Thompson's Politics Much Like McCain's [here come the 'hit' pieces]

Washington Post ^ | May 06, 2007

[jdm]

Fred Thompson fervently backed the Iraq war, railed against an expanding federal government, took stands that occasionally annoyed his party and rarely spoke about his views on social issues during his tenure as a senator from Tennessee or in his writings and speeches since leaving office.

In short, the man some in the GOP are touting as a dream candidate has often sounded like the presidential hopeful many of them seem ready to dismiss: Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).

With some in the party clamoring for an alternative to their current field of presidential contenders and Thompson's allies hinting strongly that he will run, 400 conservatives flocked to Newport Beach, Calif., on Friday night to hear the actor-turned-politician-turned-actor address the annual dinner of the Lincoln Club of Orange County, a group that credits itself with pushing Ronald Reagan to run for governor of California in the 1960s. Thompson delivered a vision of cutting taxes, reducing the size of government, overhauling Social Security and staying in Iraq until "there is some semblance of stability."

[Grunthor]

No candidate is going to be 100% perfect AND electable. At least Fred appears to be a conservative....I have no idea what McCain is other than a backstabber.

[bnelson44]

I don’t know

[Dr.Zoidberg]

Even if this turns out to be true in the broadest sense, Fred Thompson has one thing going for him that mccain doesn’t.

Fred Thompson is sane.

[slapshot]

Thanks

Just thinking is all

My language was tad too strong for the moderator and I do apologize to all. I should have thought before I posted

To Moderator: My bad

[jdub]

Ok, I'm listening right now, and around 8:30 he says that he is looking at the situation to determine "if the man fits the times". Just as he said he won't run if he doesn't think he will win, if he doesn't think he has support for his vision he will also decide not to run. I agree that by and large the tone indicates that he will run. However that is also the ONLY way to be while you are deciding.

I think he is very smart to distance himself from the pack of candidates. he seems to be the only one who has learned the lesson of Howard Dean's campaign (power of the internet). I want him to run...I already have a yard sign, "fred head" lapel buttons, and bumper stickers. But i just don't think there are enough who share his vision and have the determination to see it through.

[stephenjohnbanker]

EXACTLY

[stephenjohnbanker]

Correct

[DBCJR]

They attacked Reagan. They’ll attack Thompson. He is a plain talker, principle driven, guy that the common person will relate to, unlike Newt. I like Newt a lot, but he carries baggage and an academic superiority that doesn’t bode well with the masses. Newt & Thompson don’t let Dems frame the field of debate, choose the rhetoric, spin, and flip-flop. With Giuliani & McCain heading right for the primaries, they are a bit hard to distinguish from the flip-flopping of Dems. That leaves the man who is in 3rd place without having announced he was running.

[upchuck]

For at least the last two months there has been much speculation as to whether Fred will run. The LSM knows that Fred is a straight talking kind of person who doesn't pull his punches.

IMHO, the LSM has been very busy behind the scenes digging for every little piece of dirt they can find on Fred. By now I suspect they've got quite a pile of stories ready to go.

When Fred finally does announce, the LSM will let him have it, both barrels, full choke.

But, IMHO, Fred will weather the storm. Americans are gonna like his style.

[JohnBovenmyer]

Whoever wins the GOP nomination, be it Fred or anyone else, will become the target of uncountable unfair hit pieces fleeing the truth by the 'Rat candidate and their MSM. How well they hold up under the plague of lies will be a key determinant in whether they, and we, survive. Weeding out those potential candidates who cannot survive such is one of the most important jobs of our primary campaign. Anyone who cannot survive it, no matter how wonderful a person or how ideal their ideology in our eyes is worthless as a final candidate to us. We might as well nominate Hillary or Obama ourselves. This is not to say we should completely scorn such candidates. They may be valuable as sources of ideas for the eventual candidate and their platform and as future leaders in their Congress and their Cabinet. Depending on the specifics of their weaknesses, we politically may or may not be able to hype their support during the general election. Hit pieces NOW are a good thing because they'll teach us, in time, who NOT to nominate. I hope God will grant us more than one winnable candidate so we can be selective and pick the best one. I have faith He'll allow us at least one winnable candidate, but my faith can't ensure more than one.

