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As we all know, 20% of voters are far left and would elect a democratic stick, and the same 20% are on the republican side, it seems to me the 60% in the middle of the road are who He seems to be playing to. As previously stated, the second coming of Reagan, with the GWOT the new cold war. Let's just hope he pulls it off.
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I want a Fred and Condi ticket.
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Two of the most intriguing candidates have yet to enter the race; Thompson and Gingrich. Either of them or both of them will certainly upset the current apple cart.
IMO McCain and Giiuliani stand to lose the most support (and money) if these two (or one) enter the race. On the other side you have the has beens Gore and Kerry waiting to upset the Dim apple cart. This is going to be a very interesting cage match.:munchin |
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McCain is too old and too powerful in the Senate to take a VP position, and Giuliani is too liberal to have in either position and get my vote. I would not want to set him up as Veep for a POTUS run in 2012 or 2016. TR |
I like the Fred and Condi ticket. I think they would attract a lot of the independent crowd which either side needs to win.
I don't think McCain or Giiuliani will accept a VP slot.... egos.... and don't think they would win 1st place. Nor will any of the others who say they are in the race....... Jim |
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For the record I could care less about a persons religious beliefs. Unless of course they were Muslim......then I would draw a line. |
Romney signed anti-Second Amendment legislation in Mass, and waited till last year to join the NRA.
Now he has some lame story about being a lifetime hunter.:rolleyes: Let's just say I believe in redemption, but not so much in last minute conversions. It occurs to me that he, like Hillary and Obama, believes strongly in whatever it takes to win at the moment. TR |
Hillary
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I'm only interested in candidates that have openly, past and present, opposed gun control legislation. Anything else is purely a lie or pandering to the momentary cause for voter support. Fred D. Thompson has that track record. Interestingly F. D. Thompson did not show a "TIGER" approach to his interview with Sean Hannity on Fox news two nights ago. I agree with Dick Morris, he needs to come out biting and growling like a wild cat to give the republicans what they have been salavating for this time around for POTUS. |
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It's also nice to see that Obaaaamaaa (I believe that is the sheeple pronunciation) gets his S.S. detail now...(thank you taxpayer$) |
AMEN
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Excerpts from speech to Lincoln Club dinner
Seems like he's touching on several subjects here, perhaps a hint of a platform to come?
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/c...05/2007&page=1 Excerpt: Prepared Remarks for Speech to Lincoln Club Annual Dinner By Fred Thompson Saturday, May 5, 2007 So we meet again, and I'm honored, because I know we're here for the same reasons: Love of our country and concern for our future. A lot of Americans have these concerns tonight. They are concerned about the way things are going in our country right now. Some fear we may be in the first stages of decline. We've heard this malaise talk before. Even at home, as we enjoy the benefits from one of the best economies we've ever had, people seem uncertain; they raise concerns about global competition or a growing economic disparity among our citizens. These are challenges. But how we react to them is more important than the challenges themselves. Some want us, to the extent possible, to withdraw from the world that presents us with so many problems, in the hope they will go away. Some would push us towards protectionist trade policies. Others see a solution in raising taxes and redistributing the income among our citizens. Wrong on all counts. These are defensive, defeatist policies that have consistently been proven wrong. They are not what America is all about. Let's talk about the issues here at home, first. A lot of folks in Washington suffer from a big misconception about our economy. They confuse the well-being of our government with the wealth of our nation. Adam Smith pointed out the same problem in his day, when many governments mixed up how much money the king had with how well-off the country was. Taxes are necessary. But they don't make the country any better off. At best they simply move money from the private sector to the government. But taxes are also a burden on production, because they discourage people from working, saving, investing, and taking risks. Some economists have calculated that today each additional dollar collected by the government, by raising income-tax rates, makes the private sector as much as two dollars worse off. To me this means one simple thing: tax rates should be as low as possible. This isn't anything ideological, and it really isn't some great insight. It's common sense arithmetic. That's why the economy booms when taxes are cut. When the Kennedy tax cuts were passed in the 1960s, the economy boomed. When Reagan cut taxes in 1981, we went from economic malaise to a new morning in America. And when George Bush cut taxes in 2001, he took a declining economy he inherited to an economic expansion -- despite 9-11, the NASDAQ bubble and corporate scandals. The Democrats, of course, want to raise taxes. They only want to target the rich, they say. A word of advice to anyone in the middle class -- don't stand anywhere near that target. Wouldn't it be great if, instead of worrying so much about how to divide the pie, we could work together on how to make the pie bigger? On globalization -- we're not afraid of it. It works to our benefit. We innovate more and invest in that innovation better than anywhere else in the world. Same thing goes for services, which are increasingly driving our economy. Free trade and