Posted on 06/23/2007 7:19:15 AM PDT by etradervic
After John East, a stalwart conservative from North Carolina, entered the U.S. Senate in 1981, wags began referring to Jesse Helms as "the liberal senator from the Tar Heel state." We are reminded of this tale as Republican activists rush to encourage, if not yet fully embrace, the presidential candidacy of Fred Thompson, the former senator from Tennessee. The Republican base is evidently unimpressed or uninspired (or both) by the conservative credentials of the top three Republicans (John McCain, Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani) seeking the 2008 presidential nomination. Mr. Thompson's most-oft-cited conservative credential is his 86.1 percent lifetime (1995-2002) Senate vote rating compiled by the American Conservative Union (ACU), the organization that many rightly consider a leading arbiter of conservatism. In the same relative sense that Mr. Helms could be considered North Carolina's "liberal senator," Mr. Thompson's ACU rating would qualify him to be "the liberal senator from Tennessee" during his eight-year stint. Bill Frist, who defeated Democratic incumbent Jim Sasser, was elected to the Senate from Tennessee the same year (1994) as Mr. Thompson, who won the seat vacated in 1993 by then-Vice President Gore. During the eight years they represented Tennessee together, Mr. Frist compiled an ACU rating of 89.3 percent, making Mr. Thompson "the liberal senator from the Volunteer state."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Fred needs to clarify his positions on today’s glaring issues
and pound them home.
He is not quite the ideologue I would like but he is better than the other three
Frankly, I’m happy to see so many who helped get George W. Bush elected during two very difficult elections lining up behind Fred Thompson. Seems to me they don’t plan to back a loser.
None of Fred's supporters have suggested that they do.
That was in 2006. Fred now doesn't even support the Z visa amnesty.
BTW, all 12 million today are free to leave this country and start the long arduous process of getting a green card and citizenship by starting legally -- at the back of the line.
If Duncan Hunter, Tom Tancredo or Ron Paul can't even convince the party faithful to support them, how are they ever supposed to win a General Election?
Re-read the post I replied to. Candidate XXX “can’t win” because ____ poll says he can’t get over 1%. Same argument as the DUmmies who say support XXX because “they can beat Hillary”.
ANY real conservative candidate can beat Hitlery or any other LIEberal commie the DUmocrats put up.
Fred's position now is that he doesn't support amnesty and that he does supports full enforcement.
If you want to point out Fred's change in position, that's fine. If you want to purposely leave off Fred's current position on amnesty and enforcement, that is disingenuous.
Which is not only undefined is also unwinnable in its current situation
Seal the border and grant NO AMNESTY.
Agreed
Appoint strict constructionists to the USSC.
Unfortunately what too many Republicans see as 'constructionists' are nothing more than activist judges for conservatism. I'll take a few judges that recognize federalism as a concept instead of those that advocate every issue becoming a federal one.
Reduce BOTH taxes and spending.
Of which neither Fred, Rudy (excuse me St. Rudy), or 8 of the other candidates have given us specifics on. Nope, just high minded platitudes with no specific departments they would cut
How is it “disingenuous” to post a link to his video interview with Sean Hannity from 2 weeks ago? The quotes go WAYYYY back to 2006.
Fred Thompson opposes amnesty and illegal immigration.
FreeReign:If you want to point out Fred's change in position, that's fine. If you want to purposely leave off Fred's current position on amnesty and enforcement, that is disingenuous.
How is it “disingenuous” to post a link to his video interview with Sean Hannity from 2 weeks ago? The quotes go WAYYYY back to 2006.
Read my above post against. I couldn't be more clear.
His votes show he is a lot more conservative than McCain.
That's true. "Most people" won't worry about that other stuff, but aren't we supposed to be smarter than "most people" and deduce certain patterns from prior behavior? At any rate, most of our candidates agree on the top issues you listed, don't they? Aren't they all pretty strong on the WOT, except Ron Paul? **Hunter is the strongest on immigration though.**
Duncan isn't perfect, but I'd like him as Prez. The only problem is, he can't seem to get any traction.
Fred Thompson`s current position on immigration reform is better then what McCain is proposing at this time and basically what Rooty supports. So far, Mitt Romney is skirting the immigration issue.
My reading of what FredT currently supports leans more towards enforcement legislation and NO blanket amnesty. He opposes the current liberal immigration proposal out of the Senate --- another incarnation of S.2611. I believe FredT would rather support the House Dec2005 version of immigration reform as contained in the enforcement FIRST measure, HR4437.
I never called Fred a flip-flopper....he’s always been an open-border type.
You are crazy if you think that we can hunt down and deport ALL the illegals. Fred supports attrition and border security.
He wants to provide the resources to “ arrest illegals and send them back where they came from.”
You are just lying.
They voted in the same way something like 84% of the time.
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