Can a Cartoon Character Sue for Defamation?

Scarborough Country (MSNBC)

You know your life has gone way off course when you get into a battle of headlines with a cartoon sponge. And you know pretty much for sure that your career as a professional moralist has hit the rocks when you're compelled to go on national television and say:

JAMES DOBSON: Well...virtually every newspaper in the country has said that I called SpongeBob gay.
For your viewers, let me just tell you, I did not do that. That's the stupidest thing I have ever heard of. I didn't say that and don't know much about SpongeBob.

I hope Dobson has learned the second most important lesson from all of this: If you're a professional moralist, don't associate yourself in any way with an incredibly goofy-looking cartoon character. The most important lesson, of course, is not to be a bigot. Especially one now forever associated with a gap-toothed yellow sponge-droid who wears ugly brown shorts.