market economies have done more for freedom and prosperity than a central planner could ever dream and we're the world's best example of that. So, why do we want to take investment dollars out of growth, and invest it in government? I'd say cash flow to the government is already going quite well. Over the past year our current tax structure generated record levels of revenue for Washington. In fact it's time to seriously consider what we're getting for our "investment" in government. For many years, several functions of the federal government have been descending into a sorry state of mismanagement and lack of accountability. I published a 68-page report on government's waste, duplication and inability to carry out some of its basic responsibilities. That was back in 2001 before 9-11, and it got little attention. Now the government's shortcomings are affecting our national security and are getting a lot of attention. The growth of government is not solving these problems; it's causing a lot of them. Every level of new bureaucracy that is created develops a level of bureaucracy beneath it, which creates another one. Pretty soon there is no accountability in the system. A new head of a department or agency comes in from out of town and, after a protracted confirmation fight, wants to spend his or her few years in Washington making great policy and solving national problems, not fighting with their own bureaucrats. So they just let well enough alone. Then you start seeing the results. Departments that can't pass an audit, computer systems that don't work, intelligence breakdowns, people in over their heads. Yet people in both parties continue to try to federalize and regulate at the national level more and more aspects of American society -- things that have traditionally been handled at the state and local level. We must remember that we have states to serve as policy laboratories for innovation and competition. That's how we got welfare reform. Our system also allows for the diversity of our large country. Our attitude should be, let the federal government do what it is supposed to be doing -- competently. Then maybe we will give it something else to do. The government could start by securing our nation's borders. A sovereign nation that can't do that is not a sovereign nation. This is secondarily an immigration issue. It's primarily a national security issue. We were told twenty years ago if we produced a comprehensive solution, we'd solve the illegal immigration problem. Twelve million illegals later, we're being told that same thing again. I don't believe most Americans are as concerned about the 12 million that are here as they are about the next 12 million and the next 12 million after that. I think they're thinking: "Prove you can secure the border and then people of good will can sit down and work out the rest of it, while protecting those folks who play by the rules." Speaking of reforms and our economy, there is nothing more urgent than the fate that is awaiting our Social Security and Medicare programs. The good news is that we are living longer. However, we don't have enough young working people to finance these programs from their taxes. People say the programs are going bankrupt. They won't go bankrupt. Even as these programs sap every dime of the government's revenue, the folks in Washington will raise the taxes necessary to cover the problem. At this rate the federal government is going to wind up as nothing more than a transfer agent -- transferring wealth from one generation to another. It will devastate our economy. Sometimes I think that I'm the last guy around who still thinks term limits is a good idea. The professionalization of politics saps people's courage. Their desire to keep their job and not upset anybody overrides all else -- even if it hurts the country. So the entitlement problem gets kicked a little further down the road. This action is based on the premise that our generation is too greedy to help the next generation. I believe just the opposite is true. If grandmom and granddad think that a little sacrifice will help their grandchildren when they get married, try to buy a home or have children, they will respond to a credible call to make that sacrifice -- if they don't think that the sacrifice is going down some government black hole. I am going to quote my friend, Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. I don't think he'll mind, even though it was a private conversation. He said, "People talk a lot about moral issues, but the greatest moral issue facing our generation is the fact that we are bankrupting the next generation. People talk about wanting to make a difference. Here we could make a difference for generations to come." It's clear with close numbers in the House and the Senate we need bipartisanship to have any chance at real reform in any of these areas. And there are many responsible people who are willing to try to make it happen. But the level of bipartisanship needed for real progress can only be achieved when politicians perceive that the American people are demanding it. That's why leaders of reform and hopefully our next President, will have a mandate to go directly to the American people with truth and clarity. These days in Washington, there's an awful lot of talk about the need for conversation -- that we should talk more to our nation's enemies; that we should speak "truth to power." However the speakers are usually turned in the wrong direction. Instead of talking to each other, leaders need to be speaking more to the American people. The message would be simple: "My friends we have entered a new era. We are going to be tested in many ways, possibly under attack and for a long time. It's time to take stock and be honest with ourselves. We're going to have to do a lot of things better. Here's what we need to do and here's why. I know that, now that you're being called upon, you will do whatever is necessary for the sake of our country and for future generations. You always have." When the American people respond to that, as I know they will, you will have your bipartisanship. |
Thompson video interview on Brietbart TV.
