Dobson's comments on McCain of Feb 5th, 2008
I heard this referenced on the Super Tuesday Coverage last night and just found it. Though I believe everything he says about McCain to be true and I dislike McCain the Politician about as much as I respect McCain the war hero, I'm not too thrilled at the prospect of this kind of potential division benefiting the Democratic Candidate.
"I'm deeply disappointed the Republican Party seems poised to select a nominee who did not support a Constitutional amendment to protect the institution of marriage, who voted for embryonic stem cell research to kill nascent human beings, who opposed tax cuts that ended the marriage penalty, and who has little regard for freedom of speech, who organized the Gang of 14 to preserve filibusters, and has a legendary temper and often uses foul and obscene language.
"I am convinced Sen. McCain is not a conservative, and in fact, has gone out of his way to stick his thumb in the eyes of those who are. He has at times sounded more like a member of the other party. McCain actually considered leaving the GOP 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 I 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 John 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'm affiliated. They do reflect, however, my deeply held convictions about the institution of the family, about moral and spiritual beliefs, and about the welfare of our country."
2 comments:
Hey William, Thanks for the post. I had heard the reference to such a statement, but had not actually heard the entire thing. What a difficult decision we are faced with! I do not think there is much difference at all between McCain and Hillary so would it be better to have Hillary and have the Democrats fail miserably or have McCain and have the Republicans fail miserably? Hmm. One thing I know is that Republicans in Congress would be more likely to fight against Hillary's agenda than they would McCain's. That seems evident by what has happened with our current prez.
William,
I'm not sold on McCain at all, and this is *not* an endorsement. Still, I think that there is good reason to be concerned by Dobson's tirade. I can't see that it makes political sense at all, and I doubt very much that it is charitable or even completely true at all points. For instance, while JD is right that McCain "voted for embryonic stem cell research," it surely wasn't so that we could "kill nascent human beings." I think that what McCain voted for was to use the stem cells from *existing* embryos (Bush's proposal too, if I recall). While I don't agree with the policy, its not quite the same as finding research *to kill.* I've heard that McCain has now changed his views of this (he now sees that there are alternative possibilities for providing enough stem cells for research)... but Dobson overlooked this development, which in any case seems relevant. Moreover, while I may not agree with McCain's views on these matters all the way down the line, he does have a consistently pro-life voting record.
Or consider JD's claim that McCain has "little regard for freedom of speech." I can only assume that JD refers to McCain's work on campaign finance reform. I can't see how this has anything to do with "family values," or that there is JD might represent *the* Christian position on these matters (the same could be said for immigration issues too, I think). At any rate, this is a bit misleading, for it makes it sound as thought McCain has little regard for free speech *in general* (which is something I doubt very much).
So McCain is hot-tempered and can be foul-mouthed (is there any reason to think that the Bush White House isn't a place of foul language?). But is this reason to prefer a pro-choice candidate (even if by default)? I can't see it.
You may wonder why in the world I've shown up here to make these comments; I have, I know, been *waaay* out of touch... sorry about that. Well, I *didn't* contact you to endorse McCain. I'm commenting here because I think that Christians -- of all people -- should work hard to avoid "bearing false witness." I think that we should expect better of James Dobson, and of us all.
Blessings and best wishes -- and with a shepoo!,
Tom McCall
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