Focus on the Family founder James Dobson appeared to throw cold water on a possible presidential bid by former Sen. Fred Thompson while praising former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is also weighing a presidential run, in a phone interview Tuesday.
Related News“Everyone knows he’s conservative and has come out strongly for the things that the pro-family movement stands for,” Dobson said of Thompson. “[But] I don’t think he’s a Christian; at least that’s my impression,” Dobson added, saying that such an impression would make it difficult for Thompson to connect with the Republican Party’s conservative Christian base and win the GOP nomination.
Thompson’s staff fact-checked Dobson, saying that “he was baptized into the Church of Christ.” To which a Focus on the Family staffer told US News that Christian only “refer[s] to people who are evangelical Christians” for Mr. Dobson.
Dobson is going on the attack. His phone call to US News was unsolicited — he proactively accused Fred Thompson of not being a Christian. The beneficiary of Dobson’s attack seems to be Newt Gingrich.
While making it clear he was not endorsing any Republican presidential candidate, Dobson, who is considered the most politically powerful evangelical figure in the country, also said that Gingrich was the “brightest guy out there” and “the most articulate politician on the scene today.”
Gingrich admitted to having an extramarital affair during the Clinton impeachment on Dobson’s radio show. That move was rewarded by another conservative leader, Jerry Falwell, with a speaking gig at Falwell’s Liberty University. Dobson is also a member of the Arlington Group, a collection of conservative leaders who are vetting some of the Republican contenders for endorsement. Gingrich is one of the candidates who has been interviewed and is in contention for their bulk endorsement.
Gingrich has Dobson playing the role of attack-dog surrogate already, which is surely a sign that Dobson’s endorsement could follow Gingrich’s entrance into the race. Gingrich says he’s waiting until after September 30, 2007 to make a decision. Right now I doubt he’ll wait that long. Fred Thompson could be a threat to take old school conservative voters and I think Gingrich wants to be in this race more than he wants to play Republican savior this fall.
Technorati Tags: Fred Thompson, Newt Gingrich, James Dobson
March 28th, 2007 at 6:54 pm
At the top of a Slate article on Fred Thompson today (and what is it about fake Law & Order district attorneys running for office in real life? Now it’s Thompson, but there’s also Rep. Adam Schiff, who has the same name as the character of the first L&O DA, played by world-weary Steven Hill. When Schiff ran in 2000, I suggested his bumper stickers should say “Just make the deal, Jack.”), there’s mention of a New York Post interview with Gingrich I’d missed, in which he called Hillary nasty, which is just funny coming from him, but more significantly said, “If the country wants therapy, they’re going to elect Obama.” Can that line be understood any other way than as hideously racist, saying that the only reason people would vote for a black man is liberal guilt?