Fred Thompson considers running

Townhall.com ^ | March 13, 2007 | William Rusher

[Josh Painter]

The battle for the Republican presidential nomination underwent a major transformation last weekend when Fred Thompson told Chris Wallace of the Fox News Channel that he is considering entering the race. This is no minor development. Bob Beckel, Clinton's longtime press secretary and now a Democratic commentator for Fox, promptly asserted that Thompson is the only possible Republican contender "who scares me," and he is right to worry.

-snip-

It is a major development because Thompson has so many undeniable qualifications for the nomination. First and foremost, he is a true-blue conservative, comfortable with all the positions on social issues (abortion, gay rights, gun control, etc.) that give Rudy Giuliani so much difficulty and that have inspired John McCain and Mitt Romney to "flip-flop" in recent years to curry favor with social conservatives. In the second place, he is (as his television career demonstrates) an immensely attractive personality at 64, with a rumpled and thoughtful charm. Thirdly, his service for eight years in the U.S. Senate (four times Barack Obama's current tenure) attests to his success as a political leader. And finally, he hails from a border state -- Tennessee -- with all that implies for electability in the South and elsewhere.

-snip-

The millions of conservative voters who constitute the Republican Party's base, and whose support is going to be indispensable to any nominee who hopes to win the election, have had visible difficulty generating great enthusiasm for any of the other candidates. Giuliani is an outspoken liberal on a good many important issues. McCain is a bad-tempered maverick who has been all over the map...

-snip-

And by the way, if his critics try to dismiss him as just (or mostly) "an actor," don't forget what happened the last time they tried that.

[Mr. Brightside]

You tell us not to vote for Thompson because he is "
a very good friend" of liberal Republican McCain.

Yet you support a liberal Republican yourself.

Makes no sense.

[CharlesWayneCT]

I read Thompson's floor speech on the subject, and agreed with him on the not guilty charge on the 1st count. The count was hopelessly flawed in its charges, making it nearly impossible to be fairly applied.

He voted guilty on the charge that was the heart of the matter -- using the Presidency and the power of government to obstruct justice.

If Scooter Libby's perjury charge had been written like the one Clinton faced, we'd have been outraged -- for example, it didn't provide a single statement that was claimed to be false.

[CharlesWayneCT]

He's friends with McCain, and I think on a lot of issues they agreed. He certainly was with him on Campaign Finance.

However, in 2000 he was actually supporting Lamar Alexander, NOT McCain. He switched to McCain when Lamar dropped out.

I think he's considering running now because he doesn't see a viable candidate pushing the policies and principles that Thompson believes the country needs right now. That he's considering running while McCain is still in the race suggests he sees where McCain has diverged from his earlier conservatism.

Thompson also voted correctly on several things in 2001-2002 that McCain voted wrong about. And Fred is not supporting McCain now, which is telling. He hadn't endorsed him, even before talk of his own presidential race surfaced.

[dirtboy]

He supported McCain wholeheartedly on CFR as well.

So did Rudy.

Did I mention that Thompson voted no on one impeachment count against Clinton?

Did I mention that Rudy opposed the PBA ban that Clinton vetoed? The ban that Fred voted for?

Every time I think you cannot possibly become more mendanacious with your posts on FR, you prove me wrong. You are just a slimy talking point machine for the Rudy campaign any longer. And I love it that Fred has your camp so terrified that you suddenly are talking up Duncan Hunter. Your tactics are as transparent as they come.