Not much new to it, the interviewer throws nothing but soft pitches. I like Thompson very much, but it wouldn't hurt him to be interviewed by someone who at least doesn't like him so much. I'm sure that will come, tho. Edit: Thompson's Lincoln Club speech quoted above is listed as being on CSPAN's Road to the White House program tonight. |
On immigration and on to the exploratory committee
From MSNBC
*** About to Throw His Hat into the Ring? Perhaps the most interesting release we received last night on the immigration bill was from Fred Thompson’s office. Said the candidate-in-waiting: “We should scrap this bill and the whole debate until we can convince the American people that we have secured the borders or at least have made great headway.” The simple act of sending the release signals a likelihood that Thompson is already acting like a candidate. There are now all sorts of organizational rumors floating around (from an exploratory announcement being imminent to key hires coming on board). The Thompson-for-president campaign is no longer months away -- instead think weeks, maybe days… :) Coming from someone who has been very involved in the Romney machine (and feeling extreme Romney fatigue), I think he's brilliant to have stayed out of it as long as he has - he'll look like an absolutely perfect alternative to the current field when he finally comes in. I'm beyond ready for someone who says what they mean and means what they say. I'll max out for Thompson. I should add this link too - Thompson "hearing" us: http://pajamasmedia.com/2007/05/fred...sive_story.php |
More on Fred.
TR http://www.opinionjournal.com/column.../?id=110010089 PEGGY NOONAN The Man Who Wasn't There Fred Thompson isn't yet running, but he's running a great campaign. Friday, May 18, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT Having watched the second Republican debate the other night, it's clear to me the subject today is Fred Thompson, the man who wasn't there. While the other candidates bang away earnestly in a frozen format, Thompson continues to sneak up from the creek and steal their underwear--boxers, briefs and temple garments. He is running a great campaign. It's just not a declared campaign. It's a guerrilla campaign whose informality is meant to obscure his intent. It has been going on for months and is aimed at the major pleasure zones of the Republican brain. In a series of pointed columns, commentaries and podcasts, Mr. Thompson has been talking about things conservatives actually talk about. Shouldn't homeowners have the right to own a gun? Isn't it bad that colleges don't teach military history? How about that Sarkozy--good news, isn't it? Did you see Tenet on Russert? His book sounds shallow, tell-all-y. These comments and opinions are being read and forwarded in Internet Nation. They are revealing and interesting, but they're not heavy, not homework. They have an air of "This is the sound of a candidate thinking." That's an unusual sound. Most illustrative was what started this week as a small trading of barbs with provocateur Michael Moore, whose general and iconic dishabille is meant to show identification with the workingman, though in America workingmen bathe. Mr. Moore was back from Cuba, where he made a documentary on the superiority of Castro's health care system. Mr. Thompson suggested Mr. Moore is just another lefty who loves dictators. Mr. Moore challenged Mr. Thompson to a health-care debate and accused him of smoking embargoed cigars. Within hours Mr. Thompson and his supposedly nonexistent staff had produced a spirited video response that flew through YouTube and the conservative blogosphere. Sitting at a desk and puffing on a fat cigar, Mr. Thompson announces to Mr. Moore he can't fit him into his schedule. Then: "The next time you're down in Cuba . . . you might ask them about another documentary maker. His name was Nicolás Guillén. He did something Castro didn't like, and they put him in a mental institution for several years, giving him devastating electroshock treatments. A mental institution, Michael. Might be something you ought to think about." You couldn't quite tell if Mr. Thompson was telling Mr. Moore he ought to think more about Cuba, or might himself benefit from psychiatric treatment. It seemed almost . . . deliberately unclear. Right now Mr. Thompson has the best of both worlds, an air of fearlessness and nothing on the line. He hasn't committed. He's not in. He can take a chance and be himself because he's not afraid, and he's not afraid because he has nothing to lose. He says he'll get in if enough people ask him to. If they don't, he'll go someplace else and do something else. It's not as if his speech fees would go down. Why would he run now? Because he thinks there's no one of greater stature on the field. Because he thinks he's got a better, shrewder read of the base than the rest of them. Because he's at an age where you throw the dice or know you never will. Because he thinks the one essential to modern presidential leadership, the one thing you must have now, in the age of terror, is the ability to communicate, and he reads himself as the best communicator. And because he's at a point in his private life where it's possible for him. He's got a wife who's got his back and two kids who've given him a second chance. Even in great careers it's