Posted on 09/24/2007 7:00:11 AM PDT by Doofer
WASHINGTON – A well-known evangelical leader opposed Dr. James Dobson’s criticism of presidential hopeful Fred Thompson, pointing out the candidate’s conservative views and his potential to win the ’08 election.
“He (Thompson)’s obviously against same-sex marriage. He doesn’t support quite the same constitutional amendment that some of the others of us do, but he’s been talking with us about it, and has been moving closer and closer on the amendment,” said Bauer, who is president of American Values, according to OneNewsNow.
“So I hope that we can, as a movement, be very wise about this, and not savage candidates that we may very well have to support in 2008 if they’re running against Hillary Clinton.”
Dr. James Dobson, founder and chairman of Colo.-based Focus on the Family, wrote in a private e-mail last week to friends and supporters that he will not support Thompson for president because he is too weak on key issues that concern the Christian right.
In particular, he criticized Thompson for not supporting a constitutional amendment that would prohibit gay “marriage” on a national scale.
Thompson, an actor and former senator, is against same-sex “marriage” but favors a softer stance, calling for each state to decide their own legal definition of marriage and forbidding states from imposing their marriage laws on other states.
“Isn’t Thompson the candidate who is opposed to the constitutional amendment to protect marriage, believes there should be 50 different definitions of marriage in the U.S., favors McCain-Feingold, won’t talk at all about what he believes and can’t speak his way out of a paper bag on the campaign trail?” Dobson wrote, according to The Associated Press.
The prominent Christian conservative also blasted Thompson for his seeming lack of commitment to Christianity, highlighting the candidate’s rare expression of faith and for not attending church regularly.
“He (Thompson) has no passion, no zeal, and no apparent ‘want to.’ And yet he is apparently the Great Hope that burns in the breasts of many conservative Christians?” wrote Dobson.
“Not for me, my brothers. Not for me.”
Bauer, however, defended Thompson as an evangelical favorite and predicted that he can still win the Christian support if he confirms his conservative stance, performs well in debates, and demonstrates ability to raise campaign funds.
“I think the one thing that almost every conservative Christian agrees about is that we cannot allow Hillary Clinton to be the next President of the United States,” concluded Bauer.
According to the latest Associated Press-Ipsos poll, the race for the 2008 GOP nomination is highly fluid, with Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, and Fred Thompson virtually tied at 24 and 19 percent, respectively. Not far behind at 15 percent is Sen. John McCain of Arizona while former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has 7 percent.
In contrast, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York has a clear, across-the-board lead in the Democratic race over Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois by 34 percent to 20 percent, roughly the margin she has enjoyed for months.
Dobson, places too much importance on his own endorsements. unfortunately so do many of his follower who would rather throw out the baby with the bath-water than take a chance on someone who espouses most of the founding principles of this country.
I guess Bauer didn’t get his marching orders from Dobson...
That would be Gary Bauer.
..you who was once held in high esteem by Dobson & millions of other Evangelicals until your fall from grace.
Nice pile-on.~extreme sarcasm
It’s time to win votes for Thompson by bashing Dobson for not being a supporter.
That’ll work.
well said
Well it looks like Dobson has removed himself from relevance.
Gary Bauer has stepped up to fill the void.
So long James, it was nice while it lasted.
I never figured a lobbyist for abortionists could find a lot of supporters among Christian conservatives.
Therefore, this is just another media attack on fred.....and nothing less.....duh!
Dobson may not like that Thompson believes that marriage is a legal issue that is mandated to the States, but it is. Yes, there is a problem with run-away judges, but the answer is to get good Conservatives in there to appoint good judges, not change the Constitution to remove power from the States.
Fred wasn't a lobbyist for Abortionists. I guess you didn't see that someone here posted the billing records and he basically sat in on a few conference calls, there was no indication that he was lobbying for for them on the records. He is as guilty of lobbying for abortionists as an employee of Taco Bell would be if they sold them tacos for one of their meetings.
Well, it looks like on the issue of Marriage, both he and Thompsom are on the same page. The disagreement lies in HOW BEST to strengthen the institution given activist judges.
But as I said before, Dobson is talking this way because there are other candidates on the list who are closer to his approach than Thompson.
But if Thompson BECOMES the Republican candidate, the choice then boils down to Fred or Hillary. No price for guessing who Dobson will support then.
I never figured FReepers would stoop to cheap, dishonest theatrical tricks in place of real arguments, either.
My bet is Dobson has his own preference since this is still the primaries.Dobson's man is Newt Gingrich.
Too often we won’t support someone we agree with 80% of the time, and get someone we agree with 5% of the time.
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