James Dobson declared not long ago that if John McCain became the nominee to the Republican Party’s nominee to the presidency, he would seeka third party candidate to run instead. Guess where that declaration went to?
So, you can imagine the thunder, shock and awe when Evangelicals pronounce Mitt Romney unfit for the vice presidency, threatening to remove their troops from the field in the event he gets the nod. This is one even John McCain can’t fuck up.
This is interesting. Via TPM’s Election Roundup of this morning, The Page is reporting that James Dobson is now signalling that he might be persuaded to vote for John McCain. I speculated way back when he first announced his plan *not* to vote for the Republican Nom that such a plan might be playing chicken with reality. After all, if a Cedar of Lebanon falls in the wood and no one gives a shit, does it make a difference?
Well, now it begins to look like Dobson’s gambit for a third party candidate may be coming to a close.
I’ve made a point on this blog not to post on the weekends. This isn’t an iron-clad rule, but I’ve been fairly consistent recently. The primary reason for this is that I believe the whole “24-hour news cycle” is simply a marketing scheme meant to push advertisement sales at news channels, and we could probably all benefit from taking a small break on the weekends to reflect.
But there are times when I have to admit I’m wrong, and this weekend certainly was one of those. In an unusually eventful weekend, Barack Obama seems to have swept all the primaries and caucuses on the Democratic side, having won in four states. And on the Republican side, James Dobson suddenly decided that Chuck Norris was fighting on the side of God – the Right-Hand Karate Chop of the Lord, as it were – and threw his support to Mike Huckabee. Or at least, that’s the way the media has – seemingly without a trace of reflection or analysis – chosen to let Huckabee and Dobson spin it.
James Dobson has publicly declared on the Laura Ingram show that he will not cast any ballot at all if John McCain gets the Republican nomination for president. Among his damning charges? McCain has been known to swear. Oh, yeah, and he fought against ending the filibuster which Republicans have used as their chief tool since losing power.
And of course, this is as much as encouraging Evangelical Conservative Christians to follow suit, which in all honesty is precisely what they’ve been doing for generations. It was these same non-voters Bush wooed out of the shadows in 2000 – the same crazies who listen to short-wave and broadcast dire messages about poison in our toothpaste from “undisclosed remote locations,” – who are now simply returning to type. And so, the circle is complete.
Dobson could perhaps have put his money and influence behind McCain and had a seat at the table, but instead he has chosen to encourage his followers to do the one most irresponsible thing a person can do in our democracy, which is to voluntarily surrender their sovereignty by casting their ballot in the fire.
Never he cried, never shall it ye get me alive
ye rotten hound of the burnie crew. Well I snatched fer the blade O my
Claymore cut and thrust and I fell doon before him round his feet.Aye! A roar he cried frae the bottom of his heart that I would nay fall
but as dead, dead as ‘a can be by his feet; de ya ken?