EVANGELICALS TO DOBSON, MEDIA: ACTUALLY, WE REALLY LIKE THIS FRED THOMPSON GUY

Evangelicals have now begun to explicitly challenge Dobson's attacks on Thompson. We really don't know what Dobson could've been thinking. First of all, he's just being unfair. Fred's position isn't in support of gay marriage any more than his opposition to a federal ban on abortion is in support of abortion - it's a principled federalist position coming from the guy who was on the bottom of a 99-1 in the Senate because he was against giving states anti-terrorism funds with strings attached.

Even if that wasn't true, Dobson's standards are unreasonably higher than his congregation. This is going problem for him, because evangelicals are not the slavish caricatures that the MSM makes them out to be. Dobson speaks for evangelicals to the larger world, but he doesn't determine how they'll vote. If they disagree with him on Fred - and they do - they'll tell him to go pound sand. Who're evangelicals going to vote for? Mitt? Not if the recent polls are right. And they'll stay home in a general against Hillary? Not so much.

The Richard Land quote behind the link includes the phrase "furious at Doctor Dobson." Good stuff.

[Cross-posted to Mere Rhetoric]

AP REPORT ON FRED'S ANNOUNCMENT RECYCLES JERI SMEAR

Hey, what do you think the odds are that the AP writeup of Fred Thompson's June 6 announcement included a drive-by slam at Jeri Thompson? Answer: not low:

Organizationally, Thompson underwent a series of staff changes - including the replacement of his manager-in-waiting - and other departures amid consternation about the active role of Thompson's wife, Jeri. At the same time, little progress was made setting up organizations in key states.

"Consternation about the active role of Thompson's wife, Jeri." Where have we seen that line before? Could it have been earlier this week when the AP used the exact same line to trash Jeri? This isn't scandalous or anything, but it does show a certain degree of total mind boggling laziness on the part of AP hacks. If you're going to try to get a meme to congeal, the least you can do is not use the exact. same. line. We're not asking for objectivity here. Just a little effort.

Seriously - this line was so obviously a poorly written awkward smear that we bolded it the last time that the AP dropped it into their "news reporting". And now they did it again - because apparently no anti-Republican smear is too ham fisted to use just once.

[Cross-posted to Mere Rhetoric]