Posted on 12/30/2007 10:10:33 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
If Fred Thompson is nothing else hes honest, or at least as honest as politics will allow one man to be. Presidential candidates through necessity are forced to make promises they know they cant keep. Occasionally a candidate will say something in an unguarded moment being totally frank with his or her audience they wish later they hadnt. At a town hall meeting in Burlington Iowa Fred Thompson was explaining becoming president wasnt an obsession of his. He had a life before he decided to run and hell have a life if he isnt the voters choice. The medias reporting it as though he doesnt care one way or the other, which is not what he meant to say.
WE MUST SELECT OUR BEST CHOICE AND STICK WITH THEM, I MUST ADMIT I WAVERED ONCE, NOT AGAIN.
Sometimes a little ass chewing can be a good thing. After I SUPPORTING Fred Thompson I wrote a critical article pertaining to Fred Thompsons lack of enthusiasm, I received two e-mails from two of Fred Thompsons State Campaign Managers taking me to task for my disloyalty. I must admit I was guilty of following the media hype. I was allowing Cable TV pundits to lead me on a false path away from what Fred Thompson is all about. I became lazy and wasnt doing the research and follow-up as a writer Im compelled to do to be creditable. Political punditry should never be a part time sport.
Like all Monday morning quarterbacks I stood on the sidelines telling the players what they should and shouldnt do. Some input from the outside cant hurt but it isnt going to win in the long run. After receiving some video clips from one of the Thompson campaign managers and seeing Fred Thompson on Fox News Sunday it became obvious Fred Thompson is doing exactly what he has to do to win the nomination. Fred Thompson doesnt have to win the Iowa primary all he has to do is make a credible showing. Iowa is only one of 50 states, flyover America has yet to speak.
It may seem Ive flip flopped in my support for Fred Thompson, actually what it shows is when the facts arent available even the most devout can falter. Im a Red States Voter in a Blue State, which means most of the media coverage in my state goes to the Democratic Party. What little MSM coverage Republicans get is devoted to Mitt Romneys Mormonism and Rudy Giulianis sex life, neither of these are of any concern to voters. Mike Huckabee seems to be getting a lot of media attention, this to will pass. Mike Huckabee has a lot to learn before hes ready for prime time. It seems when Huckabee doesnt have an answer he always manages a joke. I doubt the country is ready for a wise-ass president yet. Humor is no way to cover up past positions on issues that dont fit into a political partys platform.
Theres no question most of the Republican candidates would like to be known as the air-apparent to the Reagan legacy. Any Republican who assumes they can come anywhere near the accomplishment of Ronald Reagan should be arrested for impersonating a Great Statesman. Times change, a cloned Ronald Reagan would fail as a president today. Each of these candidates must come up with their own programs. They should not let the Media and the Democrats set the agenda for them. Reagan picked a few issues [less than a dozen] and concentrated on those, he never allowed Democrats or the media to sidetrack him into fighting their battles.
He was also emphatic about not speaking ill of fellow Republicans.
Things important to Democrats arent necessarily important to the majority of the voters. The 1948 election of Harry Truman was an example of a man the media and his own political party wrote off as a loser then he came back to win the election. If conventional wisdom ruled Id win the lotto every week and Al Gore would be sitting in the Whitehouse.
Like many voters Ive been letting media hype lead me down a path of discontent. The medias hammering away as though it will all be over after the Iowa caucus has a mind altering effect on voters. The premise is as Iowa goes so goes the nation, this of course is not true Iowa is only the beginning. One thing we know about the media, what is fact today are never the same facts tomorrow. The media follows the clouds flowing on a path the political hot air directing them to who knows where.
I must apologize to Fred Thompson for doubting his campaign strategy. It would seem hes on track and doesnt seem to be all that concerned about winning Iowa. Fred Thompson realizes Iowa is only one state out of 50. Fred Thompson may have more insight to our political system than the rest of us. This nation is 230 years in the making, Those 230 years have produced 43 presidents and 110 sessions of congress. One president resigned and two were impeached, all for political purposes generated by their opponents. No president has ever committed a felony this has to give us comfort in the process of selecting leaders. Im sure Fred Thompson has already figured this out and is willing to do it the smart way and take his chances. I would like to warn Mr. Thompson to watch his six hes in a pond of political alligators up to his shorts. May I suggest we all control our hysteria and let the system work its magic? Its worked for 230 years Im sure it will work for at least one more election. With Iowa down and 49 states left to go the system will prevail as always. Win lose or draw America will survive to vote again
MAKE YOUR CHOICE AND STICK WITH HIM OR HER TO THE END, YOUR CANDIDATE DESERVES NO LESS THE ONLY WASTED VOTE IS NO VOTE AT ALL
The things you listed were not defining moments. They were just things that happened. A defining moment can be quoted or viewed on film. Reagan’s “there you go again” is another one. George H.W. Bush looking at his watch was another. Al Gore stalking George W. Bush was yet another, as was Michael Dukakis’s tank ride. Nixon sweating, Ford saying eastern Europe wasn’t under soviet influence.
