Fredipedia: The Definitive Fred Thompson Reference
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Posted on 11/12/2007 11:15:27 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
MOUNT PLEASANT -- Conservative and credible.
Those were the double-barrel credentials former U.S. senator and current Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson emphasized Sunday evening.
Thompson spoke to around 100 people at a Veterans Day meet-and-greet at the Mount Pleasant Moose Lodge that followed a similar event in Burlington, which drew a slightly larger crowd.
To his Mount Pleasant audience, Thompson painted a picture of a GOP facing trouble in 2008, with control of the White House in doubt, 21 senators facing re-election (compared to just 12 for Democrats) and many moderate voters swinging to the other side.
"I don't mean to depress anybody here, but we're talking among family," he said. "That's what's at stake. That's why we're going to have to do things better than we've done before. That's why we're going to have to put our shoulder to the wheel and do all the things necessary to win next year."
Since entering the race two days after Labor Day in an appearance on "The Tonight Show," Thompson has tried to position himself as a traditional Republican with shoulders broad enough to get that wheel rolling before it's too late.
"If the Democratic nominee wins next year, they're going to push us down the road of a welfare state and socialized medicine," he said. "They're going to put in federal judges, including in the Supreme Court of the United States, that are going to change our social policy for even the worse for generations to come."
Thompson has had a varied and dynamic career. The tall southerner with the commanding voice was a U.S. attorney for three years before stepping onto the national stage in 1973 as the minority counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee. His questions to a former aide to President Richard Nixon in an open committee hearing revealed to the public the existence of a White House taping system. While that earned Thompson a reputation as a hard-nosed, go-it-alone prosecutor, some Democrats involved in the Watergate hearings dispute that description, pointing out that, by his own admission, he was communicating with Nixon's lawyers behind the scenes.
After representing a former chairman of the Tennessee Parole Board whose unwarranted firing exposed corruption under the state's Democratic governor, Thompson was asked to play himself in a movie based on the case. That spawned an acting career that culminated with his role as New York City District Attorney Arthur Branch on the television series "Law & Order." He has appeared in more than two dozen movies and 10 television series, often playing a military or government official.
Thompson also worked as a lobbyist, representing private companies and a variety of business and special-interest groups. The assistance he gave a family-planning organization has sparked accusations that he has not been consistently pro-life.
He nevertheless had the backing of pro-life groups when in 1994 he won the Senate seat vacated by former Vice President Al Gore. After completing the remaining two years of Gore's term, he earned a second landslide victory that kept him in Washington until 2002. While he chose not to run a third time, he has stayed active in his party in various ways. He appeared in a commercial supporting the Iraq invasion, helped the Bush administration push through the nomination of John Roberts for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and raise money for the legal defense of Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former Chief of Staff.
Delivering only a brief speech before fielding questions, Thompson said he had been a Republican since college and had "plowed the vineyards" in Iowa in the past in support of Sen. Charles Grassley and others.
"I think I know the principles that we believe in," he said. He added: "Our principles are based on the rule of law and strong national defense and market economies and free people competing with one another in an open and just society."
His listeners would hear that same quartet again as Thompson laid out the basics of his agenda.
"There are things out there that we can talk about, and apply those same sound conservative principles, that are things that the American people believe in," he said.
First on the list was immigration. Thompson opposes plans that offer what he calls "amnesty" for illegal immigrants and has suggested that a person in the country without permission who is arrested for any reason should be deported. He also would punish employers who hire illegal immigrants and cut funding to "sanctuary cities," where city workers are barred from reporting suspected illegal immigrants.
A nation that cannot secure its borders "will not forever remain a sovereign nation," he said.
"You can't have open borders in a nuclear age when a small amount of the wrong kind of material in the wrong kind of hands can wreak havoc on an American city," he said.
On a holiday dedicated to military service members, Thompson drew his largest applause while talking about an endorsement he received from several veterans in South Carolina, including a Medal of Honor recipient.
"It reminded me what all of us needed to be reminded of every once in a while, I guess, and that is, our people have shed more blood for the liberty of other people than all the other countries," he said. "We have no need to be defensive or apologetic about the United States of America."
Later, a woman whose son is preparing for his second deployment to Iraq and third overall asked Thompson for his thoughts on the war effort.
After thanking the woman for her son's service, the former senator said the United States has a chance of "winning" in Iraq. That does not mean "blue skies forever," he said, but that Iraqi citizens would be free to worship and political leaders could gather without fear of bombings.