the private life that's hardest to get right. He feels he has. People speak of Mr. Thompson's movie-star looks. But he's not beautiful, he's heavy and gray. What he has is bearing. He has the manner of someone who thinks a great deal of himself, and thinks it after long personal pondering of his good points, bad points, high points and low. He may or may not be correct in his conclusions, but I suspect they are part of his draw. I suspect people pick them up. Is he anything beyond a standard Republican conservative? Will he have anything beyond a Mideast policy that consists of win in Iraq, support the surge, and oppose any timetable? Does he stand for any strategic thinking apart from what John McCain unconsciously but aptly characterized as "Bomb-bomb-bomb, bomb-bomb Iran"? On domestic issues, can Mr. Thompson go beyond standard conservative thought? I happen to be standard conservative myself, but sometimes old things need to be made new, the obvious needs to be made fresh. Here are some things Mr. Thompson has going for him. He had eight years in the U.S. Senate, and then left in 2002 instead of sticking around and getting all the muck on him. He has a conservative record but a moderate persona. He seems nonradical, non-let's-follow-the-banner-over-the-cliff. He's a Southerner but modern. He has a great voice. (Voices matter. Ask Obama, who has one. Ask Hillary, who doesn't.) He comes to a field that may soon start to feel tired. That to some extent already does. His relatively late entry suggests--suggests--his motives are serious, not just ego-related. But Mr. Thompson's challenges are real, too. He'll have to show he's serious--that he's in it for big reasons and in it to the end. He'll have to knock down the "low energy, gadfly, hops from thing to thing" charge, which has persisted so long that one assumes there's something in it. He'll have to show he's not just a rote, pro forma conservative--a dumb conservative--but someone who knows times change, horizons shift. He has to show he has run something, or can run something. Romney ran a state, Giuliani a city. Mr. Thompson has run what--a career? Big whoop. Most importantly for him, and for all the Republican candidates for that matter, Mr. Thompson will have to answer this question: What is he running to do? Why should the Republicans get another eight years, or four years, after all the missteps they've made? Isn't conservatism, or Republicanism, or whatever you call it, just tired? Isn't it over? Isn't America just waiting for whatever will take its place? Why shouldn't liberalism get a shot? Could they mess up more? Why should we trust Republicans with foreign affairs? If Fred Thompson can answer these questions, he'll be showing he's something new, and not just the newest candidate, or the latest face. Reports this week said an announcement could come in June. Ms. Noonan is a contributing editor of The Wall Street Journal and author of "John Paul the Great: Remembering a Spiritual Father" (Penguin, 2005), which you can order from the OpinionJournal bookstore. Her column appears Fridays on OpinionJournal.com. |
Wish he'd declare his intent soon!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070523/.../fred_thompson Thompson courted to seek GOP nomination By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer Wed May 23, 6:03 PM ET WASHINGTON - There was a time when Fred Thompson suggested that he couldn't see himself running for office again. "For me, the George Washington example of serving eight years and riding out of town on a horse and never returning has great appeal," the Tennessee Republican said in 2002, the twilight of his Senate career. Now, five years later, he is a well-known TV actor who finds himself on the verge of a real-life presidential bid, seemingly recruited by activists hungry for someone to fill what they call a conservative void among the top-tier GOP hopefuls. Numerous signs point to a Thompson candidacy, and a summertime announcement is widely expected, although people close to him caution that he has not made a final decision about running. Thompson is hiring staff, speaking to conservative groups, writing online columns on topics of the day and staking out positions on issues like the Senate immigration overhaul. He also is testing his pitch on the Internet. "It's important to the future of this country that (Republicans) have somebody that can win in November," Thompson said in a recent online interview. "People are looking for somebody who can talk straight to them. That's what I hope I bring to bear." His expected entrance into the already crowded GOP field could dramatically shake up the race, but it's unclear who among the strongest contenders — Rudy Giuliani, John McCain (news, bio, voting record) and Mitt Romney — would be affected the most. Already, Thompson is competitive with them in national popularity polls. That's likely due in part to his acting role as district attorney Arthur Branch on NBC's popular drama "Law & Order." Conservatives who make up a big part of the GOP base have found fault with Giuliani, McCain and Romney for varying reasons and for months now have been searching for a candidate to embrace. Thompson's backers bill him as the perfect person — the one truly conservative candidate in the mold of Ronald Reagan who can beat the Democratic nominee