Posted on 08/19/2007 7:22:08 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Fred Thompson let another silk drift gently to the straw-covered ground of the Iowa State Fair on Friday as he continued his Dance of the Seven Veils toward declaring his candidacy for president.
“If things play out the way I’ve got in mind, we’ll be seeing a bit more of each other” in the next couple of months, Thompson said at the end of a low-key, 20-minute speech to a crowd of supporters, the media and the curious.
It wasn’t anywhere near the outright declaration of candidacy the Fredheads in the throng were hoping for, but it was yet another infinitesimal step in the direction they wanted.
Kraig Kasischke, for his part, wants to see Thompson in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
“I think he’s the real deal. I remember Watergate,” in which Thompson played a small role as a rising lawyer associated with former Sen. Howard Baker (R-Tenn.). “I think he’s honest. To me that means a lot.”
And Kasischke is putting his money where his mouth is: He took a day off his job as a trucker and drove 100 miles to meet the actor/politician.
“It cost me $100 to get one second with him,” Kasischke said.
Thompson’s visit to the Republican Party booth and walk through the fairgrounds drew a mixture of diehards and passers-by.
The word “Who?” echoed through the fair as Thompson passed, invariably drawing the same response from politics-and-TV-savvy Iowans.
“Fred Thompson. The actor. ‘Law & Order.’ He also used to be a senator, and he might run for president.”
“Yeah? Where?”
“There – the tall one.”
“Oh, yeah, I see him. He is tall,” the sideline conversations concluded again and again, as if scripted.
If that is typical of the reaction Fred Thompson inspires among Republicans on his first major foray into Iowa as a potential GOP candidate, he will need to drop more veils quickly, before the race dances away from him.
Thompson’s own speech came across as rather less scripted, as he meandered through his biography (lawyer, actor, politician, actor, and maybe politician again), dropped Barry Goldwater’s name, mentioned his two young children as inspiration for running (maybe) and casually hit key GOP talking points: opposes abortion, supports guns, thinks America is great. Check, check, check.
He laid out national security, the economy and government competence as his main themes, but the two or three minutes he spent on each were not enough to satisfy some policy-oriented Hawkeyes.
Jerry Cope, 68, was impressed with the way Thompson rallied the crowd, but added: “He hasn’t given me a reason to vote for him. What’s he gonna do about national security and the economy?”
Cope, whose politically active son, Tom, describes Thompson as a “squishy Republican,” said he backed Sen. John McCain of Arizona.
He said he wouldn’t have “any trouble supporting Fred” if Thompson were the nominee, though he said he thought only McCain or former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani could beat Hillary Rodham Clinton, the senator from New York.
That said, Cope said he didn’t insist that Republicans field a candidate who could beat her.
"I don’t hate Hillary," he said. “I disliked her immensely when she was in the White House. But she has been a good senator and a good campaigner. And she’s probably more middle of the road than any other Democrat.”
GTFU. the "G" stands for "Grow."
Aaah, Politico. No agenda there.
BBC News website reporter Richard Allen Greene is not exactly an honest ‘reporter’.
Trial reveals White House secrets
By Richard Allen Greene
BBC News, Washington
One of the most remarkable Washington trials in a generation has come to a close with the verdict that a top White House official tried to block a CIA leak investigation.
Libby was accused of covering up attacks on a critic
But by the time the verdict came down, the guilt or innocence of Lewis “Scooter” Libby - once Vice-President Dick Cheney’s top aide and one of the highest-ranking White House officials ever to be tried - was almost beside the point.
The important thing was seeing how the Bush administration worked behind closed doors, said Lawrence E Walsh, the special prosecutor who investigated the Reagan administration’s Iran-Contra scandal nearly 20 years ago.
"There's a sucker born everyday"! P.T. Barnum
Right - and did the interviewer ask him to name one things that hillary has done? One? since she became senator? Aside from planning her presidential run that is.
Fred you need to work on that clenched teeth look! LOL!
I can tell you what she has done if he won't.
She created imaginary problems, convince people that they existed and then blamed President Bush for them.
The mediawhores just can't contain themselves waiting for Thompson to officially announce. It's driving them crazy. They want to have at him so badly they write inanities invoking the biblical dance of the seven veils, for crying out loud.
The biggest problem for the presstitutes between now and after Labor Day is to come up with startling new angles to attack the unofficial candidate. Maybe Sally Rand and her 1930's Bubble Dance will be the next inspiration.
Leni
Yes that is about it.
I love it when Hannity asks people who say they love her and will definitely vote for her, what she has done. They have no answer. There is none - well except for what you said, fostering the ‘hate all republicans’ mentality.
You nailed it. The presidential race is just like retail. When I worked at Bath and Body, we had fall things out in July, Halloween out in August, and Christmas out in the middle of October. Fred is refusing to get into this rat race of who can sell more propaganda by a certain date. He’ll jump in when the time is right, which is not now.
Sadly enough for the MSM, Fred doesn't want or have to have a concerning mindset on what the MSM wants.
That in itself makes Fred Thompson a worthy and viable candidate IMO.
I am not sure anybody expected any announcement. The campaign has been pretty obvious that the announcement will be right around labor day. Now there have been rumors before about other dates, but those were nothing but internet posters and writers repeating those rumblings. The current around Labor Day rumors are coming from the campaign.
Cope, whose politically active son, Tom, describes Thompson as a “squishy Republican,” said he backed Sen. John McCain of Arizona.
It's that real deep mindset that the worshipers of Hitlery tote that makes her best suited for being the most powerful person in the world to maintain freedom.
It's scary...
McCain has that "grit the teeth" conveyance of meaning business though. ROTF
He's just gotta' be chomping at the bit to get into the fray of the MSM and be asked pertinent questions like "If you were a tree, what kind of a tree would you be"..... /s
Oh, when I read it, I thought that Tom guy was saying that Fred backed John McCain, and thats why Tom believes Fred T is a “squishy Republican”.
Don’t forget “boxers or briefs?” or “why aren’t your kids in the military?” or “what will you do about global warming?” LOL
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