Posted on 07/25/2007 2:45:18 AM PDT by ari-freedom
You're Fred Thompson. As a former U.S. senator you had a pleasant and lucrative career acting in a tv show. Then an opening unexpectedly appeared in the contest for the GOP nomination, because there were no candidates acceptable to conservatives. The most important issue to conservatives was immigration. You made a few general statements indicating a readiness to enforce our country's immigration laws and guard its borders. These comments immediately translated into significant popular support and turned you into a viable prospect for the Republican nomination, even though you had not formally declared your candidacy. Then you appointed as your campaign manager former U.S. senator Spencer Abraham from Michigan. Abraham is most famous as an arrogant open-borders fanatic in his work as chairman of the Senate immigration sub-committee in the late 1990s. He was so bad on immigration that in 2000 Michigan conservatives and Republicans voted for Spencer's challenger, pro-abortion liberal Democrat Debbie Stabenow, in order to drive Spencer from the Senate. Abraham lost his Senate seat because of his commitment to open borders, pure and simple.
Are you not aware that it was your statements on immigration that, mild as they were, gave you a shot at the presidency? ...
(Excerpt) Read more at amnation.com ...
Ironically, Reagan was later replaced by a very ingenious automaton built by the Walt Disney company, some say it happen as early as 1982...
I am ashamed that you did not know that...
Good post! Abraham was a big supporter of open borders, comporable to Martinez or Graham on immigration issues. I wish Fred had picked someone else. I also don’t see the wisdom in selecting a guy who LOST as campaign manager. Granted, he won in 1994, in an election where the GOP won the biggest House & Senate landslides since the 1920s. But he lost in a more competitive environment in 2000 to Debbie Stabenow. Sorry, but an incumbent Republican who loses to Debbie Stabenow isn’t the guy I’d pick to manage my campaign.
I don’t think this is a disasterous move by Fred but sometimes these little symbolic things are psychologically important. When GOP primary voters are begging for a true conservative, particularly on border and immigration issues, it seems to be a major misfire to select Abraham. Imagine if Bush’s two Supreme Court appointments had turned out bad and that was the driving issue in the GOP primary, and in that climate Fred had picked a defeated former Senator with a pro-abortion voting record as his manager. Same deal here, but with Bush’s immigration debacle being the issue.
he is a Lebanese Orthodox Christian
Two consecutive horrendous errors out of the Thompson not-yet-a-campaign. There simply is no evidence of executive skill being manifested.
I will give the man credit in perhaps knowing he has very little of such a thing — and thereby delays announcing, knowing that after such an announcement the reporters who have seen campaigns over the years would recognize poor organization.
Appointing a near liberal to run his campaign, because that liberal has campaign experience, is something that perhaps he feels he has room to do. Romney clearly has the most polished executive skill and Romney’s history is not pure conservative. Thompson may feel that provides him room to move leftward.
Thompson is strong on the border, both in word and deed:
http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Fred_Thompson.htm#Immigration
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NjhkYzZiNTAxZjAyZTNjNzkxNjA2ZTNmNDBhNjhlYWU
http://fredfile.imwithfred.com/2007/a-good-day/
Kindly read what Fred wrote and said about “open borders” in my last post on this thread.
Despite the last name, he’s not Jewish. (I believe he’s a christian of arab descent.)
Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good anti-semetic rant.
No one could accuse you of flying under the radar, I was refer to the guy who posted this article.
Moshe is good, but Joshua gets my pick for these times. Need a warrior.
Spence Abraham is one of the best party organizers around. He took Michigan from a solid Democratic state to one where we had control of both houses, the governorship, control of the four state-wide elected education boards, the Supreme Court (which is nominated by party convention and elected statewide) and one of the two US Senators. Unfortunately, under the Peter Principle, he was elevated from party chairman to Senator, where his performance suffered.
As part of the package, Thompson gets his wife, Jane, who is Co-Chair of the Michigan Republican Party. She was a major worker at the RNC in the early 1990's overseeing state and local operations. This will give contacts throughout the US.
True.
It appears Abraham has been more than a little involved in immigration policy. Keeps some interesting company, so ‘bi-partisan’. This is basically the same group that wrote the recent amnesty bill.
