February 5, 2008 | 6:15 pm

Dobson won’t vote for McCain ‘as a matter of conscience’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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Early Super Tuesday results are in, and Sen. John McCain is a getting a little more competition from fellow Republican Mike Huckabee then expected. McCain will likely still receive the lion share of delegates because he’s got the edge in the delegate-rich states of the Northeast, Illinois and California. And true conservatives like James Dobson aren’t happy about that. Here’s what the founder of Focus on the Family said today on the Laura Ingraham Show:

I’m deeply disappointed the Republican Party seems poised to select a nominee who did not support a Constitutional amendment to protect the institution of marriage, who voted for embryonic stem cell research to kill nascent human beings, who opposed tax cuts that ended the marriage penalty, and who has little regard for freedom of speech, who organized the Gang of 14 to preserve filibusters, and has a legendary temper and often uses foul and obscene language.

I am convinced Sen. McCain is not a conservative, and in fact, has gone out of his way to stick his thumb in the eyes of those who are. He has sounded at times more like a member of the other party. McCain actually considered leaving the GOP caucus in 2001, and approached John Kerry about being Kerry’s running mate in 2004. McCain also said publicly that Hillary Clinton would make a good president. Given these and many other concerns, a spoonful of sugar does NOT make the medicine go down. I cannot, and will not, vote for Sen. John McCain, as a matter of conscience.

But what a sad and melancholy decision this is for me and many other conservatives. Should Sen. McCain capture the nomination as many assume, I believe this general election will offer the worst choices for president in my lifetime.

He went on a little longer, but you get the gist. I’m not sure which evangelicals Dobson speaks for, but that group doesn’t include me. Two weeks ago, Time pondered whether the political clout of “the ultimate evangelical alpha male,” as GetReligion called him this evening, has faded.