in November 2008. Rep. Zach Wamp (news, bio, voting record) of Tennessee called Thompson "naturally conservative with a down-home sense of humor and a confidence about who he is." In the Senate, Thompson was considered a reliably conservative vote. The American Conservative Union gave him a lifetime rating of 86 out of 100. He fiercely backed the Iraq war, worked to limit the federal government's role, supported banning a late-term abortion procedure, and voted for President Bush's tax cuts. But he sometimes took paths that didn't necessarily sit well with conservatives, including advocating for campaign finance reform. He also was one of four senators who backed underdog McCain in 2000 over George W. Bush, the establishment candidate. Social issues, important to the party's right-flank, also typically weren't at the top of his agenda. He was known less as an ideological legislator and more as an investigator, leading the committee that examined President Clinton's fundraising tactics that included Lincoln bedroom sleepovers by Democratic donors. "There are plenty of people standing on the sidelines waiting for Thompson to get in the race, and if he doesn't, they're going to stay on the sidelines," said Greg Carson, the GOP chairman in New Hampshire's Rockingham County. Added Robin Malmberg, his counterpart in Henry County, Iowa: "Personally, I'm still waiting for the one that just tells it like it is. So my curiosity is piqued with Thompson." The Thompson presidential talk started early this year with a Tennessee-based draft effort. His initial flirtation with the idea quickly became a calculated march. First, he announced he is in remission from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a form of cancer. Then, he met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill and spoke to conservative organizations. Now, he's building a campaign organization, tapping former Reagan and Bush aides for senior posts. Late to the game by months, Thompson faces several challenges, not the least of which would be turning strong buzz on the Internet and some support in Washington into actual votes in GOP primary contests. "Fred has the most spontaneous support than anyone in the last 40 years," said an undeterred Sen. Lamar Alexander (news, bio, voting record), R-Tenn. Perhaps. But he still lags the declared candidates in fundraising by multimillions and he also will have to counter the perception that he doesn't have the passion to run for president. His backers dispute that notion and say money won't be a problem given his Hollywood ties and Tennessee network. One official said Thompson will begin fundraising in the first week of June and has an aggressive plan to build a campaign account. Thompson also trails in building campaign organizations and courting grass-roots supporters in Iowa, New Hampshire and other early primary voting states. Thus, he's indicated a nontraditional campaign would be likely. Already, much of his activity has been on the Internet, an indication of the direction he may be headed. Last week, he went online to put the smack down on lefty Michael Moore after the two sparred over the producer's movie "Sicko," which depicts Sept. 11 survivors seeking medical care in Cuba. In an Internet video, Thompson puffed on a cigar as he sat in a leather desk chair and reminded Moore that the Cuban government once put a documentary filmmaker in a mental institution. "Mental institution, Michael. Might be something you ought to think about," Thompson says — in what could be called the first ad of his would-be campaign. |
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It seems the field of choice is getting very narrowed. Senator Thompson is just looking better all the time. |
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What I really like is a Thompson/Romney ticket. I think that has legs. If Condi won't run - which she won't - I like that one. But Thompson really needs to get serious about forming his exploratory committee or else the buzz is going to get bitter. |
Perhaps Fred is executing a premeditated strategy? As long as he doesn't declare his candidacy, the Dimocrats spin machine spends it's dollars fighting the declared candidates. He can avoid a certain amount of mud slinging, meanwhile he keeps his little fire burning in our minds with a comment or a speech here and there. People are awaiting his declaration in earnest, someone once said; "absence makes the heart grow fonder." Perhaps it's true in this instance as well. You'd look foolish to oppose a guy who isn't even in the race. A buddy of mine, whose central issue is gun rights, tole me that McCain is a gun grabber, is this true? |
Voting records
This website http://www.vote-smart.org/index.htm allows you to look up the voting record of most officials in and out of office. You can look up by name or by state. It's a fairly decent tool. As with all websites, I'd double check everything. Another warning on looking up any bill strictly by title - there are a lot of things hidden in a bill, so make sure you look beyond a title to see what's really there. Amendments get tacked on to things pretty regularly to defeat certain bills and then politicians get in all kinds of trouble for not voting for something titled a certain way that actually contained a ton of pork barrel provisions at the end.
