James Dobson does not speak for the religious right, says another card-carrying member:

Former Republican presidential candidate Gary Bauer contends that conservative Christians should seriously consider supporting Thompson if they want to avoid a "nightmare scenario" where they are forced to choose between two pro-abortion, pro-gay rights candidates – Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani.

"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."

As I suspected, Fred Thompson has not suffered at all from Dobson's attack, and indeed the collective blogosphere opinion was to think even more highly of Thompson. And with this latest defense it appears that Thompson can get the support of both the religious right and the libertarian elements of the GOP. It's the best of both worlds!

Hey, that's good enough for me.

I've been fervent in my posts about the uneasiness I feel when GOP candidates act as if they have to cozy up to religious folk. President Bush did it with Jerry Falwell and John McCain more recently is doing it with Southern Baptists. Republican candidates place an undeserved prestige on gaining the backing of people such as James Dobson and it doesn't gain them the support they would hope for. In fact, it may turn off conservative Democrats and cost them more votes then it gains.

Think about it, who will Dobson support as if it really matters? He won't support Giuliani so that leaves who, Sam Brownback or Mike Huckabee? He definitely won't support Mitt Romney. Essentially, Dobson has been neutralized and that means his power has dissipated. That can only be good for the party as we've seen those who preach have not always been the most godly of people anyway. I put Dobson on a par with other partisan groups who should have their power usurped such as MoveOn and NOW.

As a Neocon, I am a moderate on most social issues, the church is not supposed to play as large a part as the GOP has placed on it in recent years. For those who have made Neocon a curse, do a little research and see that most Neocons were liberals who changed affiliation because they think that democracy is the cornerstone to changing the world and despots and dictators are evil and should be exiled or forced out by whatever means necessary. That's a much-abridged description but take some time to look up what we think.

Dobson and his ideological brethren are fading and will continue to do so. The nation needs a leader who is not praised by those of Dobson's ilk and who will lead based on good moral tenets--whether religion-inspired or not. Let Dobson support Sam Brownback and I'll support Rudy Giuliani or Fred Thompson.

The AP snagged this very interesting e-mail:

"Isn't Thompson the candidate who is opposed to a 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.

"He 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? Well, not for me, my brothers. Not for me!"

This should cause no great consternation in the Fred Thompson camp. The religious right folks are rallying around Mike Huckabee, but so far the Arkansas governor has not broken out of the second tier. If he does so, then the Dobson thing may matter. But for Thompson, the fact that he does in fact look like Ronald Reagan when you stand him next to John McCain, Mitt Romney, and especially Rudy Giuliani. Dobson may not like it, but he's pointedly not endorsing Giuliani either, and right now it's a two-man race.

Thompson can wait it out. Dobson will come around if it's Fred vs. Hillary Clinton. And besides this will make the libertarian wing of the Republican party gravitate toward Fred Thompson even more.

Many on the Christian right are taking a hard look at Fred "The Tennessee Stud" Thompson, and wondering just how much enthusiasm they can muster for the man. Recent articles chronicle a clear desire for a Republican candidate who, like George W. Bush before him, will trod the well-worn path that non-believer Karl Rove cut in the ticket separating politics from religion. So, is Thompson their man?

Indeed, the subject of religion came up a lot yesterday on the campaign trail, and I'm happy to report that Thompson doesn't seem to have much of an appetite for it. From the AP:

Republican presidential contender Fred Thompson, who has based his campaign on appealing to conservative voters, said he isn't a regular churchgoer and doesn't plan to speak about his religion on the stump...

Talking to reporters later, Thompson, a former Tennesse senator, said his church attendance "varies."

"I attend church when I'm in Tennesse. I'm in McLean right now," he said referring to the Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C., where he lives. "I don't attend regularly when I'm up there."

Good for him. A return to a Ronald Reagan-like skepticism of wearing your religion on your sleeve has certainly been long in coming. Still, one has to wonder a little at Mr. Thompson's rather self-assured take on his current standing with God.

"I know that I'm right with God and the people I love," he said in Greenville. It's "just the way I am not to talk about some of these things."

Funny to hear someone talk about subjects that they aren't one to talk about. And I am interested to know how he knows that he's right with God. Is that like God telling George Bush that invading Iraq was the right thing to do? Small questions, I guess. The larger issue remains that James Dobson and his throngs of hard-core Christian voters still don't have their poster-child.

US News reports yesterday on Fred Thompson and the religious right.

The success of the effort is by no means ensured; in March, Focus on the Family's James Dobson told U.S. News that he doubted Thompson was really a Christian. But Dobson and Thompson have since talked, with Dobson rumored to be reassessing Thompson. And prominent social conservative Paul Weyrich, who met recently with Thompson and evangelical activists, said the former senator "was in agreement with us on almost everything."

For Thompson, the timing couldn't be better. McCain's campaign is reeling from staff departures and cutbacks, and Giuliani faces fierce opposition from Christian right leaders. So Thompson's team is betting that the GOP primaries will turn into what one adviser calls a "Thompson-Romney duel," since Romney is the one top-tier Republican lobbying hard for evangelical support. "If he gets strong support from evangelicals, Thompson could reshape the race," says the Pew Forum for Religion and Public Life's John Green.

