Dobsbury

(Submitted to Longmont Times-Call today)

Focus on the Family recently sent out a mailing sure to drive Op-Ed page managers completely bonkers – a think-by-numbers letter-generator designed to attack the creator of Doonesbury, Garry Trudeau.

Apparently Trudeau had the unmitigated temerity to question the exalted leader of FOF about ‘protecting marriage’ – a canard waved endlessly by the ‘moral majority.’ How do they respond? As their putative spiritual leader (I’m referring to Jesus Christ, not Dobson) would, with compassion and humility? Afraid not. Internet stoning appears to be Our Lord’s Way.

One of the lines in the auto-hate-mail generator really caught my eye: “Dislike the guy as much as you want, but it’s not Dobson whose blind allegiance to a political ideology is on display here.”

Oh, I beg to differ. Mr. Dobson, who endorses showering with your young son to ‘show him who the man of the house is’ cannot possibly be pointing fingers at anyone. Least of all a cartoonist.

When the religious icons start attacking the funny papers it’s time to reevaluate who’s trying to make us laugh harder.

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Here’s the text of the letter-generator page and a couple of sample letters:

Defend Dr. Dobson Against Doonesbury Lies

The April 15 Doonesbury comic strip took a blatantly untrue swipe at Focus on the Family founder Dr. James Dobson – and you can help defend Dr. Dobson in your local newspaper.

The cartoon by Garry Trudeau featured a radio talk-show host “interviewing” Dr. Dobson about presidential candidates. The host notes that three of the leading Republican candidates have been married multiple times, but the leading Democratic candidates have each had only one spouse.

“Which party best represents family values?” the host asks.

“The Republicans, because they don’t support gay marriages,” the cartoon Dr. Dobson responds.

“Nor their own apparently,” the host adds sarcastically, leaving “Dr. Dobson” to bluster almost incoherently.

The allegation that Dr. Dobson would choose a political party over his principles is ludicrous. Dr. Dobson has been quite vocal about his disappointment over the moral failings of GOP candidates. If your paper runs Doonesbury, help us set the record straight by sending a letter to the editor. We’ve made it easy for you to do. Below you’ll find paragraphs you can select and modify; no matter which paragraphs you select, the result will be a letter of no more than 200 words.

When you’re done, copy the letter into a word-precessing program and mail, fax or e-mail it to your local newspaper. For contact information for your newspaper, visit the CitizenLink Action Center.

First Paragraph No one expects the funny pages… Some people may think it silly… Garry Trudeau has made a tidy living… Comics are meant to make us laugh…

(view paragraph options)

Second Paragraph The “Doonesbury” creator… It’s one thing to note… Using “Doonesbury” to draw attention… If the “Doonesbury” creator…

(view paragraph options)

Third Paragraph Dobson has been openly… Based on the news reports… Look online for Dobson’s name… It doesn’t take much effort..

(view paragraph options)

Fourth Paragraph Trudeau appears to support… Trudeau’s liberalism… You don’t have to be a fan… Dislike the guy as much as you want…

(view paragraph options)

Conclusion Sincerely, {Your Name} Thank you for your time, {Your Name} With much appreciation, {Your Name} God bless you, {Your Name}

(view paragraph options)

—Sample letter (takes NO WRITING SKILLS AT ALL! How delightfully apropo for children raised and educated by parents who caint reed thessefs!)

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To the Editor:

No one expects the funny pages to reflect the same level of journalistic fairness that news pages do, but when a cartoonist gets it as wrong as Garry Trudeau did recently, it’s worth taking the time to correct the record.

It’s one thing to note in “Doonesbury” that the men leading the GOP race for the White House haven’t demonstrated a commitment to marital fidelity. And it’s fair to cite that history in suggesting those candidates can’t brag of being champions of traditional values. But it’s distorting reality to say, as Trudeau did, that Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family wants to ignore these problems.

Based on the news reports I’ve heard, Dobson has made some of the same points as Trudeau about some of these men – their walk hasn’t backed up their talk on the issues that social conservatives care about.

Dislike the guy as much as you want, but it’s not Dobson whose blind allegiance to a political ideology is on display here.

God bless you,

{Insert Your Name Here}

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That ‘God bless you’ part is truly hilarious. I wonder if the CO GOP is getting CC’d on these so they can hit them up for donations.