How Fred Thompson’s Senate Record Stacks Up

The New York Times ^ | May 30, 2007 | Greg Giroux

[Politicalmom]

Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson — now an all-but-announced candidate for the Republican presidential nomination — amassed a decidedly but not exclusively conservative voting record during his eight-year Senate tenure (1995-2002). Skip to next paragraph Congressional Quarterly News and analysis on CQ.com

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Earlier this year, when Thompson made it clear he was contemplating a 2008 White House bid, CQPolitics.com published a chart and analysis of Thompson’s positions on key votes. The chart, which can be accessed here, compares Thompson’s votes with those of three GOP senators who served with Thompson and who are running for president or weighing a bid — Sam Brownback of Kansas and John McCain of Arizona, who are announced candidates, and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, who is still considering a presidential bid, possibly as an independent.

[Politicalmom]

PING!!

Fredipedia: The Definitive Fred Thompson Reference

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[Viking2002]

HA! 'Get Freducated'. Good return volley for those tree-hugging Marxist hippies that spit, 'Oh, evolve'. LOL :-)

[cripplecreek]

Voted against ending chain immigration. Voted against stronger punishment for employers who hire illegals.

[kinoxi]

I’d like to hear more than he “plans to form an exploratory committee”. It is my opinion. If he piddles around much more it shows a clear lack of conviction for an office that I take very seriously. Flame away...

[Kevmo]

Duncan Hunter is better than him. I’m sticking with Duncan through the primaries. Clinton showed us that character is important because we don’t know what these guys are going to be up against.

[mnehring]

Interesting.. do you have the bill numbers for these votes?

[TomGuy]

Voted against ending chain immigration. Voted against stronger punishment for employers who hire illegals.

McCain-light. Thompson was chairman of the committee that wrote McCain-Feingold.

From his voting record, he seems more of a moderate than conservative. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, which is the group pushing the NAU, the immigration bill, SPP, TransHighway.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Duncan Hunter is better than him

Hunter has a moderate fiscal voting record & doesn't understand the proper role of the federal government.

[FightforFreedomCA]

Not going to flame, but wondering what’s the hurry? He’s getting major coverage - why become just another R candidate when he can still be the only exciting “maybe-soon-to-announce” candidate? Anticipation.....

[thackney]

If he piddles around much more it shows a clear lack of conviction

I think he has done it to create more media attention than if he actually announced this early. And will generate even more attention when he does announce.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

It looks like Thompson will formally announce the first week of July.

[mnehring]

Hunter also voted for McCain/Feingold..

[kinoxi]

Conviction and determination are characteristics that I consider valuable in the next President. In reality, Thompson has shown me neither. I like Hunter.

[Forgiven_Sinner]

I followed the link to the NYT. I’m eager to see the front page story in the old Grey Lady that the majority of their hits come from Free Republic!

/sarc

[FightforFreedomCA]

I like Duncan alot and really hope he gets some traction. Not sure if it will happen, but would definitely be in his court over the Rino’s. If (read, When) Fred jumps in, it will be interesting to see how that rocks the boat. He seems to be able to connect with people and that can go a long way. Still learning about him and his stance, so I’m not hopping on the Fred train just yet...although, I am standing at the station :)

[Kevmo]

Nonsense. The “moderate” fiscal voting record is the result of him being a good team-player republican. That’s an indictment of republicanism in the last 20 years.

Duncan understands better than any of the other candidates by far what the proper role of the fedguv is. Of course, that’s a wide open statement with a wide open response so we really end up nowhere unless we can find an unbiased measurement of what the “proper” role of the fedguv is, such as the Federalist Papers.

[kinoxi]

That would be interesting to hear.

[Jim W N]

Thompson was one of just six Republicans who voted to kill an amendment — sponsored by Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell, now the Senate Minority Leader — that would have limited punitive damages in medical malpractice cases to twice the sum of compensatory damages and also place limits on attorney’s fees. Thompson said the amendment, which was tabled on a 57-42 vote, would have abrogated the prerogatives of state governments.

I like the reasons Thomson did this. Although I'm in favor of limiting malpractice awards (a major reason for our current judically-inflicted health-care crisis), I'm more in favor of abiding by the U.S. Constitution, limiting the scope of the power of the federal government back to its constitutionally-set limits (see the 10th Amendment), and turning power back to the states and the people.

[ElkGroveDan]

Thompson once stood next to Ted Kennedy in an elevator and did NOT spit in his eye. What a sell-out!