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.
Thanks!
Not immoral laws. But you cannot dicate with laws personal morality issues. Yes you can legislate a basic moral code like no murder, no robbery, but you cannot legislate people’s private lives from a federal level. Until you change people’s hearts and minds, you are wasting your time.
Sorry if that sounds cowardice to you but it’s cold heart reality. And how is it cowardice to change people’s hearts as opposed to simply passing legislation that most people won’t follow? Which is harder...pass a bill or get out in the community and work to change people’s hearts by telling them the truth of the gospel? Trust me, as a youth pastor in an urban church, it was far harder to change the hearts of kids who grew up in one parent homes and drug dealers on street corners than simply sit in a office on the Potomac and have an aide write a bill. I counted myself blessed when the girls in my group didn’t end up with babies themselves or the boys didn’t end up in gangs or on a slab in the morgue. I’m willing to bet that I changed more hearts and minds through the church than any politician in any legislative body.
It isn't secrecy. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints holds the Temples and the ordinances there to be sacred. So sacred that even worthy, Temple-attending members are not even supposed to discuss the details amongst themselves outside of the Temple's confines. I'm sorry if you can't understand how people can hold a place or certain things to be so holy, or sacred, that they should be protected from things or activities which would defile them.
“Dobson, I respect you, and believe you to be a decent and holy man, but please do the world a favor on this: STFU!”
I guess the right to free speech doesn’t apply to certain people? Like something straight out of Berkeley.
So you will let someone else tell you how to vote? Maybe we made a mistake in 1920.
The word “Trinity” is not mention in Scriptures either. Yet many claim Mormons are not Christian because we do not use the evangelical definition of the trinity, which evolved over time between 300 and 400 A.D. that God is “one indivisable substance in three persons.” Mormons view the godhead separately as Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost who are one in spirit and purpose, but three separate beings, as revealed in the Scriptures.
Since this evangelical definition of the Trinity was not complete until nearly 400 years after the death of Christ, then the prophets and the apostles identified in the Bible are not Christians in that sense, since the “trinity” and its definition are not found in either the scriptures or in the writings of early Christian leaders.
It doesn’t matter to me if you think I’m a Christian or not. Only God knows my heart.
I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I respect you, and believe you to be a decent and holy man, but please do the world a favor on this...
We all have our blind spots!
Good Night and God Bless :^)
“That meant I went 8 years without missing more than 2 Sundays a year. Beat that! LOL”
You’ve got me beat....lol. You show no mercy....I give, I give.
I know many churches have rules but I’ve never heard of one that wouldn’t let nearly half the members in the church!
Social conservatism is big down here...maybe...more so in Dixie with white voters then in the mid South
just see the red state maps
My favorite thing on Dobson is that he believes in discipline....
I think he lives in California actually...
btw...I am with Fred more or less
He should at least discuss the private nature of the email on his show and clarify that it's not an endorsement by his organization, and then drop the subject. He should also find out who leaked the email and make them damn sorry they did.
“If he has no chance, why the constant bashing. Sounds like you are trying to convince yourself.
None of us, as far as I know, started bashing Hunter until Hunter supporters started bashing Fred. Get some of your more nasty supporters to lay off and I guarantee you 95% of the Fredheads who are bashing Hunter will shut up. I’m not one of them by the way. I’ve never had anything but praise for Hunter.”
Exactly. The way I see it is Thompson/Hunter ‘08
Good night, sweet prince or sweet princess.
Think Jesse Jackson, but white and evangelical.
Maybe it wasn't real funny because some of it is too close to the truth...hmmmmm.
I've always liked Dobson but he bombed on this one.
We have one of those radio evangelists in our family,,,
The best description:
Greedy!
“Think Jesse Jackson, but white and evangelical.”
Do you listen to Focus on the Family? Have you read any of Dr Dobson’s books?
As this article suggests, and you may underestimate Dobson if you wish, Fred is not palatable to the Christian Right. Will he get some to vote for him (yourself included)? Undoubtedly so, but will he be able to turn them out en-masse? I think not.
Maybe we'll find out when we see the next leaked e-mail...
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