Rush Limbaugh Doesn’t Endorse Fred Thompson… Sort Of…

SoCal Pundit ^ | Kevin D. Korenthal

[2ndDivisionVet]

As Rush points out at the top of the excerpt, he does not endorse candidates in primaries. But that does not stop him from taking note of a fact that many Reagan Republicans are seeing Fred Thompson as the only true conservative in the field of Republican candidates.

(VIDEO)

With 13.5 million weekly listeners (some have suggested the number is closer to 20 million), Rush’s comments will not go unnoticed. Question is, is it enough to keep Fred in the race through?

[2ndDivisionVet]

Comments?

[Petronski]

Yeah. That’s a far cry from Slick Willard’s 47% negatives.

[GregoTX]

I wish Rush would discuss this more, 2 hours of each 3 hour show would do.

[Uriah_lost]

“new conservative” is such an oxymoron.....

[mtbopfuyn]

Fred has my vote.

[Blue Highway]

Fred is the man!

[Ditter]

I wish Rush would break his rule about not endorsing during the primary.

Hey Rush, Fred needs you!

[TornadoAlley3]

[svcw]

Some suggest 20 million, I think those are the ratings.

[Pittsburgher]

I read the transcript when it first came out, and thought that was pretty good news for Fred. Then I heard the audio, and I thought this is really good. The video is really powerful, and makes Rush’s position regarding Fred quite obvious.

Rush is off the air until Jan 2, so I hope he can find a way to hammer the point home. However, while important, I don’t believe for a minute that IA means everything to Fred’s campaign.

He’ll finish no worse than third, and may pull a surprise and do better. Plenty of time for Fred to “make another stand” in SC, then count on his own “Solid South” on Super Tue to splash onto the national daily headlines.

No one wants to talk about him, but... see my tagline.

[infidel29]

Fred is "the man behind the curtain" that the media wants us to ignore.

Which means it's up to us to get the word out.

[Miss Didi]

Huckabee's Rollins Trashes Rush Instead of Debating Conservatism

[claudiustg]

After being kissed the little girl said, “He’s not very bright, but he’s friendly!”

[Blue Highway]

Wouldn’t it be great to see Fred take Iowa, and to still see the media ignore him? I wouldn’t be surprised if they hammer the point Mitt came in a strong second and Hucklegerry a close third with no mention Fred came in first.

[claudiustg]

Seriously though, Rush said Giuliani, Romney and Huckabee all had liberal aspects to their governance in the past. What he didn’t say was that Thompson had no experience at governance.

[Blue Highway]

Amd that is important how?

[Pittsburgher]

And O’Reilly will conduct another poll and forget to include Fred.

[JCEccles]

I'm afraid Fred has dropped to single digits in nearly every early state primary poll. Even in Iowa where he putting all his effort he is fighting Alan Keyes to be be noticed against the background noise.

Back in late June Fred was "The Man." What happened?

I think part of the problem is that many of Fred's supporters decided to spend more time on personal attacks against the other candidates (especially Romney) than trying to help Fred with donations of time and money.

[Pittsburgher]

Seriously though, are you saying that, after watching the video (you did take a look at I hope), that Rush is not leaning heavily toward Fred?

[claudiustg]

-—Amd that is important how?-—

I’m glad you asked.

It was an allusion to what Nixon said about Thompson on a couple of occasions, that he wasn’t very intelligent, but that he was friendly (to the Nixon administration).

[TornadoAlley3]

I believe that is Fred’s daughter.

[claudiustg]

-—Seriously though, are you saying that, after watching the video (you did take a look at I hope), that Rush is not leaning heavily toward Fred?-—

I did watch it, and yes, Rush said nice things about Thompson, but on previous occasions he said nice things about Romney.

[claudiustg]

There weren’t any Iowa babies to kiss?

[Blue Highway]

I don't think O'Reilly or anyone else is "forgetting" to include Thompson. It is a deliberate exclusion to mention him.

A Freeper recently mentioned that Fox News went something like 90 minutes before they heard a vague mention of Fred Thompson a few days ago. Coincidence? I think not.

[Pittsburgher]

Sorry I haven’t heard Rush speak positively about Mitt much at all. What vintage were his comments? Do have any examples?

