I Am SO Depressed ("No, Fred... Please Don't Go!")

01/23/08 | AnnaZ

[AnnaZ]

This can be either a commiseration thread, or an action thread.

I'm completely miserable about Fred Thompson's withdrawal from the campaign. Just flat-out depressed.

On top of that, I just can't believe the sort of tacit acceptance we've all had regarding Fred's departure from the race. Not only am I complete flabbergasted that he quit, I'm amazed at how quickly we've resigned ourselves to it. Isn't this the guy we begged for in the first place?

So there you have it... console or inspire.

~A~

[AnnaZ]

What’s this about Duncan Hunter handing over all of his delegates to Huckleberry Hound?

I clearly need to re-up on the crazy pills, the world's gone mad.

[AnnaZ]

You know there is no comparison in Fred and Paul.

I know... I'm just sad and desperate.

[AnnaZ]

Not sure yet what I'll do but I sure am not voting for Romney. People who already support him seem to be a little short sighted: "But, but, but...he will keep Obama/Hillary out of the White House." Okay, but then what after that? How is one going to keep him from governing like a liberal, from caving in to the congressional democrats and the liberal media time and again?

My only hope is that he realizes he needs "us" to win the presidency, and that we can browbeat him into doing the right things once/when/if he gets in.

[AnnaZ]

Come February 5th, I’m voting for Fred anyway. I don’t know which RINO will win California, but he’ll do it without my vote.

I don't know if a RINO could win California, but he'll win Texas with or without me. (Hey, at least we don't live in Iowa or Florida or Ohio or anything... where the pressure's really on us. LOL.)

[CounterCounterCulture]

My only hope is that he realizes he needs "us" to win the presidency, and that we can browbeat him into doing the right things once/when/if he gets in.

Californians tried that tactic with Arnold SchwarzenKennedy for the governorship... we got SCREWED and we (meaning those of us who didn't vote for McClintock) have nobody to blame but ourselves.

[big'ol_freeper]

I'm still hoping for a hung convention where they will turn to Fred for the nominee.

U.S. Army Retired

[Grunthor]

On top of that, I just can’t believe the sort of tacit acceptance we’ve all had regarding Fred’s departure from the race. Not only am I complete flabbergasted that he quit, I’m amazed at how quickly we’ve resigned ourselves to it. Isn’t this the guy we begged for in the first place?

---

Huckaliar stole his thunder and many of his votes. Except for the rare occasion he ran an “under-the-radar” campaign.
Then he bowed out. At this point he STILL has my respect. Should he endorse anyone except Romney, he’ll lose that as well.

So I have gone in this race from Tancredo to Hunter to Fred to Mitt. I am drawing my line in the sand, no further. Apparantly my principles ARE for sale, but for crying out loud there has GOT to be a limit.

[grey_whiskers]

(IF he'd held on a couple of more days, McInsane and Huckleberry would've both dropped out.)

(Did you see that Duncan Hunter endorsed Huckleberry????)

...and both Hugh Hewitt and Ann Coulter agree on Romney.

Like I said, "Come BACK, FRed."

No cheers, unfortunately.

[WFTR]

Mr. Thompson was never higher than third choice for me, but I've been on the losing end of things so many times that I understand how this week hurts for those who pinned their hopes on him. People had very high expectations, and high expectations can lead to big disappointments. You have my sympathy.

Bill

P.S. People can say what they want about Mr. Thompson's aging, but the last twelve years have been kinder to him than they've been to me.

[reasonisfaith]

I would have done anything to keep Fred in the race. But I can’t just give up or get emotional—this is war.

[beckett]

I’m with you, Anna. I held out hope for Thompson’s rise right up until he quit. I liked him best.

The remaining choices are all bad. But I suppose I could live with Romney, perhaps. I have an active dislike for the rest on the Republican side, and would only pull the lever next to any of their names if I was forced too choose between one of them or Bill’s wife or Michelle’s husband.

