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 ...
WHAT IS IT?
Senator Thompson has an indolent form of lymphoma, one of more than 30 types of lymphoma.
Some lymphomas are very aggressive, but people with slow-growing types, like Senator Thompson’s, often dying from natural causes associated with old age, rather than from the disease.
Using a standard prognostic scoring system Senator Thompson has a favorable prognosis.
Senator Thompson has never been physically ill or had any symptoms from his lymphoma or had any side effects from the therapy.
TREATMENT
One treatment option for this type of lymphoma is simply to watch and wait.
There are also new therapies, if and when treatment is indicated, which prolong survival compared to treatments used just 5 years ago.
Senator Thompson chose to receive such therapy (Rituxan), but he is no longer in treatment as he is in remission.
Bruce D. Cheson, M.D.
Professor of Medicine
Head of Hematology
Division of Hematology/Oncology
The current market leader in the treatment of NHL is Rituxan, a passive immunotherapy that marshals the immune system to kill the B-cells. Since its launch in 1997, annual Rituxan sales have grown to $1.8 billion in 2005.
However, most patients treated with Rituxan relapse within one to three years after treatment.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=56571
Here’s my take on Fred Thompson. He was a great senator for Tennessee, very judicious and common sense-oriented. I do not know what kind of Presiden Fred will make. We’re not sure of any of the republican candidates. I have talked to discouraged republicans in several states and the only one that generates enthusiasm is “Senator Fred”. There is just one alternative to Fred. That is Presiden Hillary Clinton. Marxism, revenge politics, poll-driven power-hungry and all that. We must coalesce around someone like Fred and hope for the best. The alternative is unthinkable!
Good post. I am for the most conservative candidate, which is Hunter. However, if Fred wins the nomination, I’ll vote for him.
Frankly, I worry about Fred. Fred makes it a point to say he is no Reagan. By that, is he saying he is not the true blue idealogue Reagan was? That he is, in actuality, somewhere in between Rino and Reagan?
I suppose we should be happy thats the best we can get. Duncan Hunter, on the other hand, is a true blue idealogue. Much more Reagan like.
Thompson needs to stick to acting, where he doesn’t really have to be in the lead and endorse Hunter.
Amazing that this type of mindset is with the GOP. No wonder the party is in such dire shape!
“Bush signed it. We all voted for Bush.”
True, but some of us like to think we learn from mistakes.
Matalin won’t help Dole after all (excerpt)
DALLAS (AllPolitics, April 13 [1996])
On Thursday, a report ran in the Washington Times that quoted a number of national GOP officials who said she wouldn’t help Dole’s presidential bid. The criticisms ranged from concern over whether she could be trusted to blaming her for Bush’s 1992 defeat.
“Didn’t anybody take notes in ‘92? Republicans must be ... nuts,” Wisconsin GOP Chairman David Opitz told The Washington Times. “Is she so brilliant that we are going to put up with a Mrs. Carville in our campaign?”
On the campaign trail Friday, Dole tried to distance himself from Matalin joining the campaign.
“I didn’t make that selection,” Dole quipped. “Mary Matalin is very fine. She’s a good friend of mine. She’ll do a good job. We’re going to win the election. And, uh. She wants to be a volunteer so. She can be very helpful. She knows a lot about strategy and, you know. We’re going to win the election.”
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/news/9604/13/dole.matalin/index.html
Except he is Bob Dole without the military experience. That ought to be fun in convincing people to continue to support fighting and winning the war.
August 22, 2004
President Bush’s nephew, campaigning for overseas votes in Mexico on Saturday, called the federal policy of arming U.S. Border Patrol agents with plastic pellet guns “reprehensible.”
Speaking in a mix of English and sometimes-halting Spanish, George P. Bush said his uncle was not to blame for the gun policy, which has angered Mexicans. He instead blamed it on “some local INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) guy who’s trying to be tough, act macho.”
“If there has been American approval for this policy, that is reprehensible,” Bush said of the guns, essentially paintball projectiles filled with chile powder. “It’s kind of barbarous.”
http://michellemalkin.com/2004/08/22/george-p-bush-disses-the-border-patrol/
How conservative is Fred Thompson?
Everything is relative...............
.........he may be considered by some to be pretty conservative for a professional lobbyist and a hollywood actor...................
Yes. That will be happening about the time we perfect our Flying Pig technology, and begin to deploy it against or Islamist enemies.
I’m taking a self imposed vacation from the bickering on this forum, but I can’t sit back and let this one go:
Fred mentions the actual word attrition here:
http://jebstersr.freepgs.com/MLFAudio/FredThompson051807.wma
Fred clearly espouses the idea of attrition without using the word here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN3z4mqRn7I
Back to my vacation now.
