Fred certainly sounds conservative now, I’ll grant you that. With his focus on McCain Feingold Thompson for years on end, I can’t quite spot how he would have been deemed more conservative that a tax cutting, tough on crime governor Bush. Fred was considered a moderate in the Senate, despite his repeated calls calling for “federalism”. Can you think of any accomplishment other than CFR?
I asked what Fred had done other than McCain-Feingold on another thread....here’s the answer I got:
Are you aware that Thompson and his open borders buddy Spencer Abraham have the exact same grade in every area on their ABI report cards? Did you know that Thompson voted the exact same way in 13 areas on immigration as Abraham while in the senate? If Abraham is labelled as an “open borders icon” and Thompson has the same grade as Abraham, what does that say about Thompson on immigration? This is as great an accomplishment as McCain-Feingold.
The report cards for Fred and Spencer Abraham are exact duplicates of one another. Here is a comparison of their ABI report cards during thier senate careers:
Fred D. Thompson (R-TN) Senate Term: 1994-2003
Spencer Abraham (R-MI) Senate Term: 1995-2001
Americans for Better Immigration - Reduction Report Card Comparison
Subject Fred Thompson Spencer Abraham
Overall Career Grade C C
Reduce Chain Migration C C
Reduce Visa Lottery C- C-
Reduce Unnecessary Visas F F
Reduce Fraud: Refugee & Asylum C- C-
Reduce Enticement - Illegal Immigration: Amnesties D D
Reduce Illegal Immigration - Anchor Baby Citizenship No Votes No Votes
Reduce Illegal Immigration – Other Awards A+ A+
Reduce Illegal Immigration – Border Enforcement A+ A+
Reduce Illegal Immigration – Interior Enforcement C+ C+
Source: Americans for Better Immigration Report Card: Senator Fred D. Thompson
Source: Americans for Better Immigration Report Card: Senator Spencer Abraham
The following is a record and analysis of Senator Fred Thompson and Spencer Abraham’s immigration related congressional votes, co-sponsorships, and other immigration actions that occurred during their career in Congress. Senator Thompson and Senator Abraham’s votes, co-sponsorships and other actions are exact copies of one another. Thompson and Abraham clearly contributed to the problem of immigration that we face today. Note how their voting record indicates that Americans were put out of work to provide cheap labor to Corporations. I’ve heard every excuse that a Thompson supporter can think up to try to excuse Thompson’s voting record - the most common excuse is that his record is “pre-911”. The fallacy for this defense is that the votes were cast between 1996 and 2000. The votes were AFTER the first terrorist attack that was related to terrorists who were in the country illegally - the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Source: Fred D. Thompson: Immigration Profile
Source: Spencer Abraham: Immigration Profile
From my perspective, McCain-Fiengold appears to be an aberration. As for tax-cutting and crime-fighting, Mr. Thompson appears to have always been in favor of the first, and as for the second, he was a prosecutor, for pete’s sake! He put a crooked governor in jail! Is that crime-fighting enough for you? ;-)
As for his reputation in the Senate, he was considered a moderate conservative. That’s a designation with which I agree. Mr. Bush has always been considered to be not much more than a moderate conservative, too.
And frankly, his six plus years in office mark him probably more accurately as a centrist who leans right.
sitetest
In total, GOA tracked 33 votes in the U.S. Senate while (Fred) Thompson was there. He voted pro-gun 19 times. Those votes are detailed below:
http://www.gunowners.org/pres08/thompson2.htm
Voting in favor of gun owners only half of the time is not “Generally CONSERVATIVE” in my view.