Posted on 03/16/2007 1:42:16 PM PDT by STARWISE
Last week I spent about an hour asking my Republican colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives what they thought about the possibility of former Sen. Fred Thompson running for President.
What happened then was the political equivalent of March Madness with over 40 Members of Congress immediately signing up to either meet with Fred or outright volunteering to help.
When I spoke with Senator Thompson this week, I told him it was like someone set off fireworks on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.
There are many reasons Fred should run for President and they have nothing to do with anyone else currently running from either party. So here we go:
1. He personifies strength and trust - the two primary characteristics people look for in a President.
2. He is a natural leader - let's face it. Some politicians are but most are not.
3. He is a consistent conservative - from national security and second amendment rights to the sanctity of life and traditional marriage, Fred is a strong conservative.
4. He has charisma - in the Senate they call it "gravitas." At home it's just plain old confidence. Fred knows who he is, where he came from and where we, as a nation, should go together.
5. He has plenty of experience - not a career politician, but from cleaning up government corruption to chairing select committees on Chinese missile technology, Fred Thompson has the right amount of experience.
6. He is highly electable - Fred Thompson has always been likeable. From the movie set to the Senate floor, he is just "good ol' Fred" to everyone he comes in contact with.
7. He has "star quality" - let's face it, we are at the height of the information age. The media overdoes it so someone who is media friendly and has some celebrity is advantaged.
8. He has a great sense of humor - during the difficult times in which we live, we need a touch of humor. Fred is serious minded but does not take himself too seriously.
9. He is comfortable in his own skin - What you see is what you get. Fred Thompson is the real deal and it shows.
10. He is a Tennessean - perhaps the biggest plus of all and sorry y'all...you have to be one to really understand.
If you feel as I do, let Fred know it. I think he is the closest thing to Ronald Reagan we have seen in a long time.
Zach Wamp Member of Congress
I was kidding about Fred Thompson not being able to carry Tennessee...historical precedents don't always apply. Besides, I forgot about John Bell carrying Tennessee in 1860 (see post #30).
I'd even get a bumper-sticker that I would use! ............. FRegards
One more time!
BTW, the original, "Where The Buffalo Roam", is the best movie on that book ............ FRegards
"10. He is a Tennessean - perhaps the biggest plus of all and sorry y'all...you have to be one to really understand."
4th Tn Inf,Bedford Forest, Dittos
Rebel Yell and Bonnie Blue Flag thrown in.
>>10. He is a Tennessean - perhaps the biggest plus of all and sorry y'all...you have to be one to really understand.
So was al gore.....;)<<
That was my thought too.
I love Georgians too but that is tempered by Jimmy Carter.
What I mean by bias is that you don't see articles about Fred detailing the fact that he divorced his wife of 26 years the same year he found success in the movies, after his debut in the 1985 film “Marie” (where he played himself). He left his wife with 3 children after she worked hard to help put Fred through Vanderbilt University Law School.
Nor have you read any mention that for almost 2 decades after that, Thompson was “a fixture on the Washington social scene, and his dates [were] fodder for gossip pages." according to articles like this. And the media as of late doesn't mention Lorrie who herself has been married five times and in between her marriages she was Fred's girlfriend. In fact, she has written a book titled “Forever Yours Faithfully” detailing all their peccadilloes.
Before Thompson remarried, there were talks in Washington DC about Fred's running for the Presidency. Orrin Hatch used to say "there's been a long line of women" in the years since Fred divorced, adding that "Really lovely women just seem to like Fred.” But while this sounds great for a Hollywood actor and a former Senator, such an image will not help him if he runs for the presidency.
I assume that IF and when Fred declares to run, some in the media will raise these issues from his past.
I guess Fred eventually settled down when he married Jeri Kehn in the summer of 2002. She was a 35 years old political media consultant and he was a 60 years old Senator from Tennessee - 25 years of difference! Imagine the reaction of some if Rudy's new wife was 25 years his junior, LOL! By the way, Fred's grandchildren are older than his daughter from his second marriage who just turned 3 years old last October.
