"Down 13 points? Oh, please, I didn't mean it when I said 'dumb Christian conservatives.'
I kinda, sorta like conservatives. Me and my handlers just don't want 'em anywhere near my campaign."
Posted on 03/27/2007 3:51:49 AM PDT by Josh Painter
USA Today and Gallup offer their latest in polling for both parties in the extended presidential primary race, and a couple of changes have raised eyebrows. First, even the rumor of a bid by Fred Thompson has dented Rudy Giuliani's momentum, while John McCain's decline in support appears to have leveled off:
"On the Republican side, former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson shook up the field with his announcement that he would consider getting into the presidential race. Thompson is familiar as the actor who plays District Attorney Arthur Branch on NBC's Law and Order. Chosen by 12% of Republican and Republican-leaning voters, Thompson is third in the Republican field. He trails former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, at 31%, and Arizona Sen. John McCain, at 22%. Former House speaker Newt Gingrich is at 8%."
"Thompson's support seems to come largely from voters who had supported Giuliani. In the USA TODAY poll taken March 2-4, Giuliani's standing had been 13 percentage points higher, at 44%. McCain's support had been 2 points lower then."
"What does this mean? Conservatives who have supported Giuliani for his leadership and electability -- and plenty of them have -- would desert Rudy if a credible, consistent conservative entered the race... Thompson['s]... eight years in the Senate have left a more credible sense of consistency and center-right politics than Giuliani brings to the race. And according to the Post's blog The Sleuth, Thompson has begun seriously considering a run -- and has met with GOP powerhouse advisor Ed Gillespie."
- snip -
Romney fared poorly in this poll... That has to be disappointing, especially since Hugh Hewitt's political biography and Romney's appearance at CPAC should have set the stage for a significant boost. Has Thompson's potential disrupted Romney's momentum as well? Possibly.
(Excerpt) Read more at captainsquartersblog.com ...
OK you win...lets attack Dims...lets start with Rudy.
"Down 13 points? Oh, please, I didn't mean it when I said 'dumb Christian conservatives.'
I kinda, sorta like conservatives. Me and my handlers just don't want 'em anywhere near my campaign."
Me too, because I'm one of the those who are leaning Rudy, but would shift decisively to the Fred should he enter the race.
"OK you win...lets attack Dims...lets start with Rudy."
LOL! You got it exactly right.
Yup. Now some people around here demand to see your papers if you don't pass their sniff test.
Well, it's hard not to discuss Giuiani and his record without trashing him. He sucks, and he's a scumbag, and certainly doesn't deserve a single republican vote. What a friggin horror show!
Lest we forget, my tag says what I'm about and I'll add my bottom line.
Anybody But McCain.
The Establishment wants McCain and maybe Thompson is designed to draw off enough conservative votes to allow McCain to win.
I'm a Fred Thompson supporter, and I make a point of not attacking any other GOP presidential hopeful personally. I've never met Rudy, but I've followed him closely since his outstanding speech at the last GOP convention. He seems like a great guy, and I respect and admire his stance on defending America against the jihadists.
But consider all of the issues, and Rudy is just too liberal on too many of them for me. His position on just one of the "big three" (abortion, gays and guns) is by itself disturbing. But take all three into consideration, and a thoughtful conservative hears alarms sounding. Rudy's stance on these issues is counter to key planks in the Republican Party's platform and to the Constitution itself.
No, Democrat Lite is not the direction in which the GOP needs to be heading at this crucial point in its history. It needs to return to the path that Ronald Reagan set it upon a quarter-century ago before it lost its way.
Fred Thompson is the man who can restore Reagan's vision of and for the GOP to the Republican Party. He gives us heartland conservatives hope for the future.
Like you, I watch the behavior of backers of other candidates, and I'm appalled at what I see. The so-called "Evangelicals for Romney" people are doing their candidate serious harm right now. And many Guiliani supporters are not helping their candidate one whit by some of the things they've had to say about Fred Thompson lately, either.
The leadership of the Draft Fred Thompson movement is strongly encouraging Fred's followers to keep Ronald Reagan's 11th commandment and stick to the issues in the debate over who should be the Republican Party's presidential standard-bearer in 2008. We hold no sway over those who aren't truly an integral part of this historic grassroots movement. We can only try to encourage them to follow Fred's example. He has not criticized a single one of his potential opponents, but he has expressed his disappointment that the group as a whole is lacking something the voters want. 57% of Republicans have voiced their agreement with Fred when they said that they aren't happy with the the current crop of announced candidates.
That's why Fred will run. And he will win because he, more than any other candidate in the field, still has a clear picture of Ronald Reagan's vision and the need to restore it to America's sight.
Settle down, Beavis.
All I know, is that, I can turn on my TV at almost anytime during the day and find a "Law and Order" rerun. Heck it's on almost as much as "CSI Wherever". If there is a campaign finance law out there that would eliminate his appearance (or make equal air time available to other candidates), I could see the "Law and Order" people having something to say about it. I can not imagine they would give up the money they must be making on his re runs.
This is probably a non issue, but I will be interested to see how it turns out.
For the latest news and comment on Thompson....
http://draftfredthompson.com/index.php?board=8.0
Agree with everything you said regarding Thompson and not attacking other Republicans. In the end I'll back whomever the Republican nominee is because the alternative is too horrible to contemplate. although I had started the process backing Rudy simply because at this stage he appears most electable, my support has been soft. Should Fred Thompson announce, I'll switch my support to him in half a flash and do so happily, with exuberance and with wallet open.
I love this quote. Bob Beckel: Fred Thompson is the Left's worst nightmare.
Who are these Republicans who support John McCain? Is it anything more than name recognition? Why is Romney trending lower? What has he down to cost himself support?
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