First Bush, Next SpongeBob

The chatter continues to emanate from Colorado Springs this week as James Dobson has turned his attention from holding President Bush and the G.O.P. accountable to tackling the vastly more important issue of sexual orientation among cartoon characters. 

According to reports, Christian activists, including Dobson and Focus on the Family, are up in arms about a new music video promoting tolerance and diversity to children and featuring SpongeBob SquarePants, Barney, Bob The Builder, the Rugrats  and other cartoon characters.  The video was produced by the We Are Family Foundation, founded by Nile Rodgers to promote healing after the 9/11 attacks.

Apparently, Dobson and others are angered that the tolerance message to children includes respecting people's sexual identity.  We'd link you to Dobson's full statement issued yesterday so you could read it yourself, but so far it hasn't appeared on the Focus on the Family website (though a press release on Dobson's TV appearance today has).

We're going to avoid the obvious comments that could be made about attacking cartoon characters, especially sponges, dinosaurs and builders (at least Dan Quayle took on a human TV character). However, this does seem to be a case where a Colorado Republican/Conservative has picked a fight that will be seen as less-than-serious by many, and could dilute the more important messages Focus on the Family feels they need to address.  And don't take our word for it, because there is a precedence here. In 1999 Jerry Falwell was widely ridiculed for saying that Tinky Winky, one of TV's Teletubbies, was a gay character.

Dobson is trying to make himself and his base a player in Republican politics (see James Dobson's Threat).  Going after gay sponges only serves to weaken that effort. Not to mention the fact that everyone, including us, is now going to start calling him "Sponge Dob."

Before we get angry comments on this, remember we often approach things here at Colorado Pols from a political strategy standpoint. We're not commenting on whether Dobson is correct that SpongeBob is gay - and we're not interested in debating the sexual preference of a cartoon sponge - but we do feel strongly that it is always a PR mistake to attack a cartoon character. It's seen as petty, whether your intentions are noble or not, and it makes it hard for people to pay attention to what you are saying.

Comments

[Alva Adams]

Here's a line we never thought we'd write:

"We do feel strongly that it is always a PR mistake to attack a cartoon character."

Yes, we do feel a bit silly.

[DawnG]

Aren't sponges asexual?

This whole thing has disturbed me tremendously. I am certain I could have lived my entire life blissfully ignorant if I didn't have to even contemplate the sexuality of a cartoon character.

Plus I can't get the term "sponge spooge" out of my head and that disturbs me even more.

[Joe]

It's a tactical mistake on Dobson's part to take on this issue.

It's a greater mistake to dismiss his stance as "going after a cartoon character." Dobson's message can't be any plainer: "There are those in society who want to teach your children not to hate gay people and that's dangerous to our way of thinking."

Dobson neglects to say how he thinks his listeners should teach their children to treat gay people. He also neglects to say how his listeners should behave toward the gay members of their own families.

This is a dangerous and divisive message.

[Alva Adams]

We understand what his message is, but you have to consider that the only thing anyone is going to remember about this is that "Dobson attacks SpongeBob." That's the soundbyte, and it makes him look silly. Ask someone next Friday what they remember about this, and they'll say that Dobson complained that SpongeBob was gay. Nobody will remember why, and nobody will know what his point was. That's the reality of the situation he has created for himself.

You can't take out one piece of a post and make it out to be the entire message. There is a bigger picture here regarding the harmful perception that Dobson has created for himself and for Focus on the Family. What his real message is, and whether he is right or not, is not what we are arguing (which is why we put the italics disclaimer in there - read it before you go off). This is a disastrous PR move that will not soon be forgotten; what he meant to say is irrelevant in our argument.

[norman leahy]

As someone who has been away from Colorado Springs since 1988 (a CC grad -- please don't hate me), I have to say that the Dobson episode makes me wonder just what in the hell has happened to the place. It used to be just a quite little military town...now, it's home to the tin-foil hat brigade. Jeebus, get Dobson to Murphs right away -- he needs a beer and a pickled egg.