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.
Jim, could we have a poll with Fred Thompson in the mix?
I, as an ultra conservative conservative (LOL) could support him, and it seems that some of the Rudyphiles could, too.
It would be nice to have a candidate acceptable to a majority.
The next Reagan? Let him spend two successful terms as governor of California and then call us. We'll see.
The reason I say so is because the principal knock on Hunter is that he's unknown. In this essay, he isn't even mentioned as a dark horse. And it's an insider conservative essay. So if he can't even get a mention here...that's quite a row to hoe.
Geez, I hope so ............ FRegards
While I respect Fred he did co-sponsor and was a strong proponent of McCain-Feingold and is a good friend of John McCain. He once was pro-"choice" but changed his views before running for the Senate. He also seems soft on immigration. That said, he seems better than the current "frontrunners."
And now he will run as an idependent?
What papers did he lose, can anyone catch me up on this?
He's pulling a lot of publicity. There was a big strall poll the other day and RUDY pulled 48% but HUNTER came in #2 with 45%! I'm pretty sure a lot of folks are going to sit up and take notice. McCLAME seems to be spiralling down like a fighter hit by a SAM. He's self destructing. Nobody trusts MITT and Rudy will be impaled by the NRA. Gingrich has a great shot but he's got to get in the game...soon. I'd go for a Gingrich/Hunter ticket.
I did notice his votes on immigration toughened up considerably after 2000.
Oops. I repeated myself. Sorry, I am on two Thompson threads and got them mixed up. *Blush*
There is still a long way to go. I could vote for Hunter, Tancredo or Romney in the primaries over McCain, Rudy and Newt. Much prefer Fred.
Huck, I can't speak for other Duncan Hunter supporters, just myself. I'm a conservative whose #1 goal is to get a conservative in the White House again. If Fred Thompson throws his hat in the ring, then the chances of getting a conservative elected president will be greatly improved.
I'm going to back the conservative candidate who has the best chance of getting elected. Since I consider Thompson to be far more electable than Rep. Hunter, I would change my allegiance to help achieve my goal.
Would I have regrets? Sure, I don't like Thompson's stand on the immigration issue. But if I allow a gun-grabber like Rudy to be nominated and elected, then I've cut off my nose to spite my face.
A Thompson/Hunter ticket would be very appealing to conservatives, but I think a Thompson/Steele ticket would appeal to not only conservatives, but a much larger chunk of the electorate.
Thompson/Steele has balance in several ways: white/black, south/northeast, older/younger and Protestant/Catholic. And it sends a strong message that the party of Lincoln is in touch with both its roots and its future.
And, like I mentioned earlier, it would give the Dems fits. What are they gonna do, throw Oreos at a black candidate for the vice presidency? That stuff they got away with in Maryland just ain't gonn fly in a national election, especially if Obama is on their ticket!
Romney / Thompson 2008!!
sevenbak wrote: "Romney / Thompson 2008!!"
Right now Thompson is supporting McCain, but who knows...
If he thows his hat into the ring, it will be to get name recognitin. Time wil tell
AFAIK, Thompson hasn't officially endorsed McCain this time around, although he did endorse him in 2000 (after Lamar Alexander dropped out) and became his national co-chairman.
The two are good friends, and Thompson probably doesn't want to rain on Mcain's parade. However, with McCain slipping badly in the polls, that reason for staying out could fall by the wayside.
As someone else noted, he was too old for the draft, which didn't start until 1969, with men born in 1944 (he was born in 1942).
He could have volunteered, but there's no issue with him doing anything to avoid the draft. By the time they were drafting people, he was in his late 20s and serving his country as an prosecuter.
Fred isn't the perfect conservative, but he's exactly the kind of candidate we talk about when we say we shouldn't look for the perfect candidate and pass over the best we can get.
Fred could be a great compromise candidate, in a way Rudy never will be.
Rudy could be the Attorney General in a Thompson administration.
BTW, Thompson strikes me as someone who is not rigidly ideological, but has his own set of princples and lives by them. I don't agree with all his stands, especially his position on Campaign Finance Reform. He wasn't one of the vocal proponents of it, but he shouldn't have voted for it.
However, it's obvious he didn't vote for it to pander to people like McCain did, since he voted the year he was retiring from office.
I'd love to here him say it was a mistake, or that there were parts of the bill he didn't like that he'd push to repeal. But if none of the other conservatives can get out of single digits, I'd rather have Thompson enter the ring than be stuck with Rudy Guiliani.
That's a ticket -- Thompson/Steele.
I wouldn't mind seeing Steele throw his hat into the presidential ring for a while just to get vetted and bumped around some, so he would be a more credible VP pick. Lt. Governor and losing Senate candidate isn't a great platform to leap from, but a credible presidential candidacy would establish him as VP material.
Well, he's doing well in the FR poll comparing him with Rudy.
Oh give me a freaking break. Washington? Jefferson? Madison? Lincoln? Reagan was a larger than life President, but he didn't begin to fill their shoes in terms of intellectual preparation or leadership.
The conservative wing of the GOP needs to get over this absurd cult-like adoration of Reagan which long ago dispensed with truth.
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