KY-SEN

Dobson Retracts Trey Grayson Endorsement, Switches To Rand Paul In KY-SEN Primary

Eric Kleefeld | May 3, 2010, 9:35AM

Focus on the Family founder James Dobson and KY-SEN candidate Trey Grayson (R)

In a major development in the Kentucky Republican Senate primary, James Dobson has retracted his endorsement of establishment favorite Trey Grayson and switched to Tea Party insurgent Rand Paul -- and Dobson claims that top Republicans had misled him about Paul's positions.

"Senior members of the GOP told me Dr. Paul is pro-choice and that he opposes many conservative perspectives, so I endorsed his opponent," Dobson said. "But now I've received further information from OB/GYNs in Kentucky whom I trust, and from interviewing the candidate himself."

Dobson had endorsed Grayson just last week, saying at the time that he was "the only candidate with the conviction to lead on the issues that matter to Kentucky families." The TPM Poll Average gives Paul a lead of 42.3%-25.3% in the Republican primary, which will be held on May 18.

KY-SEN

Dobson Endorses Trey Grayson In Kentucky GOP Senate Primary

Eric Kleefeld | April 26, 2010, 5:12PM

Focus on the Family founder James Dobson and KY-SEN candidate Trey Grayson (R)

James Dobson, the founder and former head of Focus on the Family, has endorsed Trey Grayson in the Republican Senate primary in Kentucky, involving himself in a key primary that is pitting the GOP establishment against Grayson's Tea Party-courting opponent, Rand Paul.

"Trey Grayson is the only candidate with the conviction to lead on the issues that matter to Kentucky families," Dobson said in a statement. "His unwavering commitment to the sanctity of human life and the family resonates with me. I know that he will be a leader on these issues, not just another Senator who checks the box."

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Family Research Council

Religious Right Including Members Of Congress Pray For God To Stop The Health Care Bill

Eric Kleefeld | December 17, 2009, 1:59PM

Men praying outside the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

The Family Research Council Action PAC held an extraordinary "prayercast" event last night, praying for the intercession of God to change Senators' minds and stop the health care bill.

(The full streaming video is available here.)

The event was an excellent display of the theocratic right -- that is, for the literal institution of religious doctrines in public policy, and appeals to the Deity for active direction and intervention in politics.

As I reported last night, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins began the evening with a false statement, confidently saying that history records the Founding Fathers praying for God's intervention at the Constitutional Convention. (They did not pray, mainly due to the financial inability to get a chaplain, as well as the political pitfall that even seeking a chaplain would alert the public to their internal dissensions.)

Co-host Lou Engle focused the event as a protest against abortion, alleging that the bill would result in government funding and promoting it, and likening their prayers to Biblical figures who worked to stop the genocide of the Jews. "But the Bible's very clear that prayer affects government," said Engle. "Esther's three-day fast changed public policy; Daniel's fast changed public policy; and it's the same, yesterday, today and forever, and that's why we're here."

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