How conservative is Fred Thompson?

Washington Times ^ | 06/23/2007 | Editiorial

[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."

[Designer]

"So if a member of Congress votes no on an issue because that member realizes the issue is none of the federal government's business per the Framers, the ACU would mark that a 'liberal' position even when it's not."

Absolutely correct!

I think the ACU's rating system is not without bias, and I don't mean in the "good" way, either.

I was astonished to find my stupid Congressman Tom Latham "earns" a very high rating, even though he is not working in my best interest.

There are other "indexes" to consider.

[Designer]

"The topic is Fred Thompson and his conservativism, not Hillary."

Oh, sorry for posting about my own stupid Congressman.

What about if we post about how those rating services arrive at their results? Would that have anything to do with how conservative a Congressman really is?

[Designer]

"If the candidate cannot beat Hillary soundly then that candidate should not be chosen. Otherwise Republicans look like that cartoon.."

O.K., then which candidate do you think can beat Hitlery soundly?

[Designer]

"..have been convinced of their “can’t win” status.."

NAH-O-WAAAY!! Nobody here has been trying to convince the rest of us that some "second- or even third-tier" candidate "can't win" in order to promote his-or-her-own candidate. That can't happen here on Free Republic!

[Little Ray]

He’s more conservative than Guiliani, although that ain’t a hard mark to top.

[Designer]

"Could it be really that the American voter is actually smarter?"

no

NO!

Not only no, but heck no!

[Designer]

"We all voted for Bush."

Some of us did so quite reluctantly. I remember all the vitriol and threats here on FR about all the reasons why we had to vote for GWB.

I'm not particularly prescient, but even little ol' Designer knew what we could expect from GWB back in 2000.

[RatsDawg]

http://www.gunowners.org/pres08/romney.htm

Ha, that website you linked isn’t soo kind to your darling Romney either.

Romney Troll you are.