Posted on 03/02/2007 7:25:52 PM PST by doug from upland
The Next Reagan?
By Bruce Walker
Fred Thompson has been consistently conservative on social policy and provided critical help in getting John Roberts confirmed as Chief Justice.
The Republican Party presidential field seems wide open. Giuliani has lost valuable campaign papers, which might compromise a promising candidacy. He also is to the left of the Republican center on many issues, but his honesty and likeability make up for much of that. McCain is nominally pretty conservative, but he is simply disliked and mistrusted by too many Republicans. Romney is handsome and smooth, but unless he runs away from the pack early, his possible flip-flops on social issues will hurt him.
There are dark horses, like Mike Huckabee of Arkansas or Frank Keating of Oklahoma – both are popular, articulate, conservative and made their careers in state government, rather than Washington. Tom Tancredo would make a wonderful president, but has little chance of winning either the nomination or the general election.
Republicans need someone like Ronald Reagan, someone everyone knows, someone everyone likes, someone who is conservative and – most importantly – someone who would hold the presidency for eight years. What qualifications would such a candidate need? He would have to be someone who is very articulate and convincing in front of the camera, someone who exudes confidence, someone who naturally appeals to women voters, someone familiar with the news media, someone who has kept very much in the public eye and yet someone who has been away from the mess in Washington for awhile.
Is there such a man? Yes, there is: Fred Thompson. He has been consistently conservative on social policy and his help in getting John Roberts confirmed as Chief Justice to the Supreme Court was critical. Thompson has a record in the Senate and he voted conservative, according to the American Conservative Union, eighty-six percent of the time.
Although a conservative senator, he is well liked in the Senate. He also knows the Senate very well, although he has not been a member of the Senate for five years. Thompson also supported John McCain in 2000 and was his national co-chair. He has managed to be friendly with McCain and yet a strong supporter of President Bush. In short, he would be a unifier for the entire Republican Party and should receive the strong support of McCain, if Thompson won the nomination.
The most intriguing aspect of a Thompson candidacy, however, would be his extensive and successful experience as a movie star, a regular on two very popular television programs (programs, pointedly, that are particularly popular with women voters), and now as the replacement for Paul Harvey, whose radio program reaches tens of millions of older Americans every single day.
There is another Republican who did a regular radio commentary, who appeared before the American people for years on a very popular television program, who before that was a successful movie star, and who had left politics for several years before running for president. Who? Ronald Reagan, of course. He spoke to the American people with a radio commentary during the years between his defeat for the 1976 nomination and his run for the 1980 nomination. He was on General Electric Theater, a highly rated show, for years before entering politics. President Reagan honed his skills as a communicator at every single level.
Fred Thompson would naturally appeal to a couple of voting groups who do not naturally gravitate to Republican candidates: women who watch Law & Order, senior citizens who listen to and trust Paul Harvey, and young voters who have seen Thompson's many action movies. Fred Thompson also is an impressive and brilliant communicator. He also exudes a confidence and a leadership which people naturally seek in a president in troubled times.
Would Thompson run? He originally intended to run for re-election in 2002, but the death of his daughter caused him to reconsider. Thompson obviously does not “need” to be president to feel fulfilled in his life, but that is the very thing which most Americans want – someone, like Ronald Reagan, who actually wants to be president in order to serve his country and not his ego. It certainly seems that Fred Thompson cares about the future of America and he is clearly energetic and active enough to make a presidential run.
Would Thompson win? Today people are identified by image not policy briefs; Fred Thompson of Law & Order fame has the permanent image as a “good guy” to America. If his opponents complained that he was “just an actor,” then Thompson could easily answer: “Yes, just like Ronald Reagan was just an actor” (and no one says today that Ronald Reagan was a bad president.) He might run and he could easily win. After that, this well liked and brilliant actor might be the next Reagan.
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Bruce Walker has been a published author in print and in electronic media since 1990. His first book, Sinisterism: Secular Religion of the Lie, by Outskirts Press, was published in January 2006.
Registering firearms always precedes confiscation of said firearms. That's (only one of many reasons) why it's bad.
You are good with filling out forms and paying a fee for a right you already have?
I think she fell asleep. (or gave up)
I will hit the hay now.
Take care.
JJ
Its for the common good! "HA!", NO! LOL
I have asked myself the same thing about the monetary part of the license fees and feel that it probably should be either "free" or if not "free" then it needs to be "split" between the state and the "qualifying individual".(Although unless your looking for a FFL or something it doesn't cost that much $)
Not that I disagree but: if it's a government run program I don't think there's much to worry about...unless they make it part of the IRS.
I want to see the 'Army' come and unarm America... get real.
I'm still here. I was just about to head to bed.
"have asked myself the same thing about the monetary part of the license fees and feel that it probably should be either "free" or if not "free" then it needs to be "split" between the state and the "qualifying individual".(Although unless your looking for a FFL or something it doesn't cost that much $)"
Why should I split the cost with the state or the feds? It's my gun. It's not half their property.
it's been a law in many states for some time now, that you must register the weapon when you purchase or transfer it, I never had a problem with it, nor have I had anyone tried to come and confiscate my hardware, otherwise you would have seen me on the news. "HA!"
same here thanks for reminding me, I'm tried too... "HA!" goodnite everyone.
Oh, and nice meeting and chatting with you.
Goodnight.
But as anyone who has dealt with government record keeping already knows, having registration type information in a government data base is probably the most private place to have it; unless it's used for collecting income tax they'll loose it.
Roger that.
Pree-cisely. What we need is a guy who can win. I think Fred's that guy.
Sadly, no ... Slated to be replaced by a "Politician-class" Carrier shortly. Perhaps, under pressure, one of the CV-x Carriers will finally fall back to the proud old names—Essex, Wasp, Intrepid, Constellation, etc.
One can hope...
Ping!
My wife is only 11 years my junior. I have 3 grandbabies that are older than my daughter. Your post made me feel good.
Ping back! I'm smiling now.
A candidate who actually IS conservative, a man who would NEVER be caught in a dress, isn't bald (ok, he's getting close...lol), doesn't have a personal life that is a 'train wreck',,,,and doesn't speak with a LISP!!
M'am, thank you for saying that...
doug, here are some quick links and ratings of Thompson during his Senate tenure:
National Taxpayers Union>Lifetime A (... seven grades of "A" and one of "B+")
American Conservative Union: Lifetime 86 (out of 100)
Americans for [Liberal] Democratic Action: 10% of 100 in 2002
All Immigration Votes of Senator Fred Thompson
http://profiles.numbersusa.com/improfile.php3?DistSend=TN&VIPID=743
This is a relief to me- up to this point, there was not one Republican potential candidate I could get interested enough in to vote for.
No, I am not kidding. Tired old dogpack, they were, in my opinion.
Fred Thompson, I could campaign for.
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