is over exaggerated.

As far as, “… anything he says [being] seen as coming from our collective voice [as christians],” I think this is more the fault of media than Dobson, though whether or not he relishes the imbued status is unknown to me. When cable news wants to do a piece about something related to ethics or religion of course they’re going to summarize the christian perspective into one talking head. Dobson happens to be a favorite these days. I think it is incumbent upon media consumers to read between the lines and gauge the accuracy of summarizing the entirety of christendom in one voice.

You’d do well to go back and check McCain’s voting record. He’s voted pro-life every chance he gets.

Yes, he flip flops, but he does it in the other direction. He makes overtures towards centrists, and then votes in ways in which we see that he’s yet another “socially conservative” republican. How he continues to stay in office in the land of Goldwater, I’ll never know.

Debbie, is this what you refer to as a flip-flop? McCain is not the first person to suggest that the marriage issue be one of states’ rights. I oppose amending the U.S. Constitution, also.