Dobson parroted Republican "cut and run" talking point to attack Murtha, Democrats

Summary: Focus on the Family's James Dobson accused "prominent Democrats" such as Rep. John P. Murtha (D-PA) of "implying we ought to cut and run" from Iraq, then compared Democrats' strategy for Iraq to "the last helicopter," referring to the helicopter evacuation of U.S. embassy employees from South Vietnam in 1975.

During the June 27 broadcast of the radio show Focus on the Family, James Dobson, founder and chairman of Focus on the Family, hosted former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority L. Paul Bremer and his wife, Francine. Discussing the debate over the future of U.S. troop deployments in Iraq, Dobson accused "prominent Democrats" such as Rep. John P. Murtha (D-PA) of "implying we ought to cut and run," then compared Democrats' strategy for Iraq to "the last helicopter," referring to the helicopter evacuation of U.S. embassy employees from South Vietnam in 1975.

From the June 27 broadcast of Focus on the Family:

DOBSON: When I hear some prominent, Democrats primarily, Congressman Murtha and others, implying that we ought to cut and run, I think of what is referred to as the last helicopter.

FRANCINE BREMER: Yes.

DOBSON: You know, it's coming out of Vietnam and after we were gone in that --

FRANCINE BREMER: Oh, the blood that flowed. Oh, the blood that flowed.

DOBSON: The blood flowed unbelievably.

FRANCINE BREMER: I know.

DOBSON: And that will happen again. I mean, you can imagine --

FRANCINE BREMER: Imagine, yeah.

DOBSON: -- what would occur if we don't win this thing --

FRANCINE BREMER: Yes.

DOBSON: -- and don't get a stable government in place, and it becomes a civil war, and we're gone.

Though Dobson mentioned "others" who supposedly want to "cut and run" from Iraq, he did not mention Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the top American commander in Iraq, who according to a New York Times article, briefed senior Bush administration officials on his plan "that projects sharp reductions in the United States military presence there [in Iraq] by the end of 2007, with the first cuts coming this September."

—M.B.