Posted on 09/23/2007 7:18:21 AM PDT by Doofer
About the only thing worse than painting yourself in a corner is doing it when the floor doesn’t need painting in the first place.
So I was doubly disappointed a couple of days ago when Dr. James Dobson, a one-time child psychologist who has become a leading Christian activist, absolutely skewered presidential candidate Fred Thompson in what was to me a dazzling display of dumb.
I’ve long admired and adored Dr. Dobson’s “Focus on the Family” and believe he’s a genius when it comes to kids. This week, in what was called “a private e-mail to friends,” the doctor proved to me he’s got a long way to go when it comes to working the same magic with adults.
Apparently Thompson’s history regarding some marriage amendments and the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform deal got Dr. Dobson all wild-eyed and fiery-hearted and he wrote his buddies this puzzling paragraph:
“(Thompson) 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!”
Wow, if Dr. Dobson discounts Fred Thompson that fast and this early, it would follow he’s got a bigger ace to play, but if this thing works out like I suspect it will in the year to come, Dr. Dobson is going to make quite a mess walking across all that wet paint just before the election.
Understand, I’m not a big Thompson fan, but isn’t it too early to pick a horse? All I know is what I read, but in watching the various political aspirants I don’t think if I were Dr. Dobson I’d start slinging a whole lot of mud at anybody just yet.
There are some others still in the race who are a “little bit left” of Fred, so to speak, and to slap down the former senator was a needless act that got Dr. Dobson a good amount of the kind of coverage he doesn’t want and that his ministry sure doesn’t need..
I have long held the opinion that “the Christian right,” as it is called, should stay out of politics. There are many who disagree with me, but I don’t think God should be sullied by those who claim He is a Republican or a Democrat. The same drought that hits the red states hits the blue ones.
Further, I know some fine Christians who happen to be rather liberal. There are also some crooks, as we’ve seen lately, who espouse each party, so I wish the churches would stick to salvation and the politicians would handle the marriage amendments and campaign finance questions.
I think Christianity, as I know it and as I believe it, can be summed up in just one word: Hope. I don’t care what happens to me – car wrecks, friends committing suicide, brothers dying, divorce, whatever – I am assured by Jesus Christ the end of my life will include the words, “happily ever after.”
Why should a Christian activist, whose goal is to teach about that same “hope” and enable anyone from a mass murderer to a tainted politician to have the same promise of “happily ever after,” get all jumpy over Fred Thompson at this stage of the game?
The better question is a harder one for me. Is that what being a Christian is about? Is that the way you convince a non-believer to enter the Kingdom?
Dr. Dobson presents himself on a pretty high plain with slick magazines and TV shows and radio broadcasts, but when he pops Fred Thompson for “no passion, no zeal, no ‘want to’,” what part of that glorifies God? I don’t get it, not at all.
Finally, there are the pious who’ll discount the whole thing, pointing out a “private e-mail” should have never been disclosed, but somebody once said, “As a man thinketh, so he is.”
It's stupid to count chickens this early. The consensus at this time in 2003 was that Howard Dean was a cinch to be the Donkey Party's choice for the 2004 election. A third-place defeat in Iowa and that world-infamous scream later, Dean was toast.
Face facts: Fred Thompson is NOT battle-tested, and has NOT heretofore lived up to expectations.
Dr Dobson is a good guy.
Fred meets my most basic criterion. He’s on record as pro-life.
He’s also pro-gun; pro-taxcut; pro-country.
He appears to be weak on illegal immigration and campaign finance.
For all the world to me, he sounds like George Bush’s platform.
What does that mean? That Dobson is an evil, manipulative man? That Christians are dumb? Help me understand what you’re saying.
It’s stupid to count chickens this early.
You do as you please and I’ll do as I please. With three months until the first caucuses/primaries I don’t see any of the bottom tier rising to the top. I don’t think McCain will come back either thus I’m left with Thompson, Giuliana and Romney. Of those I see it as Thompson, Giuliana. Sure I could be wrong but so what the people will make the choices, stupid or not.
I asked them first, did he really do that? They said they could not answer.
I said, if he didn’t do that, why didn’t he issue a denial?
They shuffled me back and forth from one person to another.
I told them it wasn’t Christian conduct to speak of Fred in that manner, without talking to him. I really didn’t get an answer from them as you did.
Muslim societies don't have that problem. They stone people over there.
Fortunatly, people in the U.S. who feel pretty much the same way are few in number, and getting fewer all the time.
>>>Boy Dobson musta got under the skin of the anti-religion zealots to have a hit piece like this. GO DOBSON!!!
AMEN!<<<
And a BIG AMEN TO YOUR AMEN!!
