Posted on 09/27/2007 5:56:15 PM PDT by blogsforthompson.com
Fred Thompson commented further, today, on the attack made against him by Dr. James Dobson over a week ago. Fred has said very little, despite the hateful and inaccurate attack made by Dobson in a "private" email, just privately calculated enough for all the world to see. Since the attack, clearly designed to keep Evangelical Voters from siding with Fred, Fred has been defended by other Conservative Values Leaders like Gary Bauer and Southern Baptist Richard Land. But when asked about it again today, Fred had a little more to say, and he said it very well:
"Thompson again dismissed harsh criticism from James Dobson, founder and chairman of Colorado-based Focus on the Family, an evangelical Christian group. . . . . "
(Excerpt) Read more at blogsforfredthompson.com ...
I wondered about Dobson's hateful "private" e-mail; a little down this summary is given:
In a private e-mail obtained last week by The Associated Press, Dobson accused the former Tennessee senator and actor of being weak on the campaign trail and wrong on issues dear to social conservatives.
Weak on the campaign trail and wrong on social issues! Why, the venom...
Ronald Reagan, God bless his soul, didn’t attend church regularly yet Dobson endorsed him. TWICE!
Jimmy Carter not only regularly attends a southern baptist church, but he used to teach Sunday school and I’d never vote for him to a city council much less POTUS and neither would Dobson.
Looks like Dobson is still holding out for something better to come along I guess.
Labeling Dobson as hateful will not win many people over. I would suggest you remove those comments from the blog, unless you want to make the situation worse.
I haven't been following this little squabble, but I'm interested to know what exactly Dobson said that this author deems "hateful."
Well said Fred.
Dobson's lack of support will have minimal impact on Fred's campaign.
I think most people can see that the email was not leaked by accident and it is Dobson who looks worse for it.
Agreed. Attempting to paint Dobson as a villain is a bumbling overreaction, not to mention a gross mischaracterization of the facts. About as believable as accusing Mr. Rogers of flipping off children and spitting on nuns.
Could Dobson be prompting Fred to “go for it”? Or is Dobson waiting for Gingrich to run?
ROFLOL
I doubt if very many people in this country know who dobson is, if I saw his picture I wouldn't know who it was without a label, and the most of use don't really care what the man thinks.
Dobson is waiting for payola.
Dobson is testing the waters to see who to support or piously
stay home.
Who is this Dobson, another Jim Bakker wannabe?
Though it is notable that Dobsons one time protege Gary Bauer is supporting Thompson.
I like Thompson and intend to back him, but it is wrong to portray Dr. Dobson as some kind of villian simply because he disagrees with Thompson and does not view him the same way I and many others do.
One thing I hate about primaries, is that sometimes good people get torn apart for no good reason other then to support other good people.
Its like political canibalism and scorthed earth all mixed into one.
Not even close.
I disagree with his opinion, however, I think we need to disagree agreeably with Dobson.
From what I have heard from the man he is usually full of common sense and throwing around unfounded and incorrect characterizations of him just lowers the bar as far discussion goes here on Free Republic.
Tell me you are joking. There are no sarcasim tags there.
Yes I am jokaring! But only to illustrate the point raised above that most of the country doesn’t know and doesn’t care who the guys is, and many would ask a similar question.
The actual quote taken from Thompson is further down the article.
And it makes much more sense than what you have in quotation marks. Here it is -
"He is very politically involved and he has his own ideas, I think, about who ought to get the Republican nomination, and it's clearly not me," Thompson said.
"I don't know what's up with the gentleman, but it's a free country and he's free to say whatever he wants to," Thompson said. "All I know is that many of his friends and many of his colleagues are embarrassed by some of the comments that he's made, and they're friends of mine."
“It was definatly not a hatefull attack on Fred Thompson, it is misleading to state that a disagreement between them is an attack”
There is no disagreement, one day we woke to hear that Dobson had laid a bomb on Thompson.
It meant something and served some purpose of Dobson’s and we have a right to know what it is.
You have heard the spokesman for the Southern Baptists come out in print and on talk radio to defend Fred and to help protect him politically from this ambush.
Gary Bauer has joined in for the same reason, to protect Thompson from this attempt to turn Christians against him.
This is all hard core politics and those of us that have respected Dobson in the past and appreciated having his involvement, want to know what is up.
Frankly many of us cannot think of an answer and the longer Dodson lets our questions go unanswered the more trust we lose in Dobson.
Do you have links to New sources or internet links that lead to an attack against Dobson ?
There's plenty to prove the opposite. I can see from your tagline that you've barely have a grip on reality.
