Dobson Says He Won't Support Thompson

AP ^ | 9/19/07 | Erik Gorski

[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.

[ejonesie22]

"You read somewhere"...

Be honest for a change, I just saw your post on the Dickie Morris thread about this earlier. You know where you read this, Morris said he was taking a week off in his OPINION piece.

Fred was in Houston this week, not a week off as I can see.

Facts suck don’t they...

[kevkrom]

Nice rant. It has nothing to do with the fact that overturning Roe v. Wade sends the issue back to the states, however.

[Drawsing]

you can't legislate morality

How about "Don't kill people...Don't steal, etc..." Those are laws legislating morality. Yes we DO need laws legislating morality in this country on things that are fundamentally right and wrong. Abortion and homosexuality are chipping away at the moral foundation of this nation. We need leaders that recognize this.

[fetal heart beats by 21st day]

“Nice rant. It has nothing to do with the fact that overturning Roe v. Wade sends the issue back to the states, however.”

Rant=”to talk noisily, excitedly, or wildly; to scold violently.”

Try using your words more carefully.

What I wrote does not meet the definition unless you feel I am scolding you for your ignorant remarks to which you have no reasonable reply. If you imagine it to be a violent scolding, well....

Abortion=the direct killing of an unborn human being and is not a states’ rights issue.

SCOTUS had the duty to overturn abortion laws as violations of federal law.

Instead, they enshrined murder into law-an unconstitutional position.

[LadyNavyVet]

So if it comes down to Fred vs. Hillary, you’re going to stay home and let the Anti-Christette win?

I’m not totally sold on Fred. Frankly I like Duncan Hunter more, but let’s face it, Hunter’s campaign has been lackluster, to put it nicely.

Of the candidates with a snowball’s chance, Fred is the most conservative one, and the one who is most likely to champion traditional American values. He appears by all reports to be a decent Christian man. Not perfect, but there was only One perfect Man ever among us, and He isn’t running in ‘08.

[Paige]

First of all, I am a Christian. Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior, second of all, I am out in the world from city to city, state to state, I see what is taking place and as for Dobson, he does “NOT” represent ALL CHRISTIANS and certainly not me.

The ones that follow him on ONE ISSUE should be ashamed and never say one word about what is taking place in CONGRESS or this country since they are just as much to blame as are the LIBERALS who place the SOCIALIST in office.

Therefore, stop insulting me.

[Petronski]

Thanks for that information. It makes more sense to me now.

“Creepy” would seem to be an overstatement.

[b9]

Dobson's waning influence seems more due to his enormous

E rroneous
G loomy
O pinions

[SirLinksalot]

So if it comes down to Fred vs. Hillary, you’re going to stay home and let the Anti-Christette win?

The PRINCIPLE of the thing is more general than specific candidates.

The question a lot of Christians will have to face is this --- given two flawed candidates. One who can meet 60% of your criteria and one who meets less than 10% of your criteria, will you :

1) Cover your nose and vote for the 60% candidate and say to yourself --- better to slow down the slide to decadence than to accelerate it.

2) Stay home and simply allow the 10% candidate to walk and virtually guarantee the acceleration of decdence.

Apparently a lot of Christians prefer #2 to prevail.

[kevkrom]

You claimed that Thompson's position is not in favor of overturning Roe v. Wade. But that is exactly what Thompson's position is -- I think the problem here is that you don't understand what the effect of overturning Roe v. Wade is. You seem to be laboring under the false impression that overturning Roe v. Wade would result in a national prohibition of abortion -- the truth is that it will allow states to set their own abortion laws without federal restrictions, just as was true prior to Roe v. Wade.

The practical effect of that would be the probable saving of hundreds of thousands of lives each year, as about 20-25 states would likely pass laws banning or severely restricting abortions.

[guido911]

There goes Dobson again, doing all he can to get baby murdering, gay marriage supporting, and embrionic stem cell supporting democrats elected again. Good Job, you irrelevant and pitiful excuse for a Christian!

[painter]

There's the rub, and the reason I am hesitant to support Sen. Thompson. What's he done? He has less of a record than even Barack Obama!

HUH?? Obama has been in the US Senate for what,2 1/2 yrs? Or is it 4 1/2?,and would have lost to Ryan if his sealed divorce records hadn't been published.

By the way. Just how much Experience did Lincoln have before he was elected?

[Owen]

Again, read Dobson’s comments carefully.

It is about executive competence. There is more to being president than mouthing lines. Thompson has cancer and no executive experience. He does not, and perhaps can not, work very hard.

Ronald Reagan could not have been an effective president without his experience running the government in California as Governor. Regardless of his ideology and philosophy . . . he would not have been effective. Dobson’s comments are about competence as much as they are about position. We’re hearing rather a lot of this about Thompson of late, by people who understand its importance.

[Albion Wilde]

Fred just turned 65, not 66.

You are correct, sir; my bad.

[fetal heart beats by 21st day]

I would like to hear Thompson publicly state that Roe v. Wade is a violation of the US Constitution because it violates the unalienable right to life of unborn human beings. I want to hear Fred Thompson, not his supporters, say, especially in light of his past statements about how the Republican party's prolife platform is a problem, that he unequivocally supports overturning Roe v. Wade, that Roe v. Wade was a violent unconstitutional decision, and that the SCOTUS should have overturned all abortion laws because they were an abridgement of the due process rights and right to life of unborn human beings. I would like to hear him unequivocally state that it is not a federalist issue for the reasons I already cited: Any proabortion legislation is a violation of not only God’s laws, but US laws as well. As you read, bear in mind that person was used interchangeably with human being until Blackmun said the court would “ignore the well-known facts of fetal development” in Roe v. Wade in 1973. Also keep in mind that capital punishment was legal. The Declaration of Independence opens by stating the fundamental guiding principles of the new fledgling country: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are CREATED equal, that they are endowed by their CREATOR with certain UNALIENABLE RIGHTS, that among these are LIFE, LIBERTY, and the pursuit of happiness...” “...nor shall any peron...be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law...”(Amendment V of the US Constitution) This was binding on the federal government, so no federal government representative had the power to promote or authorize abortion. The unborn are undeniably human beings who are denied their due process and their right to life. The fourteenth Amendment,ratified in 1868, incorporated due process and the right to life so that now no state representative could lawfully deny the right to life or due process rights to any innocent human being. Justice Blackmun’s opinion, in Roe v. Wade was a direct violation of both God’s laws and US law. The right to life of innocent human beings is not a states’ rights issue. Defending human life is not a federalist issue. It is the business of all of humanity.

[Albion Wilde]

I wonder if Jim would vote for a twice married former hollywood “B” movie actor and former union president who, as governor of California, signed into law a sweeping abortion-on-demand bill?

Not to mention "no-fault" divorce... both of which he later sorely regretted.

[pissant]

Bull. I have demonstrated it over and over and over.

[CommerceComet]

Well, seeing as there is only one, maybe two now, Republican candidates running who are Conservatives with Biblical principles, Dr. Dobson will no doubt vote for either Duncan Hunter or Alan Keyes.

Mike Huckabee and Sam Brownback would like a word with you.

[TexConfederate1861]

Dobson has LOST HIS FREAKIN MIND!

[Hostage]

That’s right, and FDT is adamantly for overturning Roe vs. Wade in accordance with the principles of Federalism.