Posted on 09/24/2007 7:00:11 AM PDT by Doofer
WASHINGTON – A well-known evangelical leader opposed Dr. James Dobson’s criticism of presidential hopeful Fred Thompson, pointing out the candidate’s conservative views and his potential to win the ’08 election.
“He (Thompson)’s obviously against same-sex marriage. He doesn’t support quite the same constitutional amendment that some of the others of us do, but he’s been talking with us about it, and has been moving closer and closer on the amendment,” said Bauer, who is president of American Values, according to OneNewsNow.
“So I hope that we can, as a movement, be very wise about this, and not savage candidates that we may very well have to support in 2008 if they’re running against Hillary Clinton.”
Dr. James Dobson, founder and chairman of Colo.-based Focus on the Family, wrote in a private e-mail last week to friends and supporters that he will not support Thompson for president because he is too weak on key issues that concern the Christian right.
In particular, he criticized Thompson for not supporting a constitutional amendment that would prohibit gay “marriage” on a national scale.
Thompson, an actor and former senator, is against same-sex “marriage” but favors a softer stance, calling for each state to decide their own legal definition of marriage and forbidding states from imposing their marriage laws on other states.
“Isn’t Thompson the candidate who is opposed to the 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, according to The Associated Press.
The prominent Christian conservative also blasted Thompson for his seeming lack of commitment to Christianity, highlighting the candidate’s rare expression of faith and for not attending church regularly.
“He (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?” wrote Dobson.
“Not for me, my brothers. Not for me.”
Bauer, however, defended Thompson as an evangelical favorite and predicted that he can still win the Christian support if he confirms his conservative stance, performs well in debates, and demonstrates ability to raise campaign funds.
“I think the one thing that almost every conservative Christian agrees about is that we cannot allow Hillary Clinton to be the next President of the United States,” concluded Bauer.
According to the latest Associated Press-Ipsos poll, the race for the 2008 GOP nomination is highly fluid, with Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, and Fred Thompson virtually tied at 24 and 19 percent, respectively. Not far behind at 15 percent is Sen. John McCain of Arizona while former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has 7 percent.
In contrast, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York has a clear, across-the-board lead in the Democratic race over Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois by 34 percent to 20 percent, roughly the margin she has enjoyed for months.
One hand: I agree with everything Bauer is quoted as saying.
Other hand: I respect Dobson much more highly than Bauer.
It's a drive-by with Gary Bauer spouting off.
Now FDT, with his excellent voting record and high marks from national Right to life is worthy of support, wouldn’t you agree......
I want you to cite references for post # 19!!
Like what? My statement is 100% true and pertinent to the fact that I've never believed that a candidate who is even agnostic on the issue of abortion would ever stand a chance of being nominated by the Republican Party, much less someone who lobbied on behalf of the abortion industry.
Gary Bauer. The guy who endorsed McCain in 2000 when he withdrew from the race.
No surprises here.
I’ve seen stories about Newt supporting Fred, too.
Something along the lines of “if Fred doesn’t get in, then I will.”
Post #19 wasn’t mine. So perhaps you should have pinged mnehrling instead.
Now as far as what I said, it is well known that Dobson brought Newt on to his show for a big confession and forgiveness session as the first step towards running for president.
And personally, I don’t care if you take exception to what I said about Dobson making himself irrelevant.
He’s the one that did it to himself.
And he did it as a cold political calculation.
He knows that if Gingrich gets elected, he will have enormous sway with his administration for making him acceptable to evangelicals.
The whole thing is a big power play by Dobson, and it’s going to massively backfire on him.
Gut check time. You know I’m right.
There are no good judges anymore.
To repair the damage done by judges the other branches of government must regain their balance.
Waiting for “good judges” is hopeless - the universities are only producing feminist lawyers.
We need a new plan or we won’t survive.
That'll pull in about 10 votes for Thompson.
Now Jack Bauer... that'd help Thompson. LOL!
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/07/26/291863.aspx
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/category/newt-gingrich/
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0707/5120.html
This isn’t a slam on anyone btw.
I believe you are wrong on this. I would bet that 90% of judges are good, but the 90% that are good don't make news. The 10% of judges who make radical decisions are the ones who are making news. It is the whole car-wreck/media analogy. You never hear news stories of the tens of thousands of cars that don't get in an accident each day, only the one car that does.
That could depend on how crucial his votes were. Was he actively pushing Pro-Life legislation or was he casting expedient votes to maintain his political career and prevent being tarred and feathered by his constituents. His history on the subject warrants a little cynicism.
It still remains that the only men I've ever heard of who have had a mid-life change of heart going from pro-abortion to pro-life are Republican politicians who want to be President.
Perhaps becasue they are the only ones ever asked...
Dobson had Newt on his show, but there was nothing at all to suggest that he (Dobson) wanted Newt to run for President, or that he would give him any support. In your own words, “you know I’m right”.
I see no evidence of that.
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