But a word of warning, God might not take to you slandering or falsely accusing one of his fine upstanding servants.
http://www.politicswest.com/9222/dobson_thompson_well_not_me_my_brothers_not_me
won’t talk at all about what he believes,
That is untrue. Thompson has made declarative statements on entitlement programs, Iraq and Iran, even a marriage amendment which Dobson later rebukes the position of. he cannot rebuke Thompson on a position, if the above is true that thompson won't speak of what he believes.
and can’t speak his way out of a paper bag on the campaign trail?” Dobson wrote.
These words did not originate from Dobson's own thoughts. They are generic attacks leveled from many against Thompson by his competitors on left and right. And the line about "paper bags", is petty.
“He 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? Well, not for me, my brothers. Not for me!”
Well, you did believe Miers was the "Great Hope" once upon a time while most of the rest of us were fighting her tooth and nail. I disagreed with you, yet protected you at the time. But Sir, your judgement is in question on political matters.
"He is very politically involved and he has his own ideas, I think, about who ought to get the Republican nomination, and it's clearly not me," Thompson said.
I agree with this. Dobson, imo, is not being completely open with people. Instead of confronting Thompson directly, he does so in this orchestrated behind the scenes e-mail he knew would be leaked. And I do believe he has a chosen candidate who obviously isn't Fred, Mitt, Romney or Rudy. But to admit that would dismiss his words as that of a partisan. And I'm not going to allow him to do that.
I have no problem with him holding opinions, even those I disagree with. Or speaking them. I've lashed out at people who will use any excuse to try and "shut up" Christians having any power in Government. And they exist even on this board. I've defended Dobson a few times as well.
I do have a problem, though, with Dobson betraying the trust of his listeners by not being open with them about where these words stem from. They have less to do with the candidate, and more to do with whomever Dobson has chosen to support.
"I don't know what's up with the gentleman, but it's a free country and he's free to say whatever he wants to," Thompson said. "All I know is that many of his friends and many of his colleagues are embarrassed by some of the comments that he's made, and they're friends of mine."
I'd wager this is true after listening to Land's statements on laura's show. James Dobson's critisism went beyond being valid into just another partisan attack. He is supposed to conduct himself better than that.
Now that isn't to say there aren't substantive statements of Thompson's that are above critisism. he was wrong to support CFR. I prefer a constitutional amendment protecting marriage, rather then one merely protecting other states from being forced to accept another state's position on marriage. Though that position hardly deserves the harsh tone Dobson exhibits in his writing. I do think Dobson dodged the question about Terri, eventually he's going to have to respond clearly to that case. But Dobson's rant about him not attending Church I reject. I know people in Church that aren't christians. Attending Church doesn't make one a Christian. If so, Clinton, Kennedy and carter would be considered Christians...and while I can't see their souls I have strong doubts about their eternal lives.
All in all, I support Dobson's right to be active in politics as an individual or a coalition. Though FOTF has distanced from these statements as exhibition of their official stance. I reject the anti-Christian prejudices that escape whenever a christian figure engages in politics. But i don't share Dobson's views here, I think some of his rhetoric is unfair and even untrue, and I wish he'd just be honest and admit he has a candidate rather then pretending to be above it all.
I am a Southern Baptist who has used Dr. Dobson’s material on raising children, and other counseling matters. I have great respect for him in his ministry. But I am disappointed in the way that he has gone about this matter. Rather than saying who he is for, Dobson has gone out of his way to single out Fred Thompson as say he is against him.
I did characterize this as a hateful attack on Fred because it is not founded in truth. Saying you disagree with Fred on issues, or even choosing to endorse someone else - that is not hateful. But to send out an email that you know will get into wide circulation and media reports and accuse Fred of favoring 50 different laws on marriage, and you have crossed the line from disagreement to attempting to smear someone.
Dr. Dobson also accused Fred on getting off to a terrible start, completely ignoring his strong move up in polls and the way he is connecting with people on the trail. It was more than an email “informing” people of his decision not to support Fred Thompson. The way it is written reveals an attempt to deliberately harm him and his campaign. That is why I chose to characterize the email as “hateful”.
Many Southern Baptists have contacted Richard Land to convey their dismay with Dobson for this email hit that just seemed to come out of nowhere. It will be interesting to see what this is a precursor to — an endorsement of Romney or Huckabee, or somehow connected to trying to keep Evangelicals away from Fred in lieu of Newt Gingrich getting in. Something triggered it, and I believe the “what” is still not clear.
I greatly respect Dobson, and Fred too.
Dobson is upset that Fred won’t pledge to use the government to impose morals - but that’s not what Fred’s about. Fred’s about federalism.
