Saturday, October 08, 2005

Advise and Conceal


"You will have to trust me on this one."

That's James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, on the subject of the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. "I know the person who brought her to the Lord," he said. "I have talked at length to people that know her and have known her for a long time."

Last weekend Dobson received a phonecall from Karl Rove about Ms. Miers. "Some of what I know, I am not at liberty to talk about," he said afterward.

Pardon me?

Sometimes ministers do need to keep things confidential. If I went to my priest for counseling or confession, it would be his responsibility to me and his duty to God to keep our conversations private. But it would also be inappropriate for him to say, "I know some good stuff about our friend Andy...of course, I can't tell you any of it."

Who are you, James Dobson? Who died and made you Senator? Why is the White House providing you with information about a Supreme Court nominee that will not be made available to the Senators, whose constitutional duty it is to advise the President on nominations and provide or withhold their consent?

I'll tell you what kind of man James Dobson is. He's the kind who's so arrogant, who's so infatuated with his own self-righteousness, that he thinks he's practicing the highest form of Christian integrity by not betraying a confidence. He doesn't realize that his motivation for doing so is not to protect, but to deceive.

2 comments:

Jess said...

The whole mess is very troubling.

Anonymous said...

I'm a person of faith myself, but why is Ms. Miers' conversion to evangelical Christianity so important to her service on the Supreme Court? I don't care if the candidate is a Christian, Jew, Buddhist or atheist. Until the Christian right began dreaming theocratic dreams, one's particular spiritual affiliation was not part of the job description. I understand that evangelicals are dismayed by their perception that the court is "dominated" by Catholics and Jews. Perhaps the evangelicals should cultivate the intellectual traditions and respect for learning that Catholics and Jews have, so they can push for a better nominee