Dr. Dobson to Set the record straight on Supreme Court nominee Miers

by Pete Winn, associate editor of CITIZENLINK, October 10, 2005
Focus on the Family broadcast will clear up the controversy over what information he possesses.

Dr. James Dobson will devote his Wednesday and Thursday Focus on the Family radio programs to answering critics who have dogged him over comments he made last week concerning Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers.

The founder and chairman of Focus on the Family spoke to listeners from his heart just days after Miers was nominated by President Bush, saying he supported her in part because of things he had been told by White House adviser Karl Rove.

"I can't reveal it all," Dobson said at the time, "because I do know things that I'm privy to that I can't describe because of confidentiality."

Over the weekend, Dobson was the talk of the talk show circuit over those comments, with some critics demanding to know if he had been assured whether Miers would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the chairman and ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, indicated they were troubled by Dobson's comments.

"The Senate Judiciary Committee is entitled to know whatever the White House knew," Specter said on ABC's "This Week." "If Dr. Dobson knows something that he shouldn't know or something that I ought to know, then I'm going to find out."

"If assurances were given of how any nominee, whether this nominee or anybody else . . . how they're going to vote in an upcoming case, I would vote against that person," Leahy said, also on ABC.

A third member of the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., was pointed in his criticism of the administration."Karl Rove should let the public know what kind of assurances he gave James Dobson," Schumer said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

Meanwhile, CNN reported -- flatly and incorrectly -- that "Dobson has indicated he was told privately how he would vote on certain matters."

During the taping of Wednesday's broadcast, Dobson said his critics would get answers, but "Sen. Schumer and his colleagues are just going to have to wait until Wednesday."

"Dr. Dobson is being deluged by requests from national media to talk about Harriet Miers and talk about what Karl Rove told him," said Focus on the Family Senior Vice President for Government and Public Policy Tom Minnery. "He'll be explaining that to everybody."

Minnery added that Dobson does have more to say about the issue, and plans to have guests on his program who will also talk about Miers and her qualifications.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
To find a local station that carries the Focus on the Family broadcast, click here. Or listen here to Wednesday’s program online. (Click here to listen to Thursday’s broadcast when it becomes available.)

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James Dobson speaks deeply from the heart and asks for your prayers. Listen here.