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A Brief Guide to Dave Daubenmire
His website has one version of the hero's origins: Dave Daubenmire, a veteran 25 year high school football coach, was spurred to action when attacked and eventually sued by the ACLU in the late 1990's for alledgedly [sic] mixing prayer with his coaching. After a two year battle for his 1st amendment rights and a determination to not back down, the ACLU relented and offered coach an out of court settlement. God honored his stand and the ACLU backed off. Coach's courageous stand, an inspiration to Americans everywhere, demonstrated that the ACLU can be defeated. This is a curious usage of the word "defeated", given that Daubenmire's "courageous stand" meant him paying the ACLU $18,000 in costs, and the school district instituting an agreement which (according to the ACLU website) prohibits future acts of religious indoctrination and establishes a system for reporting violations of the agreement to the United States District Court in Columbus. However, Daubenmire's First Amendment posturing only went so far; the ACLU also reported that: In a separate case, the ACLU is still defending seven members of the London community who had criticized Coach Daubenmire's religious activities. Daubenmire had attempted to bully his critics into silence through a libel action, which was just as successful as his "two year battle" against the ACLU. This went on an appeal in 2004, which also went badly for him; a site noting Ohio Court Opinions records that (scroll down): London High School football coach David Daubenmire was warned or reprimanded several times by the superintendent about his management and discipline of the team, and he was criticized by parents, including criticism for religious activity and prayers by the team. Several parents and faculty members lobbied the Board of Education to not renew his contract, and when unsuccessful, spoke publicly about Daubenmire. He sued for defamation, the trial court granted summary judgment for the defendants on the basis that Daubenmire was a limited purpose public figure and a qualified privilege applied, and the Court of Appeals affirmed. There are four categories of defamation plaintiffs: (a) private persons, (b) public officials, (c) public figures, and (d) limited purpose public figures. Whether a plaintiff is a public figure is a question of law; it does not depend on the plaintiff's wishes, and a plaintiff may not escape public figure status if he voluntarily engages in a course of conduct that invites attention and comment. A limited purpose public figure is a person who becomes a public figure for a specific range of issues by being drawn into or voluntarily injecting himself into a specific public controversy. Public figures and limited purpose public figures must show by clear and convincing evidence that the statements were made with actual malice. Since then, though, the "limited purpose" Daubenmire has trod the familiar path of a victimised warrior of the right spurred into action by liberal persecution: inevitably, the "coach" became a pundit: In addition to his weekly radio show, Coach has made regular national appearances on Hannity and Colmes, CBS Evening News, Scarborough Country on MSNBC, Fox News, The Edge with Paula Zahn, Dayside with Linda Vester, and Court TV. Most recently, he has called for James Dobson and other members of the Christian Right "A-List" to abandon the Republican Party in favour of Judge Roy Moore:
The Log Cabin Republicans are a group of homosexuals who support the Republican Party. For Heaven's sake what are we doing on the same team? Do the donations of Christians and donations of homosexuals go into the same pot? How can Christ bless that? The Coach has also pontificated on US history, with unhappy results: Dispatches from the Culture Wars has more on this.
(Adapted from my blog, here)
A Brief Guide to Dave Daubenmire | 56 comments (56 topical, 0 hidden)
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