Today Dr. James Dobson has weighed into the Republican primary. Today Doctor Dobson announced.
"I am deeply disappointed the Republican Party seems poised to select a nominee who did not support a Constitutional amendment to protect the institution of marriage, voted for embryonic stem-cell research to kill nascent human beings, opposed tax cuts that ended the marriage penalty, has little regard for freedom of speech, organized the Gang of 14 to preserve filibusters in judicial hearings, and has a legendary temper and often uses foul and obscene language.
….McCain actually considered leaving the GOP caucus in 2001, and approached John Kerry about being Kerry’s running mate in 2004. McCain also said publicly that Hillary Clinton would make a good president. Given these and many other concerns, a spoonful of sugar does NOT make the medicine go down. I cannot, and will not, vote for Sen. John McCain, as a matter of conscience.”
"But what a sad and melancholy decision this is for me and many other conservatives. Should Sen. McCain capture the nomination as many assume, I believe this general election will offer the worst choices for president in my lifetime. I certainly can't vote for Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama based on their virulently anti-family policy positions. If these are the nominees in November, I simply will not cast a ballot for president for the first time in my life. These decisions are my personal views and do not represent the organization with which I am affiliated. They do reflect my deeply held convictions about the institution of the family, about moral and spiritual beliefs, and about the welfare of our country."
Around noon today, Dr. Dobson talked to national talk-show host Dennis Prager. He made it clear he was not endorsing anyone.
"Dr. Dobson's statement speaks for itself," said Gary Schneeberger, vice president of media relations for Focus on the Family Action. "He made it as a private citizen, and it reflects his personal opinion of Sen. McCain's candidacy and record. People can read into it what they like; all I see is his own personal 'straight talk' regarding why he can't vote for one candidate."
While there are several issues that I can take with the above statement, for this blog I will note only three. The logic behind Schneeberger saying that Dobson is not endorsing anyone is laughable. If there are four candidates and you clearly state you cannot support A, B or C then you are supporting D.
Further, to claim “These decisions are my personal views and do not represent the organization with which I am affiliated” are contradicted by posting the statement on the web page of the organization with which he is affiliated. To speak as a private citizen, to have it covered by the press I could respect if he did not post it on the organization’s web site. Dobson is playing the politician with a sweeping generalized statement that is designed to be dramatic and obfuscate.
The third is with regard to verbal statements that are made by religious leaders and religious conservative pundits. This afternoon statements were made on various shows questioning how can anyone who is an “evangelical Christian” vote of McCain. The implications are:
a) That American evangelical Christians are superior to other forms of Christianity,
b) That American evangelicals have greater insight into the truth than others (which is a very arrogant assumption)
c) That anyone who votes for Clinton or Obama or McCain is betraying their faith and cannot be a real evangelical Christian.
If McCain wins the November election, I suspect that he will be more gracious toward Dobson than Dobson is toward him. When Dobson and his association contacts him upon his election I would not blame a McCain White House from saying that if he openly annouced that he would not be not be participating in the voting process as an upright then why should he listen to Dobson.
Reflective Wanderings - Reflections on various topics that arise out of my personal, life and professional experiences. There are also are some family related news, travels and pictures.
4 comments:
Much to ponder. Dobson is certainly in danger of completely marginalizing himself.
The so called voice of the evangelical in the US continues to concern me. As an evangelical myself raised in a social-liberal society, I know I can't separate my faith from my life, no more can I separate my faith from the daily decisions I make each and every day. However, my faith drives me forward to share the life of Christ however possible - but not in a judgmental way. It's a faith that respects other opinions. It's a faith that is lived out, not one that yells out. It's a faith that invites people to watch my life, to dialogue with me as friend to friend. It's a faith that in general is not a reactionary faith - but an engaging faith. Do I have a lock on the high moral ground? Knowing my failures and shortcomings, my sins that only God knows about, I have to honestly say, "no." Yet inspite of that, I do believe Christ is the way, the truth and the life. He demonstrated an unconditional approach of engagement towards the untouchables of the world in which he lived.
Dobson who tries to equate faith with politics is playing a dangerous game. He declares so much of the world as untouchable - and thus outside the realm of engagement. It's no different than the game that has played out in many Islamic countries of the world today where we have seen generations of youth raised and nurtured to hate.
Conservatives are beginning to amaze me in their inability to see what's really at stake here.
This election is about more than McCain and his inability to follow conservative principals - and that has been proven true a hundred times.
But how is handing the whole country over to liberals a suitable alternative to McCain?
There is a serious difference between McCain and a pure bread liberal who is bent on destroying ALL conservative values as well as our country with them.
Anti McCain commentators such as Rush Limbaugh have ventured the idea that perhaps we should sit this election out and let the Dems have a term in office, claiming it might pave the way for a future shot at a candidate he and others will like in four years.
Imagine the damage our country will endure if Democrats control all three branches of government for 4 to 8 years.
This would give liberals what they will treat as a clear sign from America that is it ready to move sharply to the left. Not slightly to the left.
My daughters will come of age in the next 4 to 8 years, and I'd rather have 50% of McCains earn than 0% of a destruction bent liberal's ear.
Cherry picking our candidate is exactly what got us INTO this mess, and if conservatives aren’t careful, they may throw the entire country into a liberal spin that can take a decade(s) to pull back out of.
There is no such thing as a quick recovery from 4 years of liberalism unchecked. We may be facing what will take years and years of damage to undo. What’s more, there’s no guarantee that it WILL be undone. Have conservatives completely forgotten Roe v. Wade and other extremely important issues? We need an allie on every core issue we can get.
Questioning McCain was right and highly useful for a time and a season. Many of us wish we had acted sooner to support Romney or Huck....
But staying home on election day allows liberals a pass to capture all THREE branches of Government. Do you want your kids growing up in that kind of environment?
I'm not asking anyone to sacrifice their own belief or convictions, but we have a serious serious problem here, that we can't afford to fall asleep on.
Give it some thought, friends.
Danny Vice
http://weeklyvice.blogspot.com
http://thalunatic.blogspot.com
Well, I certainly wouldn't consider backing anyone that Dobson did endorse. I'm assuming, of course, that he was a Bush supporter ... and look what happened there.
Barb...in the eyes of many on the religious right Bush is an outstanding President. Dobson has not spoken out on the most egregious actions of the current administration. They are supporters of water boarding saying that it produces results…. in other words, the end justifies the means. They remained silent and thereby tacitly accepted unjust dismissals of DAs who would not do their bidding to lay charges against their political opponents when the evidence is lacking. They have not cried out against distorted reports that were put forward to justify the war on Iraq. By their silence they religious leaders are guilty of the same sins as Bush.
Dobson in his attack upon McCain noted that McCain considered jumping leaving the Republican party to become a VP running mate with the John Kerry. G. Gordon Liddy a conservative commenter investigated the claim and has noted that it was Kerry’s people who approached McCain and McCain turned it down. Yet Dobson continues to push forward the lie as if McCain is a disloyal power hungry politician, and thereby in my view indicating that he will intentionally stoop to using exaggerations, lies and innuendo when necessary even though such actions are out of keeping with the faith that he proclaims.
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