Above all else we must come together behind someone, even if they have major flaws, because we and our causes cannot survive defeat. This group of Democrats, if empowered, will change the rules and the judges such that our views will not be allowed the light of day for a generation. They are already working harder on criminalizing our speech as 'hate crimes' than they are on the mechanics of normal government. None of the current GOP wannabes, even at their Rhinoest would act to make a subsequent victory by a better conservative impossible, although I sadly must admit some could make such harder. If this Left wins the only ways our ideals of Life, Limited Government, Gun rights, Family values, etc. will be heard again would be after a disastrous meltdown by the left or by exercising the full original intent of the Second Impediment. The Jihadists might win before we could recover either way so we cannot afford failure. At worst we must at least maintain the current, far from perfect, status quo.

Although we stand within a knife's edge of failure we must also remember we are also close to major victories. Judge Stevens can't hold on forever, nor, probably, can Judge Ginsberg. Even if the left filibusters all replacements we'd probably win the court via simple attrition. Gore's temper tantrum and Bush's suicidal "New Tone" kept him from purging the left's leftovers. All our candidates see the consequences of that and none will repeat that mistake. We might have trouble getting some folks confirmed, but we won't have problems firing people. At worst we might have to make do with a smaller government. I can live with that. And if our eventual candidate turns out to be not just "good enough" but actually "good" he just might lead us to a workable majority in both houses of Congress and enough of a mandate to significantly advance our causes. We aren't the only ones within a knife's edge of failure. Within their warped world view, the left was correct to call some of our candidates in Thursday's debate "scary."

[JohnBovenmyer]

“Impediment” = Amendment

[Intolerant in NJ]

Just watched Bernard Goldberg on C-Span observe that he had listened to a speech by Thompson and disagreed with a lot of what he said, but felt that at least Thompson believed in what he was saying and that this is what many are looking for in a candidate this time around - “I didn’t go along with some of what he said but I came away liking him as a person” - not bad.......

[taxesareforever]

And also in the news, “The Washington Post is synonomous with the New York Times”.

[stephenjohnbanker]

“But, IMHO, Fred will weather the storm. Americans are gonna like his style”

B U M P

[neverhillorat]

Please, does every post have to be a Rudy Slap? It will all work out, the best candidate will win the nomination. Have a little Patience!

[upchuck]

Thanks for the bump!

I’ve been playing mind games with myself as to how the LSM will go about informing us of Fred’s “sins.” Will they do it all at once, hoping to take him down quickly or will they try and make him die from a thousand paper cuts. My thinking, at least for now, is that the LSM will take the paper cuts road.

But what ever games the LSM plays, I really do believe Fred will come shining through. His no BS attitude is going to win him lots of votes.

[Reagan Man]

I think the most important thing to remember is, Fred Thompson is not John McCain. From what I've heard in recent interviews FT sounds pretty conservative. A principled man with a sound moral compass and integrity. Watched a few older interviews from 1995 and 2001. FT sounds like the same man to me. A real straight shooter. As for his not liking life in the Senate. I doubt Ronald Reagan would have enjoyed being a Senator either. If FT thinks he can make a difference, he may just give it a go.

[stephenjohnbanker]

” Will they do it all at once, hoping to take him down quickly or will they try and make him die from a thousand paper cuts.”

Just from my own cursory analysis, Fred hasn’t got much baggage. I wish the MSM cretins luck.........they will need it : )

[rfp1234]

—This writer is attempting to paint Thompson as a moderate to liberal Republican (versus a Conservative) which is just so way off and wrong it’s deplorable.—

Par for the course for the ComPost. The drive-by media are starting to soil their shorts.

[SunkenCiv]

“MSM doing Thompson a favor” ping.