From the article:
‘Dobson seems keen on reinventing himself as a kingmaker in the Pat Robertson mold, and he’s already had good practice in using his multimedia empire to go after Big Brothers Big Sisters, Procter & Gamble, Disney, Macy’s, and Microsoft. The Miers nomination is just the latest test to see if Dobson’s homophobic armies can be mobilized to support political friends as efficiently as they’ve been used to destroy corporate enemies. There was a time when political activity was seen as an unseemly diversion from “God’s work”, but selling Jesus to the already-saved doesn’t feed the ego the way it used to.
Considering the direction that Dobson is steering his career, I think it’s just a matter of time before his hubris brings him down. I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if God’s humble servant eventually finds himself brought down by a scandal. Real or fake, white collar crime or sexual affair, at some point Dobson’s activism is going to catch up to him. I can’t wait to see it.’
Dobson thinks his sheeple following makes him a political kingpin.
Dobson is no pious, humble man.
Dobson is a fraud.
So your evidence against Dobson is a link to a far left wing personal blog? That’s rich. It doesn’t help your case here to rely on a DUmmy to support your argument.
I don’t care if you agree or not, Theo.
Your opinion on the matter has been confined to expressing your disagreement.
Not exactly debate-quality rebuttals.
In my opinion, Dobson is a fraud and an egotist - now go nuts again.
REQUIRED is such a loaded word. I don’t think he’s required to do anything.
I don’t think he’s required to send me information and fundraising appeals, but for some reason he does it. Why? Because it’s what you do as a candidate.
I think if I were a candidate for President I would be looking to have a talk with James Dobson, along with a host of other leaders and movers of the core constituencies that make up the conservative base.
Not because it is a requirement, but because it may prevent negative stuff like a letter from one of those leaders denouncing your candidacy.
Or you COULD decide that, as a candidate, you will “stand against” a mover or shaker like James Dobson. In which case you can’t expect that person to say nice things about you.
Senator McCain took that road in 2000 in Virginia, attacking two leaders of the religious conservative movement, and it probably as much as anything cost him the nomination.
I don’t expect Fred Thompson to make that same mistake, and I DO think it would be a mistake.
But thinking he SHOULD do something because it would help his campaign is a far cry from REQUIRING him to do that.
On the other hand, a candidate is not REQUIRED to raise money either, but I think we’d all agree that if they don’t raise money, they aren’t going to win the nomination.
“Christian” leaders expect to be kowtowed to, or they will take revenge is what you are saying.
Who makes the lists? How far down the totem pole do you have to go? Do you have to meet with Methodists, Episcopalians, Catholics, Baptists, Lutherans, Amish, Mennonites, Plymouth Brethren, Southern Baptists, ad nauseum?
So this is something like Sleeping Beauty. If you forget to invite the wrong person to a party, you get cursed.
Part of a good campaign organization would be to know which ones to talk to. Also the comfort level of the candidate.
It’s probably not hard to figure out, just look at which people get national headlines when they say they don’t like you — those are the ones you wanted to talk to.
What’s there to agree or disagree with? You’re merely throwing out unsubstantiated opinions, then referencing far-left personal blogs to support that anti-Christian prejudice.
Why are you even here on FR if you’re so left-wing anti-Christian? Puzzling.
Slow down, my anti-Christian friend. Let’s step back and take a look at Dr. Dobson’s life a bit. Through some 25+ years he’s seen the ministry the Lord called him to grow to a place of prominence. As a result, a lot of people look up to him. When he shares some opinions with friends, people take that into consideration. He’s not bent on being “kowtowed” to — but because of the Lord’s hand on his life, people do listen to what he says, whether in the realm of the family or in the realm of politics.
Are you among those who hate Christians whom the Lord has put in a place of prominence? If so, you’ve either fallen for the anti-Christian bias in the MSM or have a disposition against the Lord. Puzzling.
FWIW, I’m inclined to vote for FT as well. See — one can both respect Dobson and see FT as a viable candidate. No need to attack Dobson here. We can have different opinions and still be friends.
I am not talking to anyone who calls me “anti-Christian.” Since I AM a Christian, and I have told you several times that I have read Dobson’s stuff for several decades, calling me such a thing is ridiculous.
I am anti-hypocrite, and anti-power-mad-egomaniac. Anyone who trashes a candidate for not requesting a meeting, bowing at his feet, and kissing his ring is both. He has NO AUTHORITY to demand that anyone view every issue his way. What makes his opinion so special?
Ol’ Newtie kowtowed, and he has had NO criticism. Very telling.
Anyone, I am done being insulted by you.
His unfounded and inane rantings about Fred Thompson motivated me to look into this clown’s life and bio.
Dobson is a fraud.
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