Posted on 06/01/2007 7:58:24 AM PDT by tcrlaf
The race for the Republican presidential nomination has just begun, yet the so-called "top tier" candidates have all been shown to have deep flaws.
John McCain is a nice guy, but he's clearly off his rocker. Mitt Romney needs to change all of his positions 180 degrees. Oh, wait. He's already done that.
And Rudy Giuliani, he's already bored the public to tears with his self-appointed Sept. 11 sainthood. The next time he mentions "911," it had better be because he's getting mugged.
This creates an opportunity for a good, old-fashioned conservative to enter the race. And right on cue, advisers to actor Fred Thompson are saying that he will enter the race over the July 4 weekend.
There's just one problem: Fred Thompson is not a conservative. He just plays one on TV.
Thompson, a tall, bulky sort with a deep, Tennessee-tinged voice, certainly sounds like a conservative. But in reality he's a sort of Manchurian candidate, if I may invoke a movie far superior to the pot-boilers in which he has acted.
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What Thompson represents is not conservatism but a sort of conservative kitsch. Kitsch is, as the anti-communist Czech writer Milan Kundera put it, "the translation of the stupidity of received ideas into the language of beauty and feel ing."
Thompson, to give the devil his due, has some talent in that area. But the received ideas he espouses have been proven to be so monumentally stupid that it's hard to imagine even the Beltway crowd still endorses them.
Do leading Republicans really think they are going to win the presidency behind a candidate who argues that the Iraq war is going so well that it's time to liberate Iran and Syria?
Apparently so. But the 2008 election will be held in America, not Manchuria.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
He's no Rudyphile, but Libs are jumping with joy about this article elsewhere.
I have my first check ready to go to your campaign, and there will be more to follow!!!!
He agrees with Ron Paul regarding the WOT. That explains it quite well.
I’m waiting for Fred to make his case. I’ll decide whether I’ll vote for him or not, pundits not required.
Go Fred.
Fred Thompson’s Ratings
Conservative Organizations:
American Conservative Union: ~88
Americans for Tax Reform: 90
National Taxpayers Union: 84 (rated 7th best)
National Right to Life: 77 (scored reduced due to vote for CFR)
Eagle Forum: 75
Conservative Index: 80
Christian Coalition: ~85
Family Research Council: 100
Citizens Against Government Waste: 90
Military Officers Association of America: 100
NRA: “Staunch supporter of the Second Amendment”
Liberal Organizations:
Planned Parenthood rating: 0
NARAL Pro-Choice America rating: 0
ACLU: 14
NAACP: ~18
LULAC: ~20
Human Rights Campaign: 14
NEA: ~10 (received a 0 in 2000)
NOW: 0
Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence: 13
AFL-CIO: 0
SEIU: 0
American Federation of Teachers: 0
Where does this Mulshine get off with an attack like this?
This was the sort of nonsense you'd expect to hear from some de ranged Marxist mind obsessed with world domination. And that's exactly what it was. The intellectual guru of the AEI was none other than Irving Kristol, who got his training in Trotskyist thought back in the 1930s at City College of New York. The story of how he transmuted that thought into what he labeled "neo" conservatism is too long and too loony for this column. Suffice it to say that he and his son Bill, who runs the Weekly Standard, believe it is the duty of the illuminati to create a mythic vision by which the masses can be stirred into action.Tilting at the neocon windmill.Great theory. Except the AEI crowd got everything exactly backward. Instead of disempowering Islamic fundamentalists, the Iraq invasion brought such madmen to power, both on the government side and in the insurgency.
He’s got to be one of the Apostles of Paul.... Ron that is.
Paul has been one of my favorite writers and of course, is unique at the Newark (red)Star Ledger.
He’s been cranky as heck about all Republicans the past hew years though. Hard to know what would cheer him up.
Fred ain’t Guiliani or McInsane, which means I’ll vote for him if he makes it to General election.
Interesting excerpt approach ... you left out the meat of the article where that berk of an author examines Fred’s statements and uses liberal talking points to say Fred is wrong. huh? More like he’s trying to convince the moonbats that there is nothing to worry about.
That was helpful. Thanks.
Tough to get that article down to 300 words, and it’s excerpt only...
What Thompson actually wrote was:
"In an age with intercontinental ballistic missiles, the old subjects of strategy and tactics can seem obsolete. The importance of battles at Valley Forge or the Alamo might not be evident if you're thinking of warfare in terms only of pushing big red buttons."
There were tremendous battles at Valley Forge, just not against the Brits. Washington fought with Congress, his allies, disloyal officers, and the weather.
Will the perfect Conservative candidate please stand up? (Of course, everybody stands up)
Ok, lets go at this another way. Will those candidates who have sided with Ted Kennedy (see amnesty), sold our First Amendment rights down the road and blocked the historic opportunity to change the judiciary by crafting a “Gang of Rhino’s” please sit down. (Paging Mr. McCain, sit down, its over already and you just don’t know it.)
Will those candidates who are anti-gun, pro-abortion please sit down. (Rudy!!! Rudy!!! Rudy!!!)
Will the libertarian candiate please sit down. (Ron Paul Jones taking a seat)
Will the candidates who have waffled on Iraq please take a seat.
Will the candidates who are too damn afraid of the Beltway Media to stick by conservative principles please sit down.
Will the candidates who have flip flopped on their abortion positions, please sit down.
Ok, not sure who we have left (cough, one of them will be Fred), but I am pretty sure whoever it is will still have some defects. I am also pretty sure that one of them (cough, Fred) is electable.
Yes it does explain it very well.
George Washington also launched a hit-and-run raid from Valley Forge on nearby Philadelphia on May 18, 1778, as the British were throwing an extravagant party.
Don’t mean to be picky but some of those ratings are actually pretty bad. He has the same ACU rating as Chuck Hagel and is way behind McCain on the National Right to Life one. You might wanna consider removing the ratings where the results are bad.
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