I have no doubt that Thompson opposes legalizing gay “marriage” - but he’s also right that it’s not the purview of the feds to have any say in the matter.
I hope Dobson isn’t going shortsighted here -
he probably agrees with Fred 90% of the time, and if he throws him under the bus for the other 10 - that’s shortsighted.
Well said and thank you.
I guess my tagline is definitive of my beliefs. You judge far to quickly, instead of thinking critically.
And God will judge me at the end of my days, not you.
That is just a plain ignorant statement .
Nobody from my neck of the woods knows what a revolting cat is.
And damn few people know what FreeRepublic is.
I can promise you in the Christian community, Dobson has more influence and can raise more monatary support, have people in the streets or manning phones for a person he endorses or opposes then FreeRepublic could ever hope to raise.
Maybe you should study up on him a bit.
God does discipline people while they are alive. And he disciplines believers for bearing false witness agianst other believers.
God does discipline people while they are alive. And he disciplines believers for bearing false witness agianst other believers.
Like when a believer says a man isn’t a Christian without ever even speaking to him?
Post the links showing Dobson takes Payola. Or be a man of honor and withdraw the accusation.
dobson should have stayed in california
instead of messing up colorado.
I don’t think that anyone has mentioned yet how strong a response by Thompson this is.
I would not have predicted that a Republican candidate wanting the social conservative vote would be this firm in his comeback.(usually they would show real discomfort and a mushy response like, “can’t we all just get along? for the good of the nation etc.)
I like it and I think that it give us a clue of how blunt and confident he will be with his enemies in the general election.
“He is very politically involved and he has his own ideas, I think, about who ought to get the Republican nomination, and it’s clearly not me,” Thompson said.
“I don’t know what’s up with the gentleman, but it’s a free country and he’s free to say whatever he wants to,” Thompson said. “All I know is that many of his friends and many of his colleagues are embarrassed by some of the comments that he’s made, and they’re friends of mine.”
“Dobson has more influence and can raise more monatary support, have people in the streets or manning phones for a person he endorses or opposes then FreeRepublic could ever hope to raise. “
Dobson isn’t in a pissing contest with FR.
Dobson is in a pissing contest with the largest protestant religion in America, and with powerful Christian leader Gary Bauer.
Unless it was an over sight, it is proper to capitalize the persons proper name. Unless you are intending to demean him. Such as clinton.
As to messing up Colo maybe you could be more specific. I'm sure the murder and rape rate went up steeply. I know how christians can really be rambunctous.
States are capitalized as well.
1. Go completely against Federalism and
2.w FORCE a one-size-fits all on people without giving them the opportunity to choose for themselves.
Now you tell me which is worse? Forcing people to adhere to your view? Or letting them choose?
Dobson wants his way. Period.
Reminds me of the Inquisition.
Read #28 as my response to you.
(And you really should be posting on dobsonfanclub.org to find a bit friendlier athmosphere.)
I was referring to Dobson saying Fred wasn’t a Christian, without ever even speaking to him.
Earth to Dobson: Jesus will not be getting into the race. You’re stuck with humans; well, and a hildebeast.
You’re wrong; there are many people who know and care about Dr. Dobson and what this professional man has to say about political candidates. I respect his opinion, and do know the media loves to hate the doctor. I am sure Dr. Dobson will clarify any media confusion over remarks he may or may not have said about his support or questions of Fred Thompson.
n the News/Activism forum, on a thread titled Fred Thompson Comments Further on Dobson Attack, aruanan wrote:
Earth to Dobson: Jesus will not be getting into the race. You’re stuck with humans; well, and a hildebeast.
LOL!!!!!!!!
I can’t believe you are castigating someone for not capitalizing DOBSON, when in the very same post, you don’t capitalize the most important Name there is.
It is Christian, not what you wrote.
dobson should have stayed in california
instead of messing up colorado.
Does anyone REALLY care what he has to say?
How many million people live in this country? Would you say 1 are 2 percent know who he dobson is and about 98% don’t know and don’t give a damn. Why do you think name ID is what polling is all about.
What am I missing here ?
For delineation purposes, Gary Bauer, is more of Christian politician then a Christian leader. He does not have a ministry like Focus on the Family or In Touch or the like.
from the story above "Southern Baptist Richard Land " Baptist is singular correct ?
Not the whole darn bunch.
Here's what the brother Land said to the Boston.com
Baptist lobbyist walks a fine line
Influential conservative distances self from the far right http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/10/10/baptist_lobbyist_walks_a_fine_line/
I'll bet FR would fit into that description.
Sounds like a disagreement to me between three people and a candidate.
They wanted Dobson on board. Dobson has cred and bank, or they would not have attacked him.
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