And not as conservative as Dole either, frankly.
“And not as conservative as Dole either, frankly.”
I disagree.
Mr. Dole was what used to be called a “green eye-shade” conservative. He was in some ways, a fiscal conservative, but what that mainly meant was trying to balance the budget. It didn’t necessarily mean slashing spending. It could also mean raising taxes.
Mr. Dole was skeptical of Mr. Reagan’s tax cuts, initially. He wasn’t any sort of supply-sider, or someone who viewed a large government with instinctive hostility. He wasn’t especially federalist. He was comfortable with a large federal government. Wasn’t it Mr. Gingrich who called him, “the tax collector for the welfare state”?
Mr. Thompson, however, is a federalist. He also seems to be persuaded that low taxes are immeasurably preferable to higher taxes, and of course, in that he’s a federalist, is less anxious to spend federal funds.
As well, Mr. Dole was,... ahem..., perhaps not the most convinced, or convincing social conservative, although he at least understood the need of the party to accommodate social conservatives.
I don’t think that Mr. Thompson is a thorough-going social conservative, but I think that to the degree that he is a social conservative, he comes by it sincerely. It’s not just a position to be adopted.
sitetest