Posted on 09/19/2007 7:14:10 PM PDT by pissant
DENVER (AP) — James Dobson, one of the nation's most politically influential evangelical Christians, made it clear in a message to friends this week he will not support Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson.
In a private e-mail obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, Dobson accuses the former Tennessee senator and actor of being weak on the campaign trail and wrong on issues dear to social conservatives.
"Isn't Thompson the candidate who is opposed to a 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.
"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!"
The founder and chairman of Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family, Dobson draws a radio audience in the millions, many of whom who first came to trust the child psychologist for his conservative Christian advice on child-rearing.
Gary Schneeberger, a Focus on the Family spokesman, confirmed that Dobson wrote the e-mail. Schneeberger declined to comment further, saying it would be inappropriate because Dobson's comments about presidential candidates are made as an individual and not as a representative of Focus on the Family, a nonprofit organization restricted from partisan politics.
Dobson's strong words about Thompson underscore the frustration and lack of unity among Christian conservatives about the GOP field. Some Christian right leaders have pinned their hopes on Thompson, describing him as a Southern-fried Ronald Reagan. But others have voiced doubts in recent weeks about some of the same issues Dobson highlighted: his position on gay marriage and support for the 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform legislation.
Dobson and other Christian conservatives support an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would bar gay marriage nationally. Thompson has said he would support a constitutional amendment that would prohibit states from imposing their gay marriage laws on other states, which falls well short of that.
Karen Hanretty, a spokeswoman for the Thompson campaign, said Wednesday in response to the Dobson e-mail: "Fred Thompson has a 100 percent pro-life voting record. He believes strongly in returning authority to the levels of government closest to families and communities, protecting states from intrusion by the federal government and activist judges.
"We're confident as voters get to know Fred, they'll appreciate his conservative principles, and he is the one conservative in this race who can win the nomination and can go on to defeat the Democratic nominee."
In his e-mail addressed "Dear friends," Dobson includes the text of a recent news story highlighting Thompson's statement that while he was baptized in the Church of Christ, he does not attend church regularly and won't speak about his faith on the stump.
U.S. News and World Report quoted Dobson earlier this year as questioning Thompson's commitment to the Christian faith — comments Dobson contended were not put in proper context. Dobson in this week's e-mail writes that suppositions "about the former senator's never having professed to be a Christian are turning out to be accurate in substance."
Earlier this year, Dobson said he wouldn't back John McCain because of the Arizona senator's opposition to a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
Later, Dobson wrote on a conservative news Web site that he wouldn't support former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani should he win the Republican nomination. Dobson called Giuliani an "unapologetic supporter of abortion on demand" and criticized him for signing a bill in 1997 creating domestic-partnership benefits in New York City.
Last week, Dobson announced on his radio show that the IRS had cleared him of accusations that he had endangered his organization's nonprofit status by endorsing Republican candidates in 2004. The IRS said Dobson, who endorsed President Bush's re-election bid, was acting as an individual and not on behalf of the nonprofit group.
Some folks perfer to drink and doing things other members choose not to do.
Eternity is a long time now all are not comfortable in certain situations!
God loves all his Children, Jesus said, in my father’s house are many maison I do to prepare a place for you!:)
You’d both have to go back to #140 to understand the conversation. :)
I remember that, and I seem to remember it being in the context of a private conversation that was not meant to be a public pronouncement, just like this email.
Dobson, the influential leader of the Christian organization Focus on the Family, praised Romney on a radio program and said he may end up supporting him.
"I mean he's very presidential and he's got the right answers to many, many things," Dobson told conservative commenator Laura Ingraham on her show. Dobson said he hasn't decided whom to back, but that Romney "is still on the list."
You’re right, of course. Mormons keep insisting that they’re Christian, all the while insisting that Christians aren’t saved. Let’s see beyond their convenient sound bites. They follow Joseph Smith and his false doctrine, read the book he supposedly got from an angel/golden tablets. Their false religion would be sad if it weren’t so laughable.
Where are those golden tablets, I wonder? And why isn’t anyone else allowed to “translate” them? Why? Because they’re Egyptian, not ancient Hebrew. And that fact would cause all of this false religion to collapse.
