Posted on 10/03/2007 7:29:50 AM PDT by perfect_rovian_storm
To look forward you need to step back and know where you have been. The fight for effective government, low taxes, and a secure America has been never ending.
Conservatives remember 1994, when Republicans shocked the political establishment and took over the House of Representatives and the Senate. ABC’s Peter Jennings called it a “temper tantrum,” merely an emotional response. What he, the media, and the Democrats failed to realize was it was a reaction to decades of Democratic notions of bigger, more expensive government. The earthquake came about because Republicans told voters they would fight for things like lower taxes, a balanced budget, and welfare reform.
There were those, even some Republicans, who didn’t see the need to run on conservative change. In his U.S. Senate race Mitt Romney disavowed being linked with President Reagan. In a debate Romney said,
I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I’m not trying to return to Reagan-Bush.
In that campaign Romney opposed reducing the capital gains tax.
Rudy Giuliani also stood apart from mainstream Republicans. In 1994 he endorsed Democratic governor Mario Cuomo over George Pataki. Former White House speech writer Michael Gerson considered that act a symptom of “some loose ideological moorings.”
And earlier that year Giuliani stood before reporters and praised the efforts of illegal immigrants despite their lawbreaking:
At a June 1994 press conference, Giuliani decried anti-illegal immigration policies as unfair and hostile.
“Some of the hardest-working and most productive people in this city are undocumented aliens,” Giuliani said at the time. “If you come here and you work hard and you happen to be in an undocumented status, you’re one of the people who we want in this city. You’re somebody that we want to protect, and we want you to get out from under what is often a life of being like a fugitive, which is really unfair.”
In Iowa Fox News’ Carl Cameron reported on Fred embracing his place in the 1994 Republican Revolution:
Cameron: “At the Midtown Café in Newton, with his wife Jeri by his side, Thompson touted his early days in the U.S. Senate, when soon-to-be house Speaker Newt Gingrich and the Contract with America swept new Republican majorities into power.”
Thompson: “We didn’t realize it at the time in ‘94 but we were actually part of a revolution that was going on.”
Cameron: “Thompson wants voters to realize now, that when he was with the right in Washington, back then, Rudy Giuliani was backing Democrat Mario Cuomo for Governor of New York over Republican George Pataki. And Mitt Romney, in ‘94, he was running for Senate in Massachusetts, saying he’d do a better job defending abortion and gay rights than Ted Kennedy. Today, Iowa presidential polls put Thompson in third place, bunched in a virtual tie with Romney and Giuliani. Thompson raised more than $8 million in the last three months…”
Both Romney and Giuliani are fine people. But today, we need conservative change. We need a nominee who was fighting for conservative change for decades and who will fight for that change today. We need a leader who will stand for lower taxes–including making the Bush tax cuts permanent, securing our borders, rejecting the notion of “sanctuary cities,” and pushing forward an agenda of conservative change that is in the spirit of Ronald Reagan and the revolutionaries of 1994.
Hmmmmmm. Does that mean he disavows the conservatism of Reagan, or merely believe those times are past?
You’d have to ask Mitt. I think the answer would depend on what office he was currently running for.
I thought that this piece was written by Fred and he’s referring to himself.
No, that’s a quote from Mitt Romney.
This and several other colorful quotes from the newly converted/reconverted Mitt Romney can be found here:
http://romneyfacts.com/redblue.php
A sure sign of weakness, using facts instead of our truth...
From Dems no less.
I guess if you want to play a Conservative in as Republican race, best to sound like it despite the lack of practice...
Excellent link, thanks.
Centrist Coalition Republicans: George Allen, John Chafee, Susan Collins, Mike DeWine, Pete Domenici, Bill Frist, Chuck Hagel, lol -—> Jim Jeffords, John McCain, Olympia J. Snowe, Arlen Specter, —> Fred Thompson, George V. Voinovich
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Senate_Centrist_Coalition
Fred worked real hard for conservative change. In fact, he did not care much about the Republican platform in 1996. Why does he care now?
``I don’t think a platform means much. Never has,’’ said Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn.
I love his switch on ethanol. He voted against it while in the senate. Now, it is national security priority.
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