If you don’t support deportation (the law) then you support AMNESTY. Can’t have it both ways, regardless of the lawyer-speak you use. “Work out a deal” is amnesty.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkN2fYnMTBs
Deportation is the law....if you don’t support the law which is deporting illegals, you support letting them stay = AMNESTY.
http://www.americanpatrol.com/REFERENCE/isacrime.html
I much prefer someone who doesn’t play it safe or stick to generalities so they can’t be pinned down later on “what they really meant”.
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with telling people they have to go home” - Duncan Hunter
No, he isn't --- and he never has. Please be fair. Mitt took tough anti-illegal actions BEFORE the marches in our streets, BEFORE we all woke up and were outraged by the invasion. Mitt has come out and strongly condemned the Z-visa. I haven't heard your candidate do that.
Mitt Romney opposed a bill that would have allowed illegal aliens to get driver’s licenses. "Those who are here illegally should not receive tacit support from our government that gives an indication of legitimacy," the governor said, echoing arguments that opponents have voiced in the Commonwealth and in other states considering similar license measures. "If they are here illegally, they should not get driver's licenses," he said. (Scott S. Greenberger, "Romney Stand Dims Chances Of License For Undocumented," The Boston Globe, 10/28/03)
Romney vetoed a bill in 2004 that would have permitted illegal aliens to pay the same in-state tuition rate paid by citizens at public colleges and universities in Massachusetts. (Office Of The Governor, "Romney Signs $22.402B Fiscal Year 2005 'No New Tax' Budget," Press Release, 6/25/04)
Romney arranged a federal and state agreement enabling Massachusetts State Troopers to investigate immigration status and arrest illegal aliens they encounter during the normal course of their duties. (Troopers would arrest immigrants, Boston Globe, June 21, 2006) (Governor Romney, ICE Sign Immigration Enforcement Pact, Dec. 13, 2006) (Video: Maricopa County Sheriff Arpaio debates LULAC spokesman about MA pact with ICE)
Governor Romney fought efforts to weaken Massachusetts' English Immersion Law. "But yesterday, Romney press secretary Shawn Feddeman said the governor will fight all attempts to slow the implementation of English immersion, known on the ballot as Question 2. ...He will veto anything that weakens or delays English immersion, Feddeman said." (Anand Vaishnav, "Romney Firm On English Timetable," The Boston Globe, 1/24/03)
Governor Romney increased funding by nearly 30% ($8 million) in Fiscal Year 2006 for English as a Second Language, adult literacy and adult secondary education for legal immigrants residing in Massachusetts. The increase enabled statewide adult basic education programs to accommodate approximately 4,000 more students each year. (Romney Expands Adult Basic Education for Immigrants, January 28, 2005)
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was named as Honorary Chair for the Romney for President campaign in Arizona. Sheriff Arpaio, better known as "America’s Toughest Sheriff", has gained a nationwide reputation for his tough stance on crime, illegal immigration and border security in the nation's fourth largest county.
"I like him," Arpaio said of Mitt Romney. "He's a man of principle, of good character. He did a great job in Massachusetts and I feel he's going to make a great president."
_______________________
Romney said that McCain's proposed "Z visa" should be called an "A visa" -- "because it's amnesty and that's what it stands for."
“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?”
What is funny is that campaigns change everything. But the GOP is so preoccupied by the so-called ‘electable, known’ candidates that it equates that they are more well-known to the fact that makes it a sure thing in electability. It will come down to how the candidate campaigns and what they say, how they act and what they have done. I find it ironic that just about everyone who does learn of Duncan Hunter admits how presidential, well spoken and leaderlike he is and how they like him, BUT the GOP voters say he ‘can’t win’. Based on what?? He’s not as well known a name! It’s absurd but the path the GOP seems set on.
Actually, they have won the presidency in the past, Rudy booster.
Now, tell us the last time a former mayor who never held any federal office was elected president.
>> crickets <<
If anyone who saw the NH GOP Dinner (and “meet & greet” before) would see how down-to-earth and approachable the man really is. Totally opposite of the unelectable ELITIST RINOS considered “top tier”!
Only if that REAL conservative can convince a majority of Republican primary voters to choose him as their candidate.
I think the majority of Republicans are just not doctrinaire voters. They see the importance of the upcoming election, and they know they want the Republican to win. They may like what they see in one of the candidates, but the also have to look beyond what they themselves want to who the majority of regular voters would likely choose in a General Election.
That's not all he's done; but I'm sure you already know that.
Well Bush hasn't learned from his mistakes. I am optimistic that Fred Thompson will, since he is destined to be the next president.
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