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Thompson Wants to Be President
The New York Times ^ | June 12, 2007 | Katharine Q. Seelye

Posted on 06/12/2007 9:13:47 PM PDT by Baladas

How much deeper can Fred Thompson wade into the presidential waters without actually announcing that he is a candidate?

He was up to his eyeballs tonight on “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno.

Asked directly if he would like the job of president, Mr. Thompson said, “I’ve never craved the job of president, but I want to do some things that only a president can do, so the answer is yes.”

Mr. Leno clearly hoped the former senator from Tennessee would join the growing list of candidates who use the late-night format to announce their candidacies (and save money on a big announcement event). In 2003, Arnold Schwarzenegger announced from Mr. Leno’s studio in Burbank that he was running for governor of California.

That same year, John Edwards announced on “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart that he was a candidate for president in 2004. In February, John McCain announced on David Letterman’s show that he would formally announce his campaign for the presidency in early April; and, also in February, Rudolph W. Giuliani confirmed on “Larry King Live” that he was in the race. Tonight, when Mr. Thompson demurred from saying he was officially a candidate, Mr. Leno asked him why he was being so coy.

“When you haven’t been running for president since high school,” he said, it takes a long time “to turn that big battleship around,” both personally and professionally. He then noted that he had not held any fund raisers yet — although he has asked for money over the telephone — and was showing better in the polls than most of the other 10 candidates.

He was expected to seek re-election in 2002 but declined after losing a daughter, whose death was attributed to an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.

(Excerpt) Read more at thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: election2008; fredthompson; gop2008
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IMO, he hasn't announced he'll run yet because he thinks it's still too early, that presidential campaigns have gotten way too long. When he does announce it, hope it's NOT on late night tv.

NYT is stepping into personal attack terrority, they're beginning to see the ghost of Ronald Reagan here.

1 posted on 06/12/2007 9:13:48 PM PDT by Baladas
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To: Baladas

From all accounts, Thompson is not Reagan.. but it does have ties to our current Veep.. check out his staff..


2 posted on 06/12/2007 9:20:50 PM PDT by jamie_justice62
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To: Baladas

In before the moms! :-)


3 posted on 06/12/2007 9:23:06 PM PDT by AFreeBird (Will NOT vote for Rudy. <--- notice the period)
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To: jamie_justice62

Per a guest on Laura Ingraham this morning, during a sitdown with the Hoover Institute, Fred interrupted a comparison to Reagan to say “people can call me whatever they want, but please, I am not Ronald Reagan.”


4 posted on 06/12/2007 9:23:25 PM PDT by Petronski (imwithfred.com)
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To: Baladas

You can see Thompson is going to burn the field up. He’s more popular than the other candidates and he’s not debating.

I welcome it. I want to see a Republican President whoop some liberal tail, and I want my individualist/conservative brethren to enjoy it as well.


5 posted on 06/12/2007 9:24:16 PM PDT by struggle ((The struggle continues))
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To: Baladas
Shouldn’t they be criticizing all the declared candidates for starting to run two years before the election?
6 posted on 06/12/2007 9:26:03 PM PDT by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
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To: jamie_justice62
You say that like it’s a bad thing. Vice President Dick Cheney is the one ray of sunshine in this increasingly gloomy White House, IMO. I sometimes wish Mr. Bush would retire to Crawford tomorrow and let Mr. Cheney take over the reigns.
7 posted on 06/12/2007 9:26:11 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (Fred Thompson/John Bolton 2008)
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To: Baladas

He didn’t. But an actress who came on after Thompson jokingly said that she too was quiting acting to run for president. LOL!


8 posted on 06/12/2007 9:28:57 PM PDT by fkabuckeyesrule
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To: Baladas

According to the whole story, he did announce on the show - as many others have and will


9 posted on 06/12/2007 9:32:00 PM PDT by maine-iac7 ( "...but you can't fool all of the people all the time." LINCOLN)
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To: jamie_justice62; All

I have heard that FDT’s the pick of Jorge as well, now THAT’S cause for alarm.

Sure, there will only ever be one Ronald Reagan, but the MSM is scared to death that there will be one.


10 posted on 06/12/2007 9:32:02 PM PDT by Baladas
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To: Baladas

Exactly. Just because much of the field decides to start campaigning obscenely early (to get a jump on fundraising, of course), doesn’t mean everyone has to. The best strategy is to wait until the secondary tier of candidates drop out, and people are bored to tears with the first tier. THEN announce.


11 posted on 06/12/2007 9:33:16 PM PDT by JennysCool ("The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." -Mencken)
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To: AFreeBird; Politicalmom; xsmommy

We’ve been paged:)


12 posted on 06/12/2007 9:33:30 PM PDT by SE Mom (Proud mom of an Iraq war combat vet -Fred'08)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

BUMP what you said.


13 posted on 06/12/2007 9:34:41 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: Baladas

14 posted on 06/12/2007 9:35:39 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Reagan educates and inform people about the difference of left and right wing ideology and use examples. You see it often in his speeches.

Fat and thin man examples. The left: Fat man must’ve taken advantage of the thin man.

Fast and slow sprinter examples. The left: We must slow down the fast sprinter, not encourage the slow runner to improve


15 posted on 06/12/2007 9:36:52 PM PDT by 4rcane
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To: SE Mom

LOL


16 posted on 06/12/2007 9:36:59 PM PDT by StarCMC (Desperately seeking a new tagline. Say something pithy and I'll steal it. :-))
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To: Lancey Howard

Nice picture - but the bags under his eyes have been photoshopped.


17 posted on 06/12/2007 9:39:29 PM PDT by SHEENA26
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To: SHEENA26

Yeah, and that’s a good thing.


18 posted on 06/12/2007 9:40:43 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: Petronski

For sure, Fred is NOT Ronald Reagan.


19 posted on 06/12/2007 9:41:38 PM PDT by TAdams8591
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To: Baladas

Where in the world did you hear that Bush wants Fred?


20 posted on 06/12/2007 9:42:25 PM PDT by SE Mom (Proud mom of an Iraq war combat vet -Fred'08)
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