Posted on 06/06/2007 7:56:22 PM PDT by Eric Blair 2084
Republican angst has created an opening for Fred Thompson.
As G.O.P. voters’ concern has turned to panic—hastened by the much-criticized immigration bill—they now recognize that the Bush Presidency may rank with Hoover’s and Carter’s, and that their 2008 Presidential pick will therefore have to offer not only competency but the promise of change.
Mr. Thompson will enter the race as the focus of many conservatives’ fixation to find an unblemished candidate. On the one hand, he seems to please many conservatives: no offense offered on social issues, sound foreign policy and soothing to the ears. However, it’s not clear that Mr. Thompson has either the experience or the ideas to rescue the G.O.P. from its current plight.
His “elder statesman” screen persona obscures the fact he is the most inexperienced of the major G.O.P. contenders, with seven dimly remembered years as U.S. Senator, no area of expertise, no executive experience and no major legislative achievements bearing his name.
Nor is it apparent—not yet, at least—that he is offering any original ideas to qualify him as the “change” candidate that Republican voters could sorely use.
Classic change candidates offer personal vision, new ideas, and the hope that business will not be conducted as usual if elected. Ronald Reagan in particular offered a new vision of conservative governance and redefined his party.
But Mr. Thompson’s public pronouncements to date offer little sign that he can define and lead the party in the post-Bush era. Bashing Fidel Castro, the U.N. and the President’s immigration proposal, however artfully done, are not terribly new in conservative Republican circles.
(Excerpt) Read more at observer.com ...
I love the smell of [expletive deleted] in the evening.
Not all of those positions are the best (like taking the Steven A. Douglas "states rights" approach to abortion) however.
Good! They should be!!
Drew Bledsoe. And Tony Romo replaced Bledsoe too and made the Pro Bowl. I hope he follows in the same footsteps since I'm a Dallas Cowboy fan.
The point is that for every Tom Brady there are 557 Babe Laufenbergs who get in the game and then the whole world finds out why they've been backup QBs for their entire career. :-) Hopefully Fred is more Troy Aikman than Jeff George.
Not to mention that Thompson is a foreign affairs expert, with an emphasis on China, North Korea, and Russia.
Very well said.
God Bless our President.
No doubt. That's the way it's supposed to work. Now he's here. You and I can bring him here, but now it's up to him to seize the opportunity.
That was NOT the second one. That was the only one.
What about post #23?
Never mind.
These weren’t new ideas, they were old ideas and the right ideas that America was built on. Reagan simple made them work.
If Fred Thompson can revive the Reagan agenda, America will be a better place.
Good catch. You're right, that was the NY Observer. Nobody else in the MSM or even the blogosphere said pooh about that. Shocking that a 12,000 post thread on the biggest conservative forum on the internet didn't deserve a mention anywhere else. Jim must be disappointed. If it were my site, I know I would be.
That's a very good point.
That’s all we can ask for.
If I could get some of that on the local level here in the DPRNJ without having to bother to run for office myself I would be really happy.
Unfortunately, it falls under the category of “if you want a job done right, you have to do it yourself”.
I’ll hold you to that.
As WFB is quoted as saying, “Don’t just do something, stand there”
I just want conservative stuff. FDT Bump!
No problem, neighbor- back when I posted stuff, I often put up "things I disagreed with strongly but thought we ought to know about..."
However, I do have one comment for Jennifer Rubin...
Meow, honey!
LOL! Yep:) How bout those Patriots?
Give me back-up QB’s like Brady anytime.
New ideas didn’t help Gary Hart. Reagan had many old ideas - they were just expressed more clearly and enthusiastically than in the years prior to 1980.
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