During the October 16 broadcast of his Focus on the Family radio show, Focus on the Family founder and chairman James C. Dobson claimed that “here at Focus on the Family, we're not political.” Yet only minutes earlier, Dobson remarked to his guest, conservative radio host William Bennett, that “the liberal community” and the media “despise this country and its freedoms, and they're doing everything they can do to undermine it.” Later in the broadcast, Bennett suggested that Democratic congressional candidates advocate “the course of action that Osama bin Laden wants us to take.” In response, Dobson declared that “I fear that some of our leaders will follow that same pattern” of former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who “appeased the Nazis and [Adolf] Hitler.”

During his interview with Bennett, Dobson asked: "[I]sn't it amazing that there is such a sizable number of people in the media and in the liberal community that despise this country and its freedoms and they're doing everything they can to undermine it?" Bennett replied, “It's never been this bad in terms of the media.”

From the October 16 broadcast of the Focus on the Family radio show:

BENNETT: There's a story going around now, I've heard it more than once, that in Iran -- you know, a lot of Iranians are pro-American -- that at the beginning of the Iraq incursion, they put signs on their roofs saying, “U.S. Air Force, come here next. Your neighbors right across the way. U.S. Air Force Academy, come here next.” Because America represents the hope -- you know what [former Soviet dissident Natan] Sharansky tells, you know the stories about Sharansky being in the prisons in the Soviet Union and then tapping the messages about the United States [inaudible].

DOBSON: Hmmm. Yeah. Given that historical fact and the way it is today, isn't it amazing that there's such a sizable number of people in the media and in the liberal community that despise this country and its freedoms, and they're doing everything they can to undermine it?

BENNETT: It's never been this bad in terms of the media. I wouldn't say that presidents haven't had it this hard; they have. Lincoln was one, Washington before he was president -- I mean, you talk about touch-and-go, you know, facing the greatest military in the world without equipment, without money, without manpower, and with an awful lot of the country being loyal -- still being loyal to the crown. But in terms of the media, it has never been like this.

[...]

DOBSON: All right, we're right around the corner from an election.

BENNETT: Yup.

DOBSON: And here at Focus on the Family, we're not political. We do care a lot about the issues, but would it not be appropriate to say to our listeners, regardless of what your political affiliation is, and regardless of how you see the candidates that are going to be voted on very shortly, I beg you to think about the security of this nation and ask yourself, “Do the people that I'm putting in power understand this threat, and are they willing to confront it?”

BENNETT: It's a great question. It's a great question and, um, I have a lot of trouble supporting people who want us to take a course of action which is exactly the course of action that Osama bin Laden wants us to take.

[...]

DOBSON: You're a great student of history, Bill, and I'm sure what's taking place now recalls the late '30s and early '40s in Britain, where Neville Chamberlain appeased the Nazis and Hitler. Thought he could negotiate, thought he could somehow make friends with them, somehow impress them, somehow not anger them. And you know what happened -- 50 million people died. I fear that some of our leaders will follow that same pattern and appease those who will destroy us.