Fred Thompson Suckered The Conservatives (Vanity . . . and yes, Fred Thompson Suckered YOU)

1/23/08 | Greg F

[x]

Thompson has screwed up everything he's touched in politics . . . from his crushing of Nixon with his "what did you know, when did you know it question" through Howard Baker, to his campaign finance "reform" with McCain, to his botched 'leadership' of the Clinton impeachment, to his 2008 candidacy that ousted every true conservative from the race.

Wow! You really hate Freddie!

But aren't you ascribing too much power to him? He's not omnipotent. Could Fred really have saved Nixon? Could he really have gotten Clinton convicted? And where were all these conservative candidates clamouring to get in the race?

If you supported Fred and are angry at him for letting you down, that's understandable, but he never was what his supporters wanted him to be.

If you were for Hunter or Tancredo, look at how well -- how poorly -- they were doing in the polls when Fred's candidacy was just a twinkle in his fans' eyes.

If you're for Ron Paul, that's just sad.

[Greg F]

From what I read, it was Thompson’s line of questioning that did Nixon in, so yes, absent Fred Thompson, I think that it is possible we wouldn’t have had the disaster of Watergate leading to resignation.

The Republican effort to impeach Clinton was ineffective. No showmanship, no drama, and no success. No fire in the belly. Typical Thompson.

And I do think that Fred helped freeze conservatives out of this race. We had a good candidate in Hunter who would have had a chance to build a little steam without Thompson. Further, hypothetically, if you were a long shot governor with little name recognition, facing the prospect of a Fred Thompson, with his high poll numbers last year and apparent fundraising ability, you’d have been less likely to enter the race. You can say “they didn’t have the fire in the belly” or we need a commanding, can-do, confident type to run . . . but then you can say that about Fred too and he just made a half-hearted attempt in this race and bailed out. I don’t hate Fred, but now that he’s out I feel like I can point out the flaws that everyone kept hush-hush around here (which was basically that the guy was ineffective in every major political role he played). He’d have made a splash if he just worked hard and made everyone notice it; calling the press at 12 am, or keeping his campaign press train working late and wearing them out. They’d have had to comment on it.

[DCPatriot]

Yes...I’m sure that if Thomas Jefferson were to come back and see where we are right now, he’d be telling us to lock n’ load.

[Greg F]

Yes...I’m sure that if Thomas Jefferson were to come back and see where we are right now, he’d be telling us to lock n’ load.
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The only question is when would he have said this? Civil War Amendments, the Progressive Era, the New Deal, the Cold War, the Civil Rights era, the Great Society, Wage and Price Controls, Roe v. Wade, etc.; I think he would have been fighting mad a lot earlier than today.

[Greg F]

From George Will’s current column: “Thompson could leave the race and continue to support John McCain. In New Hampshire, Thompson attacked McCain’s principal problem there, Mitt Romney. In South Carolina, Thompson’s attack on Huckabee as a “liberal” might have provided McCain’s margin of victory.”

http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/will012208.php3

[the OlLine Rebel]

Frankly, I agree. At least generally in principle.

While I really haven’t studied the candidates hard, I’m not convinced Fred Thompson was this “real conservative” everyone made him out to be.

I don’t think most in the erstwhile field are really conservative. Not overall, for sure.

I think Fred was a sham about like his pal McPain is. May not be as bad at all (who could be?), but the fact he thinks McPain is a great guy and votes with him on big things the latter starts tells me he ain’t up to snuff.

[the OlLine Rebel]

Yes, as usual the all-talk no-walk Jefferson would tell us it’s time to fight, and then run for the hills himself. ;-)

[Greg F]

Thanks for the support. I took a lot of flack from the “follow the crowd” crowd. Regarding Jefferson . . . he was a heckuva talker! Could use another like him right now.

[the OlLine Rebel]

I guess it’s good that he was willing others should “fight”, but he was much better at “flight”.

[Greg F]

A little off topic, but this is an old thread and the excursion sounds like it’s worth it. What are you talking about with Jefferson and flight? He wasn’t a soldier but most of the founding fathers weren’t. What in particular draws your ire?

[the OlLine Rebel]

In summary, when the British were invading the South, and heading for Richmond, Governor Jefferson took off (himself - no, it wasn’t all of the governing body) over the mountains back to his estate. Leaving little in the way of direction for anyone there, to boot.

Sorry to go off-topic, but I can’t help commenting to someone’s ironic comment. ;-)