Fred Thompson and wife Jeri Kehn at the “10th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards – Red Carpet”
Funny, Fred left his first wife when he started his movie career, and he left the Senate after serving a little more than one full term once he married Jeri, his second wife. Even though Fred has remarried, bringing family values to the forefront (a very important component in the GOP), a divorced bachelor would have been a hard sale for the GOP and the electorate, I don't believe he is going to run. He had said so many times and had often publicly stated that he “had never planned to make a lifetime career of the Senate.” He loves acting and makes great money in that field - for example, I read that he makes $100,000 per episode of Law & Order.
Another reason why I think he won't run is because watching Fox last Sunday, Fred was so non-committal about picking a date regarding announcing a bid for the Presidency that I really believe that he has no intention of running.
From the Fox transcripts:
THOMPSON: ... one advantage you have in not, you know, having this as lifelong ambition is that if it turns out that your calculation is wrong, it's not the end of the world.
WALLACE: I read one article that said that the timetable was you would make a decision by May.
THOMPSON: I don't know where that came from. I've never said that.
WALLACE: Do you have any kind of a deadline?
THOMPSON: No.
WALLACE: Could you go into the summer? Could you go into ...
THOMPSON: I think so.
Summer... he thinks so? This is why I think he isn't serious. There is less than one year before the primaries begin, and summer is way too late if he wants to be competitive. Raising funds and building support don't happen by magic, but it's a process that needs to be worked at and that takes time. This election is a lot different than past elections, so the candidates have to start early. Summer will be too late for him to start, unless he just wants to launch an exploratory committee without commitment.
While Fred is a Protestant and Rudy is a Catholic, Rudy is maligned for being married 3 times, and yet the response of many is positive when it comes to Fred Thompson who has married 2 times, and divorced his first wife of 26 years. He then was involved with a string of women without taking the responsibility of making the commitment, and he remarried almost 2 decades after his divorce with a woman 25 years his junior.
So here is my question – are divorced Protestants above criticism when it comes to fooling around for over 15 years without marrying any of his/her lovers? Or are the Catholics the only ones who get censured for marrying his/her lover instead of continuing to fool around with a string of women/men for over 15 years?
I hear crickets.
Don't get me wrong, I have liked the guy since I was a teenager. I think he is a fine actor and he was a good Senator - I like him personally. However, someone has to point out the inconsistency of the so-called conservatives who claim to value conservative and family values above all else.
Great detective work! I agree, and think that some folks are so anxious for a credible alternative to Rudy McRomney, that they are overlooking some of Fred's checkered past. In itself, that wouldn't be so bad, except most of them have serious problems with Rudy's checkered past.
Personally, I don't think Thompson wants to be president, but he sees an opening and is maneuvering. I think he wants to be VP, where he gets much of the upside and perks of power, without a lot of the downside. If Rudy or Romney end up being the GOP nominee, he would make an outstanding VP on the ticket. I'd like to see that a lot, despite some of the problems in his past.
I like Fred, and the reason I brought this up is to shed some light on the bias and prejudice of those who criticize Rudy for personal failings, and yet put their candidate (Newt and Fred) beyond reproach. They aren't above criticism, and they too have unflattering personal stuff in their lives.
Are you someone who knows him and the details of who divorced whom in his first marriage, or if it was mutual?
Victoria Delsoul wrote: "So here is my question – are divorced Protestants above criticism when it comes to fooling around for over 15 years without marrying any of his/her lovers? Or are the Catholics the only ones who get censured for marrying his/her lover instead of continuing to fool around with a string of women/men for over 15 years?
I hear crickets.
Don't get me wrong, I have liked the guy since I was a teenager..."