Just out of law school I worked as a lobbyist for a high-tech company and one of the most critical things we did was try and keep random add-on amendments from killing bills we were championing. So long answer, as far as McCain's position on guns - I'd look at his record and not necessarily what he's said in speeches. ETA: That site doesn't have an easy way to see the entire text of a bill. THOMAS does however (Library of Congress) it's easy to do if you have the bill number or you can search based on year and a key word: http://thomas.loc.gov/home/c110query.html |
http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110010163
JOHN FUND ON THE TRAIL Right Said Fred Thompson excites the conservative base. But will his unorthodox campaign succeed? Monday, June 4, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT RICHMOND, Va.--He lacks the compelling story of Rudy Giuliani during 9/11. He isn't a war hero with a 24-year record in Congress like John McCain. He doesn't have the M.B.A. smoothness and business success of Mitt Romney. But what Fred Thompson demonstrated to an enthusiastic Virginia Republican Party dinner Saturday is that he has gravitas, a presence and the ability to make people comfortable. Most importantly, many at the dinner saw him as a conservative who doesn't alienate or cause angst with any element of the GOP coalition. University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato says the failure of any of the current candidates to excite chunks of the Republican base has given Mr. Thompson an opening. Conservatives "seem to look for reasons to like Thompson," Mr. Sabato told the Roanoke Times. They certainly got some from Mr. Thompson's Saturday speech. After slightly ragged tryouts before audiences in California and Connecticut, he hit his stride with a speech that mixed warnings about the state of the country with optimism that the American people can overcome the challenges facing them. He called on Republicans to build "a new coalition" in 2008 that avoids some of the mistakes that led to last November's disaster. "Some of us came to drain the swamp [in Washington] and made partnership with the alligators," he said, explaining how the GOP Congress ended up tagged as soft on spending. "Folks, we're a bit down politically right now, but I think we're on the comeback trail, and it's going to start right here," he assured his listeners. "It's like the American people are waiting for us," he continued. "They're waiting for us to remember why we're doing what we're doing, about the ideas that inspired us, to remember who the leaders were that inspired us." To that end, Mr. Thompson said the next president should have the courage to talk straight with the American people and bluntly say that Americans will have to confront both the soaring cost of entitlements and the need to remain committed in the war on terror, even when Iraq is "in the rear-view mirror." "This is a battle between the forces of civilization and of evil," he said, noting that reports over the weekend of a foiled plot against John F. Kennedy Airport in New York was proof positive that terrorism remains a real threat. "I listen to the Democratic congressional leaders and I hear them talking about how many [House and Senate] seats they're going to pick up because of this war," he said. "I listened to one of their presidential candidates talk about that this is a phony war, the war on terror. This is what passes for policy today in the Democratic Party." Mr. Thompson also zinged Democrats for proposing a budget that boosts spending dramatically while remaining silent on the extension of investment-focused tax cuts that expire in 2010. "The Democrats are hot after repealing all of that, the engine that's driving this economy." On judicial nominations, Mr. Thompson recalled his role in helping guide John Roberts through the confirmation process. He said nominees like Chief Justice Roberts are necessary because too many judges were "waking up in the morning and deciding what social policy should be." He warned federal judges: "If they continue to act like politicians, the American people are going to start treating them like politicians, and that's not good news for them." But Mr. Thompson's biggest response came when he addressed immigration. "We are a nation of compassion, a nation of immigrants," he told the crowd. "But this is our home, and whether you're a first-generation American, a third-generation American or a brand newly minted American, this is our home and we get to decide who comes into our home." At that, much of the crowd rose and applauded midspeech. While it was clear Mr. Thompson has found a way to excite the Republican base, his impending candidacy is at a crossroads. He has run what Fred Barnes of The Weekly Standard calls "the greatest non-campaign campaign I've ever seen" and has managed to land in the upper ranks of the crowded GOP field without spending any money. But when his actual campaign begins next month, a different standard of success will be applied. Many doubt he can catch the front-runners with such a late start in raising money, organization and endorsements. He responds that "it's too late to follow those rules even if I wanted to, and I don't want to." Instead he plans to use new technology in innovative ways that include everything from the Internet to distributing videos to cell phones. Less tech-savvy primary voters can expect to see Mr. Thompson as a constant presence on talk radio and cable TV news. Will that be enough? Much of it may depend on just how much Mr. Thompson can build on the success of Howard Dean in 2004 in harnessing the power of the Internet as a fund-raising tool. One obvious shortcoming is that Mr. Thompson hasn't run for office since 1996. After he announces and enters the maelstrom of a national