http://www.migrationpolicy.org/ITFIAF/members.php
Convened by he Migration Policy Institute
Task Force Members
Co-Chairs
Co-Chair Spencer Abraham
Spencer Abraham is the Chairman and CEO of the Abraham Group, LLC. From 2001 to 2005, he served as the tenth Secretary of Energy. Prior to becoming Secretary of Energy, Mr. Abraham represented Michigan in the US Senate from 1995 to 2001. He served on the Budget, Commerce, Science and Transportation, Judiciary, and Small Business Committees. Secretary Abraham was a key Senate leader on such issues as technology, manufacturing, and immigration, having served as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration as well as Chairman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Manufacturing and Competitiveness. As a US Senator, Mr. Abraham was a forceful voice for the business community and free enterprise. Mr. Abraham endorsed policies and practices that promoted and enhanced America’s competitiveness and global leadership. Among other things, Mr. Abraham led the support on free trade [snip]
Co-Chair Lee Hamilton
Director Doris Meissner
Congressman Howard Berman
Oscar A. Chacón has been Director of Enlaces América, a project of the Chicago-based Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights, since August 2001. Enlaces América is dedicated to the empowerment of Latino immigrant organizations in the United States
Thomas J. Donohue- Chamber of Commerce
Fernando Garcia is Founding Director of the Border Network for Human Rights (BNHR)
Jeff Flake
Tamar Jacoby
Edward Kennedy
John McCain
Janet Murguía is the President and CEO of the National Council of La Raza.
Leon Panetta
Since they began immigrating to the United States over a century ago, Arab Americans have offered the Republican Party dedicated, dynamic leaders.
Spencer Abraham, currently Secretary of Energy, formerly represented Michigan in the U.S. Senate and served as co-chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee from 1991 to 1993.
n the heart of the nation’s capital, Arab Americans have also made a mark in shaping local and national politics. Khaled Saffuri, founder of the Islamic Free Market Institute, continues to serve as an advisor to the Bush Administration,
“The future of the Islamic Free Market Institute will no doubt reach new heights under Saffuri’s strong leadership. “ Sen. Spencer Abraham, Michigan
The Foundation of the Islamic Free Market Institute
Out of a strong desire to involve the Muslim community in the American political process, Khaled Saffuri, a veteran political insider, founded the Islamic Free Market Institute in 1998. In the previous ten years, he had built an unparalleled record of commitment to the Muslim community. This has included: establishing the American Task Force for Bosnia (ATFB) in 1992; spearheading the first official celebration of Ramadan, hosted by First Lady Hillary Clinton; and serving as a director for Government Affairs for the American Muslim Council (AMC).
http://www.islamicinstitute.org/aboutus.htm
About the institute...co Founder was GROVER NORQUIST. Khaled Saffuri was very involved with some Terrorist organizations.
By David Horowitz:
[snip]It is with a heavy heart therefore, that I am posting this article, which is the most complete documentation extant of Grover Norquist’s activities in behalf of the Islamist Fifth Column. I have confronted Grover about these issues and have talked to others who have done likewise. But it has been left to Frank Gaffney and a few others, including Daniel Pipes and Steven Emerson, to make the case and to suffer the inevitable recriminations that have followed earlier disclosures of some aspects of this story.
Up to now, the controversy over these charges has been dismissed or swept under the rug, as a clash of personalities or the product of one of those intra-bureaucratic feuds so familiar to the Washington scene. Unfortunately, this is wishful thinking. The reality is much more serious. No one reading this document to its bitter end will confuse its claims and confirming evidence with those of a political cat fight. On the basis of the evidence assembled here, it seems beyond dispute that Grover Norquist has formed alliances with prominent Islamic radicals who have ties to the Saudis and to Libya and to Palestine Islamic Jihad, and who are now under indictment by U.S. authorities. Equally troubling is that the arrests of these individuals and their exposure as agents of terrorism have not resulted in noticeable second thoughts on Grover’s part or any meaningful effort to dissociate himself from his unsavory friends.
As Frank Gaffney’s article recounts, Grover’s own Islamic Institute was initially financed by one of the most notorious of these operatives, Abdurahman Alamoudi, a supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah who told the Annual Convention of the Islamic Association of Palestine in 1996, “If we are outside this country we can say ‘Oh, Allah destroy America.’ But once we are here, our mission in this country is to change it.” Grover appointed Alamoudi’s deputy, Khaled Saffuri to head his own organization. Together they gained access to the White House for Alamoudi and Sami al-Arian and others with similar agendas who used their cachet to spread Islamist influence to the American military and the prison system and the universities and the political arena with untold consequences for the nation.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/articles/readarticle.asp?ID=11209
Do you refer to Farah or Abraham?
Spencer Abraham.
He’s one of the “christian orthodox” denominations, presumably Eastern Orthodox.
Spencer Abraham= loony tune open borders jerk off. And I do meany loony!!!
The best judge of a "growing" candidates positions is not statements but who he has as advisers.
I’ve followed Spencer Abraham for years. He is pathological in his desire for amnesties and open borders. He has always disgusted me
You may be right, but this is a bad sign. Thompson must know that Abraham is an open borders enthusiast. He must know that Abraham helped torpedo the chances of really good immigration reform in the mid 90s. And Thompson must know that a lot of the base knows all of this. In light of the last two years of intense debate over illegal immigration, this just sends a very bad signal.
Abraham won an award from La Raza! La Raza! What else is there to say? That should be a badge of dishonor for a conservative.
And he lost his bid for reelection. What exactly marks him out as the best guy for this job?
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