Dobson issues a statement worth quoting good amounts from:

Conservative Christian leader James Dobson accused the Republican Party of abandoning values voters in the midterm elections – and paying the price by losing control of Congress. “What did they do with their power?” Dobson said in a statement. “Very little that values voters care about.”

[…snip…]

“They consistently ignored the constituency that put them in power until it was late in the game, and then frantically tried to catch up at the last minute,” said Dobson, who argued that religious conservatives ensured GOP wins in 2004.

Dobson also criticized other conservatives, including former Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas – an architect of the 1994 GOP House takeover – for complaining recently that the religious right was “too involved” with the party.

“Without the support of that specific constituency, John Kerry would be president and the Republicans would have fallen into a black hole in ’04,” Dobson said. “In fact, that is where they are headed if they continue to abandon their pro-moral, pro-family and pro-life base. The big tent will turn into a three-ring circus.”

[…snip…]

“Sadly for conservatives, that in large measure explains what happened on Tuesday night,” he said. “Many of the values voters of ’04 simply stayed at home this year.”

[…snip…]

More than four in 10 evangelicals said corruption and scandals were extremely important, and those who felt that way were more likely to vote for Democratic candidates than other evangelicals. About a third who were most concerned about corruption cast their votes for Democrats, according to exit polls conducted for The Associated Press and the networks.

Hey Dobson, if it wasn’t for people like Dick Armey, there wouldn’t have been a Republican majority in the House to lose. (Contrary to Dobson, I believe the limited government base of the Republican party needs to assert its supremacy.)

Rove’s strategy of courting you is bunkum. The Christianist darling Santorum went down in flames. Meanwhile, Arnold Schwarzenegger managed to crush clearly liberal Phil Angelides in a clearly liberal state. Within a year, after special election defeats, he turned himself around from being finished to handily winning reelection. Yet, supposed genius Rove didn’t even get Bush the popular vote in 2000. Under Rove’s great guidance, Bush’s approval ratings are in the toilet.

So put those two paragraphs in your pipe and smoke it. And that’s just off the top of my head.

If you want to criticize Dick Armey, be my guest. This current big tent is dead. Let the finger-pointing begin. It’s time for bloody civil war.

(Of course, as time goes by, my position will become much more nuanced.)