Super Tuesday Liveblog: What Will (or Won't) Dobson Do? | Sojourners

Super Tuesday Liveblog: What Will (or Won't) Dobson Do?

Back in October, Diana Butler Bass asked on this blog, "What Will Dobson Do?" Back then, Guiliani was the frontrunner and Dobson was threatening to bolt the party if he became the nominee. Today, he sent an alert to Focus on the Family Action lamenting:



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. ...


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.


While Dobson maintains that he is endorsing no candidate, Focus and friends have certainly warmed to Romney while criticizing Huckabee. Was Huckabee's social conservatism just not enough to win their support for his economic populism? Reading the list of issues cited above, one wonders if electability had more to do with the Religious Right's support for Romney over Huckabee--since from my understanding neither of them use "foul or obscene language." With results so far seeming to favor McCain over Romney, are there any regrets among these erstwhile kingmakers? At this point, as Dobson threatens a boycott of the presidential vote, one wonders if he wishes he'd been more vocal in his support of Huckabee--who's winning southern states where conservative evangelicals are a strong segment of the electorate.