The writing is on the wall for anyone doubting it. Fred Thompson will be the religious right candidate, followed by Mike Huckabee. Huckabee's a nice guy and his positions on just about everything are perfect for the religious right. His background isn't shabby either. What's killing Huckabee is electability. And the Republicans right now are very, very nervous about losing all three branches of government after 2008. Huckabee has not shown that he can play nationally. That's too bad because Huckabee is a good candidate and I hope this isn't the end of his national career. But mark the words, he's not going anywhere this cycle.

A three-year struggle to defend gay marriage in Massachusetts ended – at least for the moment – on Thursday, when the state legislature voted against a ban on gay marriage.

Supporters of gay marriage have been portrayed as ignoring the wishes of "the people" by using the judges of the Supreme Judicial Court, and state legislators, to circumvent the popular will. Still, we should remember that the popular will has also been used to back odious causes in the past ... and as for "the people" being solidly against gay marriage, why did so much anti-gay lobbying funds come from Dr. James Dobson's Colorado-based Focus on the Family?

Bob and Susannah discuss the results of Thursday's decision in the latest episode of "Running Gags."

Thanks to my muse for suggesting I write about this issue ... and to my Ohio source for mentioning the out-of-state cash contributions in an e-mail several months ago.

Which presidential candidates can break out of the second tier? On the Democratic side, this question is easy: Bill Richardson, who has a great resume, a great platform as a governor, and a good story on electability, being able to contend in the West and Southwest.

But on the Republican side it's a little more muddled. We have Jim Gilmore, Sam Brownback, and Mike Huckabee who all have good platforms and credentials. But I think Huckabee has the best chance. You might call me crazy for thinking that a little known governor from Arkansas has a shot, but ask yourself what Governor Bill Clinton was doing in the spring of 1991

AP has a nice little write-up on Mike Huckabee which highlights the reasons:

Mike Huckabee has a resume fit for a GOP presidential nominee - Southern Baptist preacher, former Arkansas governor, fierce opponent of abortion and gay marriage. Those attributes would seem to be exactly what fellow conservatives are looking for in a candidate. What he doesn't have is money or a household name, and those deficiencies have proven costly to his campaign. He barely registers in polls and is struggling to break out of the pack of Republicans seeking to be seen as credible alternatives to the strongest contenders, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney.

This is important because Dr. James Dobson is probably the most respected among evangelical leaders. He can, and will, move votes. He's obviously been thinking a lot about Rudy Giuliani and has come to a conclusion:

My conclusion from this closer look at the current GOP front-runner comes down to this: Speaking as a private citizen and not on behalf of any organization or party, I cannot, and will not, vote for Rudy Giuliani in 2008. It is an irrevocable decision. If given a Hobson's – Dobson's? – choice between him and Sens. Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, I will either cast my ballot for an also-ran – or if worse comes to worst – not vote in a presidential election for the first time in my adult life. My conscience and my moral convictions will allow me to do nothing else.

This is the sort of thing that I thought would happen. Further back in the article, Dobson explains that it wasn't just the abortion issue, but also his gay marriage stance, and his failure in his own personal life.

I wrote before that one of Rudy's big problems was that the GOP spent the entire eight years of the Clinton administration saying that "character matters." Those who said that will have a tough time covering for Giuliani who committed some of the same personal fouls. James Dobson has reconciled it in favor of "character matters"; and Giuliani is out.

Former Senator Fred Thompson was a very good senator. I love watching him on television. He has done a good job sitting in for Paul Harvey. When Scooter Libby needed help, Fred was there and is a member of the Libby Advisory Group. When asked if elected, would he pardon Libby, Fred said he would pardon him today.

Recently, in a Fox interview conducted by Chris Wallace, Thompson answered all the questions clearly and with explanations. He pretty much conformed to the standard conservative positions. He opposes abortion, gay marriage and gun control. He supports the McCain - Feingold Law. He argues that should not be a conservative or liberal position (I agree). He will support judges who are strict constructionists. When it comes to immigration, he basically says if the laws on the books are enforced, the illegal immigrants will return to their own country. He implies that it is not worth the costs of shipping 15 million people back to their country of origin. He supports the war in Iraq and the recent surge.

So where am I going with this? I just don't think Fred Thompson is going to run. I think he is comfortable in his life and is a team player. I don't think he wants to go through the rigors of a campaign. Today, I read some poll results. Thompson slips in with 12%. Giuliani continues to lead the pack at 31%. Writers anxious to see a fight, point out how Giuliani is slipping in the polls. The fact is that Rudy continues to defy conventional wisdom. No matter who they throw up there, Giuliani is leading the pack. He is a liberal who has the support of conservatives.

Fred Thompson will not run. In my opinion, the polls are not encouraging him to run. He might believe in the war in Iraq but the majority of voters don't. He probably would make one great President but I don't think that any of us are ever going to have the chance to vote for him. Look for him to win an Emmy and not a presidential nomination.

March 28, 6:32PM UPDATE: James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, today stated that he could not support Fred Thompson for president. He said that Thompson supported all the right causes that the pro family movement stands but and let me use Dobson's words, "I just don't think he's a Christian."

It's funny this news item comes the day after I published this story. This is what Thompson is up against. He is married. He has two young children. Is a good family man but Dobson doesn't think he is a Christian. Not to make this update any longer than it already is, he likes Newt Gingrich.