campaign, he will inevitably make mistakes, misspeak and demonstrate a lack of knowledge on issues the other candidates have had months to bone up on. How he handles adversity and crises on the campaign trail will be the true test of his mettle and adaptability. His competitors will no doubt belittle Mr. Thompson's eight years in the Senate as lackluster. Few bills passed bearing his name as a chief sponsor. Mr. Thompson told the Associated Press that he plans to correct the record by pointing out that a senator's accomplishments don't "always have to do with putting your name on a piece of legislation. There was an awful lot of bad legislation that I helped to stop for one thing." A related charge is that he was something of a slacker, both in his Senate duties and in campaign fund-raising. But the evidence for this claim is thin. Norman Ornstein, a congressional scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, told Reuters that he saw Mr. Thompson as a thoughtful lawmaker who reached across party lines: "He worked plenty and he absorbed plenty." For his part, Mr. Thompson says "that's one rap you can cure," by showing his energy level as he courts voters and as contributors respond to his appeals. As for his ambivalence about running for president until age 64, he jokes that voters may like someone "who hasn't lusted for the job since they were student body president." He maintains that "if a person craves power for the sake of power, if he craves the office for the sake of holding the office, he's got his priorities mixed up. It [should be] a desire to do something not be something." Mr. Thompson will run an unorthodox campaign, one that will challenge the conventional wisdom about how to run for president. Even if it proves unsuccessful, it's useful for a candidate to occasionally come along and ask if the rules everybody is following were made for a different time and new approaches are appropriate. That attitude is part and parcel of the innovation and injection of new blood that animates so much of American life, and from Barack Obama on the left to Fred Thompson on the right, it's a healthy development that this year's presidential election is seeing different kinds of candidates. |
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I like it. |
I think that comment covers Special Forces candidates as well.
I want the guy who wants to serve with me and accomplish the mission, not the guy who wants the beret and tab to show off to others. TR |
The Senator just keeps looking better and better.
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Just a heads up, Fred Thompson will be appearing live on Hannity and Colmes (Fox) tonight, 9pm EST.
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I'm with Fred
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Saw him on H&C. I'm convinced.
Already joined and donated. Cowboy up, and do your part, or STFU when Hillary or Obama are in charge. TR |
Done.
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Right said Fred
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I also heard him talking about Hillary and her usage of the "raising revenues" term that she said about 20 times in the debate the other night. Why doesn't she just come out and say "raising taxes" Not like any of us haven't noticed her usage of the term "raising revenues" As if it's going to slip by anybody with half a brain. :rolleyes: |
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Definately time to get out the vote. Those of you reading this who have not registered to vote in your home State GET ON IT.... Track down you voting assistance officer. There are some states that will not allow you to vote in the General election if you did not participate in the primary. +1 to TR's statement. Become part of the process or a victim of it. |
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"and demonstrate a lack of knowledge on issues the other candidates have had months to bone up on." |
Fred Thompson Too Lazy to Be President???
There is an article Newsweek is running today saying that Fred Thompson's record in the Senate shows that he is too lazy to be the President of the United States. An experpt from the article:
"The criticism seems fed by Thompson's time in the Senate, where he maintained a less rigorous schedule than his colleagues and was known to duck out of late-night debates. Of the 90 bills he introduced during his eight years in the Senate, only four became law. Thompson has never denied being irritated with the pace of Senate life and cited it as one of the reasons he opted out of a 2002 re-election bid. "I don't like spending 14- and 16-hour days voting on 'sense of the Senate' resolutions on irrelevant matters," he said in 1998. "There are some important things we really need to get on with—and on a daily basis, it's very frustrating." Why can't more politicians be like this? I currently work in Legislative Affairs for a COCOM, and spend quite a bit of time up on the Hill with my boss, and have met a lot of Congressmen and Senators. Many of them you can tell that they honestly care about what they are doing up there, but there are just as many that it is easy to see they are in it for themselves. If Fred Thompson runs he has my vote. He is not pandering to anyone. He says what he believes, and lets the chips fall where they may. He doesn't change his response based on the constituent asking the question. |
The New York Observer was bashing him for his lack of experience with only seven years in the Senate.
I am curious how Wonderboy Obama and New York Native Hillary's experience trumps that? TR |
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Joined, donated and part of the team.... |
Roger that. Just sent my first-ever campaign contribution. When he announces, I'll send more.