Let’s hope Bloomberg comes in. He can’t win, of course, but he can hurt the Democrats by trying to.

[daylilly]

This is the first post I’ve seen that I could agree with for something other than President. Sounds like a good idea. Would Fred be interested? That is the question.

[Yaelle]

Shelayne, there is this bar of dark chocolate, I think by Chocolove, with little bits of dried raspberry inside it. It doesn’t totally remove the pain, but it’s helping.

I too have been getting consoling emails and hugs from friends as well.

If we get fat, it is FRED’S fault!

[fabian]

I know Huckabee is a mixed bag but his platform is awesome. And Hunter said that he believes that he has good character. He saw him up close for quite a while. Huckabee and Romney both had to govern surrounded by big liberal majorities which does mitigate their swaying a bit. I found out that Romney vetoed the employer mandates and the penalty for non compliance with his healthcare bill but the liberal legistlature overrode it. And of course he gets the full blame for it. I also heard from the Micheal Reagan show that his father did raise some taxes as governor but obviously turned out to be a great tax cutting president. I still have alot of hope that either Romney or Huckabee could turn out to be great presidents. Romney is sort of a business genius type...someone with alot of sympathy for businesses and lower taxation and has only been in government for a short time. Something else...they will have the backing of millions of us conservatives to help them alot whereas they had no such support as governors...or very little of it. Cheer up!

[nunya bidness]

This has all the hallmarks of growing cynicism.

Join us on the mocking couch, we've saved your place.

[Mach5]

Thompson’s age is one reason not to consider him for VP.

[codercpc]

I like Mitt, I really do, and I will gladly vote for him if he becomes the nominee. But gosh can that guy PANDER I heard the interview after Fred got out, and it was nice and respectful (something sorely lacking in most campaigns) but my feeling was that, just like everything else Mitt proposes, it was a pander to the Fred supporters. I just don't have any gut feeling, at all, on why Mitt would chose Fred as his running mate.

Remember, VP choices must still campaign, and that was Freds greatest weakness. He just does not balance out the ticket. Tennessee is a great state, but it is not exactly a strategic must have like maybe a midwest state would be. Fred is also not a "southern favorite" except among the 12% of supporters. I could either see a true southern politician (my hope would be Barbour) or a midwesterner like Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota.

To me, that throw away line in Romneys answer (that he would make a good VP, or whatever he said) was a pipedream only to Fred supporters, hoping to string them over to his campaign. After all, as long as he doesn't pledge to have him as a running mate, by the time Romney would actually name the VP candidate, he would have already secured the nomination.

[chickpundit]

I know how you feel. I still haven’t been able to bring myself to adopt a new tagline. Fred is the only candidate I’ve ever donated money to, and the only one I’d feel good about voting for.

I also came up with Romney or Paul as possible voting choices. I must be in a rather weird emotional state to consider voting for Ron Paul. I don’t think I could really vote for him, just frustrated with the way this is all playing out. So I’m probably either voting for Fred regardless or voting against some of the others by voting Romney.

It’s so frustrating to watch the GOP get suckered in by the MSM, without doing their own research. There are many who choose style over substance as well. We can only hope that Fred’s ideas will help to shape some of these other candidate’s ideas and plans.

I hope it doesn’t take four years of Hillary to get the party back to real conservative ideals as opposed to flash and empty populist promises.

[RonDog]

So there you have it... console or inspire.

~A~

As a fellow recovering FredHead, I feel your pain.

I will probably end up voting for Mitt, but I am still frustrated by our limited choices.

From pookie18's Today's Toons 1/24/08:

Ping!

Perhaps someone ELSE here can also help to console and/or inspire our good FRiend AnnaZ.

[NordP]

Romney for me, hubby, brother, and Ann Coulter. I’d say we’re in good company. I like his energy-—he’s a doer. I like his business background-—he can shake up a bit of the stoggy in DC and get them off their butts. He’s great on illegals—go home first. He’s all for cutting taxes, and knows who needs a financial break to create jobs, not just hand out dough.