A “retard”? You’ve got quite the vocabulary.
Dobson is not a pastor. But don't let the facts get in the way of your insults.
Now why would you have “respect” for someone who thinks your religion is false, based on a phony “translation” of Egyptian tablets?
Call them Pharisees — you’re the one being phony.
“No, but it is going to take a great deal of inner strength as well as extraordinary physical endurance to be our next president.””
That sounds familiar, I think that I posted about FDR sickly from childhood and a picture of his life in a wheelchair to correct you, and then Kennedy was close to death, and Johnson and Nixon weren’t exactly body buiders.
So many people are eager to judge Dobson, without considering either the context of his e-mail or the source of this article. Talk about anti-Christian bias — even here on FR.
A slave to who?? I am a very very indepentent thinker. I just happen to have a lot of confidence in Dr. Dobson, and after listening to his reasons, have made up my OWN mind. I don't call that a slave any more than you would listen to someone you had confidence in, giving YOU pointers on a candidate and you making up YOUR mind too...Dr.Dobson is a great man.He isn't however, GOD! I think independent of him , but agree with him on this issue. That is NO slave!
Dobson seriously overestimates his clout among Evangelicals.
” James Dobson, one of the nation’s most politically influential evangelical Christians, made it clear in a message to friends this week he will not support Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson.
Now the Dems won’t be able to hang Dobson around Fred’s head in the general. Good. The more Thompson Democrats, the better.”
I really think you are on to something here!! Go, Fred
Do you have any evidence for that statement? Or are you just spouting the anti-Christian bias you’ve heard on TV?
Go back to DU.
No.
He has a choice to make among several candidates, or to sit out the election. He is an American. If Fred is not his choice, nor the others he’s mentioned, he’s not saying anything one way or the other about Jesus Christ as his Saviour.
Jesus was not the friend of an unrepentent harlot. He preached repentance and remission of sins. He told sinners to go and sin no more. He was the son of a Jew but Dobson doesn’t hate Jews. He just doesn’t agree religiously with those who rejected Jesus. Jesus being “born out of wedlock” is a crude, misleading way to put the Biblical teaching that Mary was with child by the Holy Spirit, not by a man. Which is what made Jesus a divine being, which is why Dobson claims Jesus. But you say he would reject him for it. Impossible. He well knows it, and openly claims Jesus. If not, he wouldn’t be famous and you’d have never heard of him.
All of which is beside the point concerning Jesus himself. He committed no sin, there was no fault found within him. Again, according to Scripture. Dobson believes he has accepted a perfect Saviour. He sees no flaws in that Saviour.
I think you mix apples and oranges when you try to compare how Dobson sees various Presidential candidates with how he views Jesus Christ.
If I were to criticize Dobson I could find some political grounds on which to do so. I can’t see a thing there that causes me to think that his rejection of Thompson should cause him to be criticized on religious grounds, which is how you critiqued him, even to the extent of saying he would, or does, reject his own perfect (those flaws you mentioned weren’t any flaws of Jesus Himself, even if true) Saviour because he rejected an imperfect politician.
Unfair. IMO.
Not that you asked...
Dobson wasn’t speaking for you either.
This was a PRIVATE email. Publicized by people who hate Dobson. Try to keep in mind the context.
How much did FDR have? How much did Taft have? How much did Johnson (pick one)have? How much did Harrison have? How much did Hayes have? How much did Cleveland have? how much did Mckinley have?
If I have to watch Kerry or anything like it on a board again, I'm gonna get sick.
“As distasteful as it may be, Gov. “Flip-flop” Romney is heading for the GOP nomination.”
In what alternate universe? He’s started polling in the single digits in many states, an has virtually no support in the South. No south = no GOP nomination.
Its between Thompson and Guiliani now.
i have no idea who dobson is. but he's being a little silly, imho. pinning your presidential support on a gay marriage ban and mccain-feingold? yeah, nice set of priorities.
this guy is the one clamoring about religion, not me. my remark was made tounge-in-cheek considering this guys issues with the IRS.
fact is i respect his religious values and he can say whatever he wants no matter how silly. but so can i.
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