Posted on 06/15/2007 7:32:28 PM PDT by neverdem
That didn't take long. Apparently all one needs to do to earn the ire of your political allies is to place second in a few national polls. Indeed, after an initial wave of glowing reviews and softball interviews, Fred Thompson has been getting thumped a bit in the conservative chorus.
George Will, writing in Newsweek the other day, asked: "If he did not look like a basset hound who had just read a sad story - say, 'Old Yeller' - and if he did not talk like central casting's idea of the god Sincerity, would anyone think he ought to be entrusted with the nation's nuclear arsenal?"
A few weeks earlier, Robert Novak, another hard-hitting conservative, criticized Thompson's flat delivery at the Lincoln Club of Orange County - "a let down for the packed audience of conservative Republicans." And just last week, having spent a leisurely half-hour with Sean Hannity the night before, Thompson was absolutely grilled by Larry Kudlow on the host's CNBC show for the former Tennessee senator's opposition to tort reform.
Few conservatives have gone for the criticisms coming from the left - the lobbying career; the closeness to Washington's elite circles; the defense of Scooter Libby - except to note that Thompson doesn't, in fact, drive himself around Tennessee in a red pick-up truck. (The truly vicious have even gone after him for marrying a much younger woman.)
And it seems that anyone who comments on Thompson has to make an obligatory reference to his reputation for laziness on the job. Jay Leno, for instance, wouldn't have mentioned it to Thompson Tuesday night if the notion hadn't already become part of the collective wisdom.
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And yet one wonders: Wasn't Thompson's video skewering of Michael Moore a...
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
George Will and Robert Novak are not representative of, well of, anyone actually.
*hack*cough*hack*
You know who you are, vicious Preciousites.
George Will should stick to pontificating on baseball and Novak showed his true colors during the Scooter Libby fiasco.
Maybe I’m just not seeing it. I like Thompson (not saying he’s my #1 man for the nomination). But in no way shape or form is he Ronald Reagan. It’s really unfair to even equate him or anyone for that matter with Reagan. It would be like compared a rising basketball star to Michael Jordan. No matter what he does there will always be some one who will say he doesn’t quite compare. But I look forward to seeing what he has to say once he gets in.
All Fred has to be is better than any other candidate. So far, that’s true. I’d like to hear more from Duncan Hunter, and maybe Tancredo. We ain’t gonna get a Reagan clone folks. So let’s get realistic. If Fred comes out strongly for border enforcement (and that’s what I’ve read), then he’s better than Jorge Arbusto and the whole lot of the RAT party candidates. We can work with that.
I know this is quaint and old-fashioned, but what about FT’s IDEAS?????
If the worst you’ve got on the guy is the way his face looks or his voice sounds, it says more about you than it does him.
I like Thompson compared to the rest of em but I agree with Novak. I don’t find him to be a thrilling speaker.
Novak also wrote a nauseating article about immigration reform recently that one would expect from the likes of Ted Kennedy, or the WSJournal editorial page.
And didn’t George Will once call for the Second Amendment to be abolished?
He just needs to be conservative.
Jeez, the bar hasn't exactly been set all that high.
I wouldn’t call either Will or Novak “conservatives.” I dont’ know exactly what they are, but they’re not conservatives. And I for one don’t expect Thompson to be Reagan; I’d just like him to be a conservative in the way Will and Novak aren’t.
Like most conservatives, I respect and admire much of what Reagan did as President, and will always hold a warm place for him in my heart. But as President, there is one way in which President Bush has actually surpassed Reagan, and in which Thompson (or any other candidate) could easily surpass him.
The issue in question is judges. The one thing about Reagan I can never quite look past is his terrible record on Sup Court appointments. He got one out of three; great for baseball, but horrible for a President picking members of a body who’s power is unchecked. Reagan deserves undying praise and gratitude for Scalia, but there is absolutely no excuse for O’Connor. Some slack can be cut for Kennedy since he was the third choice, but we now know he should have been a fourth, or fifth, or sixth choice.
I could care less what George Will and Novak have to say about anything. What concerns me about Fred is he’s hired so many Bush administration people.
These guys should stop using Reagan’s name in vain.
“I had read a few things too, that I don’t recall where, that he is a globalist.”
That means he’s a shoe-in for the nomination.
Concur with the both of you on Will & Novack (is that a new show this fall on ABC?)...So far I like what I’ve found on FRed Thompson. I will send some “support” when I can his way...just sent some to Hunter and Tancredo earlier today as I think we need to keep some strong border candidates in the field. Any combo of these three on the ticket would be OK by me.
He's a red herring custom made by the liberal MSM.
First off, full disclosure, I'm voting for Mitt.
And no, I'm not LDS, can't stand 'em personally.
But Thompson is just an empty suit. Senator by chance, lobbyist otherwise, booming voice, used to have good looks, hot wife. Qualifications for being my President? Nada. Zip.
I like the guy, I'd wanna go drinking with him (try that with Mitt, LOL). I'd wanna hang out with his wife's girlfriends, hehehe.
I just don't want him leading my country. He's not Ronaldus Maxiumus.
I saw it coming here in MA with the empty suit Coupe Deval that got elected. I would never have voted for him to begin with, but waaay ahead of time I knew this dweeb was an empty suit (I could add other things, but you get my drift). Liberal flipping BLEEP. No surprise when the moonbats up here put him in office, them immediately started whining about him.
I see the same thing in Obamadung as in Coupe Deval.
MSM created Emtpy suit. Got into office because some Republican couldn't keep his weewee in his own wife's woowoo (Jeri Ryan no less, how bleeped up is that?). Obamatang is just a Liberal flipping BLEEP, never did anything, in no way qualified to lead my country.
As much as I like Sen. Thompson, I don't want him to be CEO and CIC of my country. I don't really want Mitt to be either, but he's the only viable, winable choice against the RATs.
And as idealistic and dreamy and whatever y'all are, you know it. We NEED TO WIN THIS THING, or Hiltery will.
>What concerns me about Fred is he’s hired so many Bush administration people.<
Or did they come in to tell him the orders about what will and what will not be acceptable.
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