Focus on the Family head James Dobson endorsed Mike Huckabee today. Well, really, what other option did he have?
In a statement first obtained by The Associated Press, Dobson reiterated his declaration on Super Tuesday that he could not in good conscience vote for John McCain, the front-runner, because of concerns over the Arizona senator's conservative credentials.
Dobson had previously ruled out backing Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson, threatening to vote for a third party candidate if he couldn't find someone sufficiently wingnutty to support. Now that he's
Dobson is easily the biggest-name evangelical endorsement Huckabee has earned. Other movement leaders have shied from Huckabee either because of his lack of money, support for expanding the evangelical agenda to include the environment and poverty, as well economic and tax positions that fiscal conservatives have attacked.
Yeah, we wouldn't want Christians to actually concern themselves with the poor, and who needs to worry about clean air or water when Armageddon is just around the corner?
It is telling that Dobson has chosen to endorse Huckabee now even though the Huckster has almost no chance of winning the nomination (the evil McCain has over 707 of the 1,191 delegates needed to win; Huck has 195). I'm guessing Daddy D sees the writing on the wall and doesn't want to be completely shut out of the halls of power. He'll be pushing hard for Huckabee in the VP slot.
Of course, we're all supposed to smile and nod along with the assertion that Dobson's endorsement is purely a private matter and not at all intended to influence the followers who support his tax-exempt non-profit organization. Yeah, that's why it makes national news.
Dobson emphasizes that when he endorses candidates, he is doing so as a private citizen and not as a representative of Focus on the Family, a tax-exempt organization he founded. His endorsement of Huckabee was to be e-mailed to 110,000 people through Focus on the Family Action, a separate entity that is allowed to be more politically active, [Dobson spokesperson Gary] Schneeberger said.
Right. Because every private citizen in this country has access to a mailing list 110,000 strong through which to disseminate his or her endorsement. Come to think of it, maybe Dobson's endorsing the Huck because of his "fair" tax proposal that would do away with the IRS. I'm sure Huckabee's rewrite of the Constitution could be tweaked to include a no-strings-attached exemption for religious right propaganda organizations.
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