[claudiustg]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1936875/posts

RUSH: I want to start with Mitt Romney today, Mitt Romney’s speech. Frankly, I thought what we saw today, folks, was a Republican candidate for president giving an inspiring speech. It was an inspiring speech about American values, including religion. Mitt Romney did this because he has been relentlessly attacked as something less than a true American. I watched this. I had seen some excerpts from the speech published before he made it. I thought he was inspiring, folks. I think he set exactly the right tone and I am stunned by some of the criticism I am seeing of this speech, particularly on some conservative websites. “He didn’t include atheists; he didn’t include agnostics; he didn’t say and reach out to Hindus.” I don’t understand it. Of all things to take from this speech that Romney gave today, that he didn’t reach out to atheists and didn’t reach out to agnostics, is beyond me. I thought he showed today his ability to confront, to articulate, to persuade, and to lead.

[Petronski]

That’s the speech with the shabby lie about Martin Luther King.

[Pittsburgher]

Nice comments indeed - about the speech and how it was delivered. Listen, I like Mitt, and so does Rush.

However, the thrust of Rush’s comments in this particular thread topic were not limited to Fred. The comments went as far as to compare Fred’s conservatism to Mitt, Rudy, and McCain’s “moderate-ness”.

In Rush’s enthusiastic opinion, Fred’s policies stood out, importantly, when compared to the other guys. And that is noteworthy.

[Always Right]

I'm afraid Fred has dropped to single digits in nearly every early state primary poll. Even in Iowa where he putting all his effort he is fighting Alan Keyes to be be noticed against the background noise. Back in late June Fred was "The Man." What happened?

LOL, boy you have no class. But that is expected from a Romney shill.

[County Agent Hank Kimball]

"Even in Iowa where he putting all his effort he is fighting Alan Keyes to be be noticed against the background noise."

-----

Ummm.....no.

"Below are the results of a three-day poll in the state of Iowa. Results are based on telephone interviews with 600 likely Republican cacus goers and 600 likely Democratic cacus goers, aged 18+, and conducted December 16-18, 2007. The margin of sampling error is ±4.5 percentage points for each party.

1. If the 2008 Republican presidential caucus were held today between Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, John McCain, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Tom Tancredo, and Fred Thompson, for whom would you vote? (Republicans Only; Names Rotated)

Mike Huckabee 31%
Mitt Romney 25%
Fred Thompson 16%
John McCain 8%
Rudy Giuliani 6%
Ron Paul 5%
Tom Tancredo 2%
Duncan Hunter 1%
Undecided 6%

http://www.strategicvision.biz/political/iowa_poll_122107.htm

Hank

[claudiustg]

The average of the current polls puts Thompson at 9.7%. That’s 4th place. Next to Romney, Thompson is who I would support, so I’m not altogether happy about this.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/ia/iowa_republican_caucus-207.html

[damondonion]

Seems to be some sort of a disconnect between Republican activists and whoever’s answering the polls out in Iowa. Freepers seem to prefer Fred overwhelmingly.

[HerrBlucher]

I doubt the polls are right, that is why Jan 3 is going to be verrrrry interesting. There will be a lot of despondent Mittheads here so we have keep the schadenfreude down to a dull roar. They are sensitive and some are on meds.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

I just saw the video of Rush ( for the 3rd time ) and, still, I get the impression, that he is saying to us is ?
I know I have in the passed said I don't endorse candidates during the primaries, however ? in a stealth/coded way, I am telling you guys/ and gals, that I am supporting Fred Thompson.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

I think it was in reference to Mitt's speech a few weeks ago.
I was puzzled about Rush's comments, and hope that Rush is not being fooled by Mitt.
However, in the light of that, Rush still has said with the other RINOS : Rudy, Huck, and Mitt... Rush saw their liberalism come out on display during that one debate, and I am sure he has looked at their records.

[SoConPubbie]

The average of the current polls puts Thompson at 9.7%. That’s 4th place. Next to Romney, Thompson is who I would support, so I’m not altogether happy about this.

You know we have several liars on this site who make very opinionated, denigrating comments stated as facts and then throw in an off-handed comment that they are really supporters of Fred.

