Posted on 03/08/2007 7:43:28 PM PST by West Coast Conservative
Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson is facing increased calls to get into the 2008 GOP nomination race.
Sources told FOX News that Thompson, 62, now one of the stars of the popular NBC prime time series "Law & Order," has not ruled out a presidential bid, and has authorized advisers and supporters to continue to gauge support.
Advisers are holding regular strategy sessions, investigating fundraising avenues and private polling to measure enthusiasm. Perhaps pre-eminent among a number of prominent Thompson backers working behind the scenes is former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker.
Baker has been a mentor to Thompson since before the Senate's Watergate hearings, for which Baker hired Thompson as majority counsel and for which Thompson earned fame for having Baker ask the key question that led to President Richard Nixon's downfall: "What did the president know and when did he know it?"
Baker ran for president himself in 1980. Thompson eyed the White House in the 1990s.
While Thompson, who also helped raise money and advise I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's legal defense fund, continues to mull a bid, sources said he has been inundated with calls from GOP donors and supporters urging him to run.
Thompson has a solid and consistently conservative voting record that his supporters said makes a stark contrast to Republican frontrunners Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney.
This week, he told radio news host Mark Levin that he would have something to say about his plans, but not yet.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
His support for McCain isn't a point in his favor, that's for sure.
McCain lost a lot of support during the election when he came to my home state of Virginia and trashed the religious right. Then there were the rumors of his paying kids off in South Carolina with drinks, and the push-calls in some other state (maybe michigan).
But I still thought he was an OK guy, and if he apologized for his Virginia gaffe I was ready to support him in 2008.
I was even ready to forgive CFR. But it's just the number of liberal things he's done, the totality of his acts in the last 4 years, that really turned me off to him.
Even though he was a pretty solid conservative, and is strong on Iraq (but not necessarily strong on terror with his blasting of the liberal line on Abu Ghraib for example.
And I don't know if Thompson would have the same problem. I see a lot of McCain in Thompson. I need Thompson to get into the race and do a series of policy speeches and then I'll know.
If I had to vote today, I'd probably vote for Romney. Although a Thompson/Steele ticket might sway me if Thompson turns out to be OK on the issues. I don't think Steele does as much for Romney, and think Romney should look for a strong military type for his VP.
I'll bet your $10 he runs this very year.
"Ugh, vegan."
Hey, man,...that's more meat for you and me to eat!
Hope you enjoy the show. Needless to say, Fred's sidekicks endlessly needle him about "Love Boat", "Monster Squad" and,...oh,...let's not forget that 8 year run in congress.
I don't care if they "bought it". He VOTES correctly.
Yep. Just like his best friend John McCain.
It's called grasping at straws............LOL. :-)
So is Jim an anti-FReeper now? LOL.
Yes. I was just correcting your statement that it was from 2006, as it was from july 6, 2000.
The rest was my own comments about the thread.
I was going to suggest EV for President, but I'm afraid he tell me he wasn't conservative enough.
:-)
Which party? I know the CP already nominated their candidate!
He can't get paid more than what he makes now.
I'd take that bet. If he were running, he'd want to start now and maximize the attention.
Ohio's really a mess. With the Taft problems, the scandals, and then the pushing Blackwell, not that the RINO DeWine did any better, it's going to be a miracle to win that state this time around.
On the other hand, I think Pennsylvania is ready to go republican. Rendell is losing his luster, they got their Casey for Senate and he's already an empty hole.
And then there was the disaster on the freeway in the ice storm.
I also think New Hampshire could go republican, as well as one or two other states that were close before.
I think we should plan on losing Ohio.
I don't think so. I remember seeing Fred on C-Span and news shows years ago. He's a big, smart, serious guy that seems to fill up rooms with his presence. He talks direct and won't lower his cheek for RATs to slap like Bush has been doing lately.
He will scare people that want to harm us. That's very, very important; countries are welcome to hate us all they want. They must also know that if they wake us up and intentionally get us worked up, they will have some problems.
After finding out that Armey and Delay tried to stage a coup against Gingrinch twice (the second time successfully), I think they both got what they had coming to them.
That site is completely useless.
Mixed:
Voted YES on allowing more foreign workers into the US for farm work. (Jul 1998)
Voted YES on visas for skilled workers. (May 1998)
Voted YES on limit welfare for immigrants. (Jun 1997)
Well, more good news!
They got his age wrong though - he's actually 64.
They have? Who?
I'm sure he's going to run GOP.
You're on.
I'm not quite sure how accurate that thing is. It's a fun test but by no means exhaustive.
Fred is more conservative than Bush on guns, immigration, and fiscal policy, probably similar on the WOT, and ever so slightly less so on social issues.
IOW considerably better than Rudy McRomney...
*Sigh*
I already linked an article that said he was pro-life from 2007, Human Events.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.