Riverwood Presbyterian Church

Culture Wars

Dobson on McCain

by Clay Staggs

Interestingly, Dr. Dobson has poked his toe into the political waters of the GOP 2008 presidential primary. He is opposed to John McCain’s candidacy. Apparently McCain’s position on gay marriage is unacceptable to Dobson.

I find this interesting on a number of fronts. First of all, McCain has always been solidly pro-life. This makes me wonder whether there’s a new litmus test politically for being a social conservative. Does being squishy (assuming McCain is that) on gay marriage trump being pro-life?

Second, I can’t help but wonder whether this is cover for having other problems with McCain. The reason I suggest this is that McCain’s position, set in full context, seems non-controversial to me. McCain made the comment which was the basis for Dobson’s criticism on a TV talk show. That comment was:

I think that gay marriage should be allowed if there’s a ceremony kind of thing, if you want to call it that. I don’t have any problem with that. But I do believe in preserving the sanctity of a union between man and woman.

However, moments later, in the same event on the same show, McCain clarified what he meant:

On the issue of the gay marriage, I believe that if people want to have private ceremonies, that’s fine. I do not believe that gay marriages should be legal.

You can read McCain’s whole exchange here. Dobson appears to have neglected to mention the later clarification.

Now, I think there’s LOTS to disagree with McCain about, and in the spirit of full disclosure, I’ll say he’s not my first choice (or my second) for the GOP nomination in 2008. That said, I think it’s a bit disingenuous to attack him for being soft on gay marriage when all he said was that it’s OK for folks to have ceremonies (that are legally meaningless). How can you stop that anyway? It’s going on right now.

The core problem here, really, is Dobson’s wading into the political arena. Though as an individual citizen he certainly has the right to speak, as a religious leader, he’s painting a bullseye on himself and his organization. The IRS is already suspicious of these non-profit groups’ activities that blur the line between their tax-exempt purpose and political advocacy (which is forbidden for non-profits). Making comments like this, no matter how careful you are to distinguish between your personal views and those of your organization, doesn’t help your cause. And it surely won’t serve them well if in January 2009, we’re inaugurating President McCain.