You're either not understanding my point or you're just too interested in arguing to get it. Your position is a result of EXACTLY what I'm talking about, because those indeed WERE defining moments...UNTIL THEY WEREN'T. That's exactly what all this "defining moment" silliness is. "Defining moments" as you again repeat them are mythology we decide MEAN something, when no one cared about Bush looking at his watch until the media needed something to point to, and Reagan's "there you go again" defined nothing except something established decades before, that he can handle himself on camera, and so on. You're falling into that same TV-mentality by trying to pick a "moment" when such moments are of no value except to media talking heads who need an angle on a story that doesn't have one angle.
Either way, thanks and good night.
The voters of Iowa are not having to look under a rock for Fred Thompson. He HAS taken his campaign directly to them. Strategy entails going to those who vote first...FIRST. Much of it is posted here in detail on the very threads you post to.But success begets success, and failure begets failure. Fred went for a period of weeks, if not months with very little major national media exposure. The little he got was nothing like the daily barrage of Romney and Giuliani. He just didn't go after it, and it didn't come looking for him. That is why he began fading in the national polls and never came back. People in Iowa and elsewhere read the same newspapers and see the same polls. If they see Fred dropping like a rock, then their not going to be inclined to support him either. People just don't like getting behind sure losers.
It's not about me. It's about what your average voter sees. I've seen all of the major events where Fred had his few opportunities to define himself before a large audience, and he missed them. He didn't talk about his credentials during the CNN debate, or any others. That was his best chance. People walked away having heard some statistics on social security that they didn't retain, and still not knowing about Fred's experience with terrorism and nuclear proliferation matters. Fred needed to use the opportunity of the debates to challenge Giuliani directly and hold Rudy's well known background up to his own. He didn't, and that was his chance then to define himself before America, not now, 3 days before Iowa.
Those of us who are paying even a modicum of attention are watching Fred work his campaign every day. You claim to be a Thompson supporter but somehow never see or hear any of it. Even after having the daily Fred news and events all laid out for you here at FR, you still claim hes done nothing. As a matter of fact, you never post a positive comment about him at all.
I agree, it is good he has gotten some media attention for it, but lets keep it in perspective. He's running for president. Getting media attention should not be this unusual. This is the first in a very long time for him in a race where 3 or 4 of the other candidates get this kind of exposure on a daily basis. And on top of that, his message is 17 minutes long, is slow and meandering through much of it, is fairly unexciting and doesn't even touch on the sort of issues and experience that he should be leading with until 8 minutes into it, long after the vast majority of his audience has stopped watching out of boredom. I really would like to be more upbeat on Fred, but he really hasn't given us much of a reason to be for months now.
Even a sort of supporter would find reason to praise him today on his truly excellent Message to Iowa. Its gained attention all over the Internet and from major news outlets.
For those who took the time to read his policies and views on things who decided to support him are inspired.Oi! That's just the problem. Personally, I've read it and I like it. But 98% of the voters aren't like me. If the voter has to do all the work for the candidate then that candidate ain't gonna win. Fred should have been bringing his positions and above all his credentials to the voters, not making them play hide and go seek to find it. The voters are even lazier than Fred! They'll know whatever they're told about a candidate, with no effort of their own, and nothing more. So the candidate better make sure they tell the voter everything they need to know. I'm reminded now of the debates where Fred just gave his Fred08.com URL and told the viewers to look up his positions on the internet instead of just laying them out while he had a captive audience. It's these kind of stupid moves that has sunk him from the start.
I don’t have faith in the public knowing why Fred is the best choice. He never made the case. At least not the right one.
I don’t know if I’m going to support Fred at this point. I’m in California, so things will change before I have my say. If Fred is viable still, then yes, but if it goes the way it looks like it will be going, then I will probably put my vote to better use and support McCain. Only Fred, Romney, and McCain are at all acceptable, and Romney is just too flawed to win the general election. So because of Fred’s incompetent campaign that crashed and burned, that leaves only McCain as the not-so-great last hope.
Do you think Freds smackdown of Micheal Moore was one of Freds defining moments ?No. You're missing the point about the defining moments.
No it wasn’t. You totally don’t get it. It was a manufactured event. It was not spontaneous. The candidate does not pick his defining moment, the times do. Most candidates don’t ever even have one. Just because someone does or says something that might make you go “hoorah” that doesn’t mean it reveals and forever defines who they are from that moment on.
“What IS the strategy?”
Do you think there might be something about the way Thompson has run his campaign that could net him most of the 50% undecided voters between now and Thursday?
“Now hes already defined. And hes been defined as...”
Youre saying that you let prevaricating pundits define a candidate for you, instead of the actions of the candidate himself.
Fred Thompsons actions, dating back to his youth, define him as a foreign policy expert, legal scholar, and steady hand in uncertain times.
You claim he has a brilliant strategy that somehow doesn't involve winning Iowa. I see him doing a 50 stop tour in Iowa and raising $250k for last minute ads in Iowa. Now if he has a super secret Iowa doesn't matter plan, state it or admit you were talking out your rear.
I did? Where did I claim that?
Now if he has a super secret Iowa doesn't matter plan, state it or admit you were talking out your rear.
First you have to admit you're a complete and total liar, because I never said any such thing.
Prove I did, or admit you're a liar.
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