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Thompson Surges into Second Place
Looking good...
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/c...07/2007&page=1 Thompson Surges Into Second Place By Matt Towery Thursday, June 7, 2007 While former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson has simply formed an exploratory campaign committee, the mere expectation that he will enter the field of GOP presidential candidates has vaulted him into second place in the polls focused on those Republican contenders. A new InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion national survey is the first one taken after Thompson made his move toward a probable, eventual announcement that he's running. It showed Rudy Giuliani still leading at 28 percent, but Thompson had surged into second place with 19 percent, followed by John McCain and Mitt Romney with 17 percent each. The poll surveyed 1000 likely voters in Republican primaries or caucuses across the nation. It was conducted May 31-June 1, just days after Thompson's exploratory committee was announced. The poll has been weighted for age, race, gender and geographic population distribution. A week later, internal polling conducted for the organization that was involved in drafting Fred Thompson also showed him in second place. Now the critical question is whether Fred Thompson can take the political capital he's already gained by simply saying he's ready to run, and turn it into an overtaking of Giuliani and the other contenders in a Republican slugfest. The Thompson campaign is a textbook example of how political rumor can become political reality. Few candidates ever enjoy the opportunity of truly being "drafted" into a presidential campaign. In April and May, many Republican insiders who consider themselves conservative, but not the wacky right, burned up telephone lines in search of an alternative to what many view as an uninspired group of candidates. When Thompson's name emerged, those close to him seized the moment. Former U.S. Senator and Ambassador Mack Mattingly of Georgia was one of them. He was an early architect of the "draft Fred" movement. For purposes of full disclosure, I served as Mattingly's first speechwriter, and he's served on the boards of several companies that I've either owned or for which I've sat as a board member alongside him. The major value of this longtime relationship is not some inside information about Thompson, but instead a solid understanding of the kind of Republican who could be drawn to a Thompson campaign. Early Thompson supporters like Mattingly are Reagan Republicans to the core. They don't talk about reducing the cost of government; they obsess about it. They're skeptical of the influence of special-interest groups, and of government intervention in our lives. These are not "neocons," but rather the last lions of the Reagan era. They're soft-spoken, but passionate. Mattingly was elected U.S. senator from Georgia in 1980, in a brutal campaign against legendary Democrat Herman Talmadge. That same year, incumbent President Jimmy Carter fared poorly across the nation in his re-election bid, but did carry his home state of Georgia. On the same ballot, Mattingly won and became the first Republican senator from Georgia since Reconstruction. Six years later, Mattingly was caught up in a national downdraft that sent many of his fellow freshman Republican senators home. But during his six years in Congress, Mattingly's affability and attractiveness helped him make friends among Republican leadership. President Reagan recognized him in one of his State of the Union addresses as the chief protagonist in one of the poignant dramas of the Reagan era -- the fight for the budget line-item veto. Mattingly's name is closely associated with the likes of former Kansas Senator and GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole, and others of the same status and philosophical bent. Conservatives all; reactionaries none. Mattingly refuses to categorize the Thompson movement as being the sole responsibility of any one group's effort. Instead, a look at early Thompson supporters shows a broad range of experienced Republicans that fully expect their candidate to talk plainly and display Reagan-like leadership traits. For example, Reagan's response to terrorist dictator Moammar Qaddafi of Libya was not an invasion, but a surgical air strike that landed bombs so close to Qaddafi's home that he was hardly heard from again. On the domestic front, the Mattingly-style Republicans have always advocated simplicity in the budget process, and in domestic policy in general. Neither the current immigration bill, nor a whole series of other legislative measures pushed by the Bush administration ever measured up to the Reaganites' simple and stringent political measuring stick. Put simply, it asks of every proposed policy, "Does it get the job done? Is it cost-effective? Can the public understand it?" It remains to be seen whether Thompson can climb the ladder and become his party's nominee. But there is little doubt that this is the first bona fide "movement" in many decades to draft a Republican candidate for president. |
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Well the political memorabilia shop on the corner of Pennsylvania and 14th Streets in D.C. has Fred with only 3% of the vote in their “campaign button poll”. The results are displayed on a T.V. in the window and are based on the number of campaign buttons that are purchased. Rudy G. leads the fray, but considering the fact that Fred Thompson doesn’t have a campaign button yet 3% is pretty good……
I'm looking forward to him getting going so I can get involved. |
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