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.
Ah thanks, that bio is impressive. I honestly never heard of the guy before, till about a couple months ago.
Either this is idiotic, or it is true....ugh...or both.. =(
..and still folks impugn Dr.Dobson's motives, experience, support...abilities
..they.consider him or his opinions irrelevant, etc.
We are over 500 posts....so 2nd Division Vet, I say he still has 'clout'.
My esteem, respect & admiration for Dr.James Dobson has not wavered in over 20 years...
..This man is the real deal and I treasure his opinions/thoughts/experience.
He doesn't make my decisions for me, but he sure helps shape them....as he does millions of others.
Don't discount this man.
I think people here, and within the party, fail to see that Dobson is just expressing what much of the base already thinks:
Social and fiscal conservatives are battling with bluebloods for control of the party. Dobson didn’t have to tell people to stay home. Many people stayed home because they are sick of the party’s elite choosing lukewarm candidates for us.
Lukewarm candidates are people who are not passionate about what is right or wrong. Lukewarm people really don’t care what happens to their neighbors. They don’s live by fundamental principles like:
Thou shalt not kill.
Lukewarm candidates really aren’s all that concerned about abortion, which they think is just another campaign issue.
It is not.
If one does not defend innocent human life, one stands for nothing.
Dobson is looking at Fred Thompson’s record and coming to the conclusion that Fred Thompson clearly is not all that concerned about defending inocent human life. Lots of us see the same thing, and we don’t need Dobson to tell us what we see.
Did Thompson vote for most of the prolife bills put before him? Apparently, he did. Did he offer any legislation himself to counter the horror of abortion? Not that I have seen.
Does he think Roe v. Wade should be overturned? Apparently not because he keeps trying to suggest each state should decide whther or not the God-given right to life, intended for innocent human beings, should be upheld by voters, as if we have the right to condemn innocent children to more butchery.
Dobson is just reading the tea leaves that are already in front of him. Problem is: Mnay Republican insiders are not.
(hmmm...I remember something about lukewarm versus hot or cold, and how lukewarm was something one should vomit out of one’s mouth...)But I digress.
You tell him Jim!!! I am with Fred!!!!!
Good one!
Yes! Fred isn't perfectly satisfying to me either, but with over a year to go, I wouldn't be so hasty and rule him out. Especially if I had a nationwide following waiting to be influenced (or thought I had!)
Dobson sounds vaguely like a scorned woman in this email, rather than a Christian. There's a scent of injured pique between the lines.
I'll have to see just how Dobson ruled out each of the other candidates, but if he's this cranky with them too, maybe he's just gotten cranky.
The Hunter people love anybody who can tear FRed down. Gives their guy a better chance.
Dobson won’t announce who he’ll support until after the primaries. The short list he’s left himself to support are not going to be THE candidates, and he’d lose clout.
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
Judge not?
The ironic part is that no, it doesn't. Hunter has absolutely failed to "catch on" to the voting public -- much as I predicted, since despite the humongous historical hurdles in his way, he has chosen to run a "conventional" campaign, which means that he is subject to the "rules" that come with that. And "rule" #1 is that no non-incumbent President or VP gets the nomination without having been a Senator, Governor, or (the one modern exception to the rest) a popular general credited with winning WWII in Europe.
You don’t understand the context of “judge not.” Of course Christians are to evaluate and discern. I don’t sense any condemnation or hypocricy in Dr. Dobson’s evaluation of Thompson in this private e-mail he sent to some friends. Do you?
I like Alan Keyes. He knows he has zero chance of winning. He is in to get out his message - which is a good one.
Heck - I would like to actually see an Alan Keyes presidency-— would put the fear of God into liberals everywhere.
BTTT
Huh? Private??
Not "most". All.
Did he offer any legislation himself to counter the horror of abortion? Not that I have seen.
He did not. He has admitted that prior to the birth of his children with Jeri that he was not a pro-life activist. Also, his eight years in the Senate were mostly focused on government reform and accountability.
Does he think Roe v. Wade should be overturned? Apparently not because he keeps trying to suggest each state should decide
This is a woefully uninformed comment. Do you know what will happen if Roe v. Wade is overturned? The issue will return to the states, exactly as was true prior to Roe v. Wade, and that matches Thompson's position exactly.
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