You, my FRiend, are no supporter of Fred.

You're snarky, opinionated, biased comments about Fred show you as a supporter of some other candidate.

Try being honest next time.

[Mensius]

I have little doubt that Rush supports Fred. They both understand and espouse the underpinnings of this nation. It cannot be said that Rush is happy overall with GWB, since he points out that Bush is a Republican, not a Conservative. All frontrunner's save for Fred have huge hole in the Conservative resumes and Rush does not want to be surprised by an amnesty proposal (still trying to sneak it through) or a Harriet Meyers debacle etc. With Fred, a Conservative can be pretty confident in his future actions because of his understanding of core Conservative principals.

I understand Rush's position about not endorsing primary candidates. A candidate surely must have the wherewithal to connect with voters and to make his case. What troubles me about this is the MSM blackout of FDT. Moreover, when they are mentioning Fred, they make cracks about his being lazy, etc. Tough way to mount a national campaign. I appreciate the fact that Mark Levine has given Fred vocal support and I think Rush may turn up the volume if Fred surpasses expectations in IA and SC. I sure hope so since the stakes are so high.

[rhinohunter]

The average of the current polls puts Thompson at 9.7%

Prediction: Fred's Iowa result will be at least double his final RCP polling average for Iowa. The only hesitation I have in making this prediction is that the polling organizations might go into CYA mode in the final days before the caucus.

[claudiustg]

The link is right here:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/ia/iowa_republican_caucus-207.html

And despite the extremely low quality of some of the Thompson supporters I support Fred as a 2nd choice to the next President of the United States, Mitt Romney.

I think you’re a moron, by the way.

[claudiustg]

Or maybe drunk?

[Y Ceratotherium]

I think Rush pretty clearly favors Thompson and Romney. One some days I think he leans more Thompson. On others, more Romney. The video posted definitely makes him look pro-Thompson.

One think we can be on: he’s not Pro-Huckster.

[Forgiven_Sinner]

Here are the results from Strategic Vision—a recent poll of LIKELY caucus goers. This is from the Real Clear Politics site which leads to the Strategic Vision site.

I was surprised to see RCP averages the polls together without regard to whether they are likely, registered, or all people polls.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/ia/iowa_republican_caucus-207.html

Below are the results of a three-day poll in the state of Iowa. Results are based on telephone interviews with 600 likely Republican cacus goers and 600 likely Democratic cacus goers, aged 18+, and conducted December 16-18, 2007. The margin of sampling error is ±4.5 percentage points for each party.

1. If the 2008 Republican presidential caucus were held today between Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, John McCain, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Tom Tancredo, and Fred Thompson, for whom would you vote? (Republicans Only; Names Rotated)
Mike Huckabee 31%
Mitt Romney 25%
Fred Thompson 16%
John McCain 8%
Rudy Giuliani 6%
Ron Paul 5%
Tom Tancredo 2%
Duncan Hunter 1%
Undecided 6%

[claudiustg]

I apologize for my harsh remarks to you this Christmas Eve.

Merry Christmas!

[W04Man]

Bump!

FRED VETS, SIGN UP TODAY AT:

[RatsDawg]

Personal attacks?

Your post history will show were one of the biggest personal attackers of Fred Thompson.

Didn’t your about page say “Tennessee Dud”, above a laid back picture of Thompson in the past?

[Finny]

... Fred's supporters decided to spend more time on personal attacks against the other candidates (especially Romney) ...

Personal, schmersonal -- sure, Romney appears to me to be slick, plastic, and phony (a personal attack on my part, I'd concede that), but IF "the ladies' candidate" (another snide personal attack on my part, I concede!) had a RECORD of real conservatism instead of political expediency and Big Government Liberalism, I'd gladly vote for him.

But here's the deal: Romney 1) put on a charade of being a lifelong "varmint" hunter for the NRA (fact, not personal attack), 2) embraces the concept of government-managed health care (fact, not personal attack), 3) and has a record of placating and catering to both liberal environmentalists AND the homosexual lobby (fact, not personal attack).

Nothing personal against Romney or his supporters, but Romney deserves to be rejected by the Republican party in this primary.