Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Dobson & Rove - Doctor & Patient?

The Note has this little nugget regarding the speculation over who in the White House told what to James Dobson regarding Harriet Miers.

ABC's Arianne DeVogue reports Dr. James Dobson has decided to devote his Wednesday and Thursday radio show to the question of what the Christian conservative leader learned from Karl Rove about Harriet Miers.

Spokesman Paul Hetrick tells DeVogue, "Dobson is going to explain what he thinks needs further explanation. . . He's a doctor and he believes in the privilege of private conversations unless the other party has agreed to lift that privilege."

Hetrick went on to say that he didn't know whether Rove had been asked to lift any such privilege.
Privilege? Is that supposed to be a joke?

Does this mean that Dobson, a psychologist, was counseling Rove when the subject of Harriet Miers' position on abortion just happened to come up? This must be what Dobson meant last week when he alluded to assurances that he received about Miers, but declined to say anything more due to "confidentiality." But, unless Rove is Dobson's patient (which would be weird, since Dobson is a child psychologist) it strains credibility to suggest that privilege could possibly apply in this case.

It is interesting to note that in last week's remarks, Dobson did not reveal who gave him assurances about Miers. The ABC News item and a Focus on the Family press release, however, identify Karl Rove as Dobson's source.

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.
If Dobson is going on the air to explain his comments as a way of avoiding a congressional subpoena, good luck.

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