Dobson Says He Won't Support Thompson

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.

I also post for the benefit of others which is why I wanted to expose this charlatan for what he/she is.

Your response would have been the next step if this poster had turned out to be genuine. But they didn’t turn out that way so any further post to educate is moot.

But you have a well thought out perspective that connects well to the overall goal.

The problem though we face is not limited to a battle for hearts and minds because there are too many clever deceivers that can win battles to delay the outcome. And then when a battle is won a new battle starts again with each generation.

What FDT and his following are doing is to point out the true culprit that aids and abets the deceivers, that is the overextended powers of those asserting and wielding federal authority.

In a simple yet accurate perspective, the Federal government has over the past decades centralized and built its power far beyond anything the architects of the US Constitution ever envisioned. FDT represents a movement to ‘decentralize’ by returning to limited enumerated powers.

What this movement means to do is to expose federal power over standards of behavior and social mores, and return these powers to local levels. Such issues as gay marriage, abortion, teen promiscuity, divorce, education and so forth will fall entirely to local levels of government, where they belong.

When you hear Fred Thompson, don’t for a second think he isn’t aware of these issues and others. His folksy charm tends to mask a great historical and constitutional intellect and a sharp legal mind. You will hear him mention phases such as “full faith and credit”, “uniformity clause” and many others pertaining to precise legal foundations that most Americans do not understand in depth. He speaks at many levels. For those in the know, they know he intends to decentralize federal government to its historical and appropriate role.

Your type of arguments will then serve to win the culture war at the local level without interference from a falsely positioned federal policy. This false policy, some of which has found refuge in misinterpreted federal law, has served to shuttle arguments such as yours to a different battlefield in the hopes that people with such arguments will capitulate.

Fred Thompson realizes that battles of the culture war are fought again and again with each generation in perpetuity. Therefore, he seeks to structure the arenas of battle to their historical dimensions, and restrict the federal bully from inserting itself into local issues. Some will argue this levels the cultural battlefields and some will argue the opposite. But history will prove which of the local jurisdictions, which of the fifty states has the better idea. This is why he has called for allowing the States to act as individual laboratories rather than to subscribe to a ‘one size fits all’ federal dictate.

So Fred Thompson, should you meet him in person on the campaign trail may empathize with your issues whatever they may be, but as an elected leader he will ensure there is no interference when you take your arguments to your opponents. In other words, he will allow you to get into round one of your fight and to continue for as long as you are still standing. And if your opponent should prevail, there’s always another round as long as no one rings a bell saying it’s over. But all too often the federal government has rung a bell and told people such as yourself you’re out.

As it stands now you aren’t even allowed into a fighting ring. Don’t say you’re not restricted from fighting now, because you most certainly are. You may think you are fighting but all you are doing is gathering with like minded others and parting shots at straw opponents. The real opponents are the caretakers of the false laws that have limited your movement. The real battle is with these false laws. Consequently, the culture war is a war of law, federal law.

Wow - you really have a lot of assumptions about Christian Conservatives. Let me lay some of your misunderstandings to rest. First, of all we are not against Jews. I would have no problem whatsoever voting for a Jewish or Catholic candidate. I am a firm supporter of the state of Isreal and I actually wish that I had some Jewish heritage - I would consider it a great honor. What we do have is certain issues that we consider important enough not to compromise on. Two of the main such issues are life and the family. We are willing to compromise on most other issues though if given the chance we will support the most conservative candidate available. So, at the end of the day I don’t think we are that much different from except that we are concerned about certain issues more than you are. If you want us to support your candidate you are going to have to show us that he respects us and can be trusted to take a stand for life and the family - why does this make you so angry with us?

I reread Federalist 45

http://www.constitution.org/fed/federa45.htm

It’s sad reading, it really is, to see how far we’ve drifted from the founder’s conception of the United States. That said, the danger and the aggregation of power in the Federal Government has not been primarily through Amendments to the Constitution expanding the enumerated power of the Federal Government. It is fine, in my view, to say that new things, new areas are properly handled by the Federal government (such as marriage where it is a lifelong commitment, legal, and moral bond, and where one single state can turn marriage in all the states upside down since it is a permanent, unending commitment). The danger is and has been the steady encroachment of the Federal government on the States powers WITHOUT amendment to the Constitution. Ignoring the Constitution rather than amending it.

James Dobson- doesn’t impress me. Who he approves of for president doesn’t interest me either.

Apparently Dobson doesn't impress Thompson either but that's about all Fred could say I guess..... Dobson apparently impresses the lower tier candidates who have no chance of winning and their supporters thus they have to find something to post about.

Thompson shrugs off Dobson's criticism
[snip]
Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson on Thursday shrugged off harsh criticism from James Dobson, saying he has friends who likely know the influential Christian leader and they hold him in high regard.......
...."If in fact this e-mail ... reflects his views, so be it," Thompson said. "I have a lot of friends who I think are friends of his who have a high regard for me, and I'm very proud of that."
[end snips]

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