---
Yeah, I can really tell how much you "like" Thompson from your post in which you and your "crickets" unsuccessfully attempt to sling dirt on the character of a very good man.
He has been married twice and dated different women while single before he met his second wife. Good Lord, let's get a rope, find a tree and hang his sorry butt right now!
The truth is that Fred Thompson's first marriage, from well over twenty years in the past, is well-known in Washington and Hollywood circles. His ex-wife Sarah has never said anything bad about him in public, nor he about her. I don't know whether he divorced her, she divorced him or they had a mutual parting of the ways, and neither do you. So don't say things like "the fact that he divorced his wife of 26 years" when you don't know whether it's a "fact" or not.
As for FDT's single life after his divorce, it's been my understanding that a bachelor or bachlorette is free in this country to court and spark whomever he or she chooses. But if that has somehow changed, please advise us.
In a field of GOP hopefuls who, with the exceptions of M&M (Mitt and McCain) cheated on their wives or had divorce papers served to their hospital beds, Fred Dalton Thompson is a breath of fresh air.
The leftist Washington Monthly did a hit piece on Fred Thompson in 1996 (http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/archives/9612.cottle.html), and the worst thing writer Michelle Cottle could find to say of Fred was that his good ol' boy demeanor seemed to her to be somewhat affected, and that ol' red pickup truck he drove was a rental. Now, if there were any real dirt on Thompson or actual skeletons rattling around in his closet, that liberal rag would have gleefully printed it.
IMO, the result of the dirt slinging by you and your crickets is that more of it landed on you than the guy you were throwing it at.
HitmanLV wrote: "Great detective work! I agree, and think that some folks are so anxious for a credible alternative to Rudy McRomney, that they are overlooking some of Fred's checkered past."
What detective work? Fred Thompson's past is very much public and not "checkered." He was married, he was divorced, he dated while single again and then he remarried. That describes 54% of the American public.
Ye gods, some people are so afraid that a Fred Thompson candidacy will upset their pet candidate's apple cart that they will grasp at any straws - even ones that are beyond their reach.
I like Fred, and the reason I brought this up is to shed some light on the bias and prejudice of those who criticize Rudy for personal failings, and yet put their candidate (Newt and Fred) beyond reproach. They aren't above criticism, and they too have unflattering personal stuff in their lives.
Thompson had one divorce, Rudy had three, one he told the media before he told his Ex (soon to be) Rudy is a virulent 2nd amendment opponent, who marches in gay pride parades.
Reagen also had one divorce, you maybe better dig a little deeper if that's all you have, the comparisons only hurt Rudy.
Rudy has been divorced twice, not three times, no? I believe you are mistaken on that point, at least.
Rudy has been divorced twice, not three times, no?
Yet. Let's see there was his first wife, his cousin, then there was Donna Hanover, and now there is the Aide who he had the affair with while married to Hanover. He told her through the media..
Rudy supports partial birth abortions, even to the point were he said he would pay for one for his own daughter.
Were Thompson's children even living at home when he divorced his first wife?
Regarding the partial birth abortions/paying for his daughter to have one, I'm not at all certain he said what you're claiming he said.
. Do you know very much about Donna Hanover? I wouldn't assume she was blameless in that debacle.
Hanover went on to appear in the Vagina Monalogs, Rudy went on to move in with his gay friends.
Regarding the partial birth abortions/paying for his daughter to have one, I'm not at all certain he said what you're claiming he said.
I can recall quite clearly Rudy saying that he would pay for an abortion for his daughter, and that abortions were a woman's right (anytime they wanted one).
Has Fred Thompson ever said anything along those lines?
I'm sorry...you don't seem terribly interested in accuracy with your statements, so it's a bit difficult to converse with you.
For the record, I like Fred Thompson, and I hope he runs. I'm not attempting to compare him unfavorably to Rudy. I just think it's important to be fair and accurate when talking about all the candidates, so I felt I should correct your mistakes.
Have a good day.
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