Thompson acknowledged preparations for the war were insufficient.
"We didn't know what we were getting into when we went in there, and we didn't go in with enough people, and we got stretched too thin, and our equipment isn't what it ought to be and we're asking too few people to do too much for the United States of America right now."
He counterbalanced those criticisms, however, with statistics gleaned from news reports that car bombings are down 81 percent in Baghdad.
Thompson then slammed the New York Times for burying an article that stated U.S. forces were succeeding in the Iraqi capital on the paper's 19th page.
"If one of our (soldiers) had accidentally shot a civilian, what page do you think that would be on?" he said.
"So, there's a lot for our people to overcome," Thompson said. "But I'm constantly amazed that the average 20-year-old in Iraq knows more about what it takes for our national security than the average 20-year veteran on Capitol Hill."
The answer pleased Leon Francis, a member of the audience whose son was in Iraq during the Persian Gulf War.
"We're needing to find some kind of success story over there before we pull out," he said. "We pulled out way too early, the first time and the Iraqis really needed us. ... And it's taken us a long time to get respect from them because we backed down when they were needing us."
Francis said he would consider supporting Thompson in the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses, although his wife, Kathy, said she also likes former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Turning back to domestic issues, Thompson's cornerstone conservatism and free-market leanings were apparent when a businessman asked him about health-care insurance costs.
The "big picture" question came from Jim Sorenson, the owner of Momentus Golf, a golfing equipment manufacturer. Sorenson said insurance premiums for his 12 employees will climb 35 percent this year.
Thompson's answer, in part, is to strip away regulations that prevent business owners from shopping for insurance out of state. He also would make insurance policies portable so that workers could take their coverage with them from job to job.
"We've got the best health care in the world," he said. "(So) first, do no harm. Let the federal government do no harm to the fact that people come in from all over the world when they get sick."
Thompson said the issue centered on the same core principles he had stated earlier. He then criticized Democrats for recent efforts to expand federally funded state health insurance programs for children.
"What they're really trying to do is make more and more middle class families dependent on government," he said.
Afterward, Sorenson said he is in favor of allowing people to buy insurance out of state. Overall, he favors Thompson's market-based approach above more government-heavy mandatory coverage proposals.
"When you get competition into the system," he said, "prices come down."
I wonder if that includes campaigning in earnest?
;)
Fredipedia: The Definitive Fred Thompson Reference
WARNING: If you wish to join, be aware that this ping list is EXTREMELY active.
Ok, I will. Then I don’t have to worry about him past South Carolina. Fred be Fred. Fine
Big bump to this:
The “big picture” question came from Jim Sorenson, the owner of Momentus Golf, a golfing equipment manufacturer. Sorenson said insurance premiums for his 12 employees will climb 35 percent this year.
Thompson’s answer, in part, is to strip away regulations that prevent business owners from shopping for insurance out of state. He also would make insurance policies portable so that workers could take their coverage with them from job to job.
“We’ve got the best health care in the world,” he said. “(So) first, do no harm. Let the federal government do no harm to the fact that people come in from all over the world when they get sick.”
Thompson said the issue centered on the same core principles he had stated earlier. He then criticized Democrats for recent efforts to expand federally funded state health insurance programs for children.
“What they’re really trying to do is make more and more middle class families dependent on government,” he said.
Afterward, Sorenson said he is in favor of allowing people to buy insurance out of state. Overall, he favors Thompson’s market-based approach above more government-heavy mandatory coverage proposals.
“When you get competition into the system,” he said, “prices come down.”
Does your mother know you are up posting past your bedtime?
Did you se his "born-on date"?
He’s barely gotten home from the hospital.
Campaigning like a freakin’ loon is so 20th century.
Fred in ‘08.
Okay, you've made the accusation, how about a little proof. Compare Thompson's schedule over the last week to what should it have been to be "campaigning in earnest." Do you know or are you just drinking the koolaid you are being fed by the media?
Don't be amazed Fred! Think about it. The average 20-year veteran on Capitol Hill has never worn a uniform in defense of the American ideal, much less worn it in combat.
When you are elected, never let us put Americans in uniform into combat again without a formal Declaration of War.
Yep. It’s trolling all over the forum.
****************
Works for me.
He sure sounds earnest to me! ;o)
As I stated on another thread, I'm not looking for a Jack in the Box for President. I want someone who is deliberate and serious. I see both of those in Fred!
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