I used to listen regularly to his radio show.
From a practical matter, no matter how Godly Rick Santorum is, he cannot win. Dobson’s attacking of Newt’s wife was just plain hateful. Rather than being righteous losers, we need to get Obama out of office. Some Christians have a purist, nihalistic quality about them, and I don’t know for a fact that Dobson is one of them, but he could be.
Why would a Christian endorse a candidate who cannot win?
There’s a lot of good stuff I read from time to time at FOTF, but sometimes Dobson does a little more harm than good. I remember in 2008, he said Fred Thompson wasn’t Christian enough for him, which soured me some towards Dr. D. And Santorum, granted, I agree with him on social issues 100%, but we’re electing a President, not a preacher. If Newt has repented for his misdeeds, well, isn’t it Christian to believe in redemption? Certainly, if Santoroum had a better shot, I’d be behind him. But he doesn’t, and I’m fearing he’s doing more harm than good right now, and helping the Flipster get the nomination by staying in.
Secondly, no one knows what the future holds. We are only 5% into this primary. Romney is starting to explode and has McCain out there saying he doesn't want any more debates (because he's scared of blowing it) He might have to get a TelePrompTer. Maybe he can borrow obamas. Remember, even if Newt got all of Santorums votes, which he would not have gotten, Newt still would not have won fl.
I've been trying over on the World Magazine website, and other conservative Christian forums where I am personally known to the leaders, to make a similar case for the legitimacy of voting for Newt Gingrich. I think someone can vote for either Santorum or Gingrich in good conscience. I happen to think Santorum is the better candidate but I can live with Gingrich.
Some comments:
1. You are absolutely right that too many conservative evangelicals apply the same purist approach to secular politics that they do in their churches. I have major problems with that approach.
Considering that I spent a decade fighting against outright liberalism in the Christian Reformed Church (the “official” conflict over ordaining women and creation/evolution issues masked a more serious problem of denial of inerrancy that led to fights over homosexuality and similar issues), I have legitimate credentials to say that I understand the difference between fighting over secondary issues and fighting when the gospel is at stake.
2. I do not think I have ever attacked Callista Gingrich either in private or in public. I think it looks bad and wins no votes. However, we need to realize other people **ARE** doing that, not just Dobson.
Santorum has spent his entire political career having to answer questions about his own wife's repentance from some rather wicked decisions in her past. People have brought up the background of Mrs. Santorum several times on Free Republic. Callista Gingrich is going to have to deal with that sooner or later — the criticism won't come from me, but it will come.
My answer, if I were Callista Gingrich, would be to say some version of “I did something horrible, I deeply regret it, and my church spent many years evaluating me and Newt before allowing Newt to join the Catholic Church. It's not easy for a twice-divorced person to join the Catholic Church, and you can rest assured that my priest and my bishop investigated our situation. I've repented, Newt has repented, and if people refuse to believe that, all I can say is my church did hard work my critics have not done.”
3. You asked, “Why would a Christian support a candidate who cannot win?” In the current situation we don't have that problem. The race has been so volatile that I believe pretty much any of the four candidates except Ron Paul could still win the race.
However, if someone sincerely believes as a matter of conscience that they cannot support Newt Gingrich, I'm not going to tell them they have to vote for him. Sometimes we have to follow our consciences even knowing we will probably lose. I think the people here on Free Republic saying they'll back a third-party candidate if Romney wins the nomination understand that logic quite well. Frankly, I don't want to have to think through what choice I will need to make if the ballot is Romney versus Obama, and I hope the Republican Party doesn't put me in that position.