Posted on 09/04/2007 8:40:11 PM PDT by SmithL
Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson's current political playbook - a high-profile visit to the "Tonight" show, a splashy bus tour, the efforts to take a familiar actor and reintroduce him in a new political role - contains pages that look eerily familiar to California voters.
Maybe that's because the former Tennessee senator now has at his side some of same key aides who - in nine short weeks - helped transform Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger from "The Terminator" into the chief executive of the Democratic-leaning most populous state in the nation.
Thompson plans to formally kick off his presidential bid - shaped around the themes of "security, unity and prosperity" - beginning today with a blitz that reflects his media savvy and his advantages as an actor better known to many Americans as District Attorney Arthur Branch on TV's "Law & Order."
Thompson's campaign includes two veterans of another whirlwind effort - the 2003 California recall election starring Schwarzenegger - who know first hand at least some of the challenges ahead.
They are Todd Harris, who was Schwarzenegger's campaign communications director and will hold the same title for Thompson, and veteran Republican strategist and Fox News commentator Karen Hanretty, the former press secretary for the 2003 recall effort, who will be Thompson's deputy communications director.
Adam Mendelsohn, the governor's current communicators director, said the pair provide Thompson a "a big picture thinker out of the box" - Harris - and "one of the most effective political spokeswomen in the country" - Hanretty.
Both are "seasoned in translating the benefits that someone has from working in entertainment into a political reality," he said. "For Fred Thompson, it's a very smart hire: there's not a lot of people who understand taking a national entertainment figure and translating that into political value."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Oh please, keep your holier than thou stuff to your self. James Bopp, Jr. has done more for the pro-life movement than 20 of you perfect and “good conservatives at FR” put together and he has endorsed Romney and is working hard to see that he is elected. Forgive me if his opinion carries a bit more weight than your astutely gripping video analysis. LOL.
You can’t use the actual QUOTE.
He said that other ways of raising children, including gay “parents” were “fine”.
Besides, y’all keep using Fred quotes out of context and using old quotes. What’s good for the goose...
And I notice nobody has refuted the fact that he thinks harvesting cells from embryos is fine as long as they are “unwanted”.
Let’s see:
1) Out of context. and actually refused to ‘endorse’ a lesbian couple who were demanding to be called married - Romney explained his opposition to gay marriage *politely*.
It’s a GOOD thing when a candidae can oppose gay Marriage and not come off as a bigot or hypocrite.
2) Another misdirection. He’s not said that in his run for president if at all. Romney is against gay marriage and opposes the Democrat-supported plan to have gays serve openly in the military.
3) Wrong. See
http://www.americansformitt.com/prolife_perspective.html
for his prolife actions as Governor.
0 for 3.
As for stem cell research, whether we agree with it or not, a majority of Americans approve of using the embryos discarded at fertility clinics to do some good in research instead of just throwing them away (just like they approve of the abortion exceptions for rape, incest and health of mother). Romney still said he does not approve of federal funding for that kind of research, so that's all that involves us or the president. The bottomline is that ----> he opposes federal funding for that form of stem cell research.
It’s sad that you consider it a bad thing for Romney to support conservative causes. You can call it self-interested, but don’t trash it.
Interesting too that you condemn Mitt Romney by sharing clips of how he defeated in a debate a pro-choice liberal Democrat *woman* in a deep blue state. If he can do in 2008 what he did in 2002, we’d prevent a Hillary takeover.
Here’s a Romney scandal for ya - Romney with a woman not his wife:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uvUunV3MZM&mode=related&search=
The full quote is here in this article. Anti-Mitts have been caught leaving off parts of it before. It’s an ongoing problem.
Some True Conservatives will not be happy unless the government busts down doors to remove children from undesirable homes like Elian Gonzalez.
N.H. woman challenges Romney on gay marriage
June 6, 2007
CONCORD, N.H. —A New Hampshire woman, frustrated with Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s opposition to gay marriage, made a point Wednesday of telling him about her personal experience.
“I am a gay woman and I have children. Your comment that you just made, it sort of invalidates my family,” said Cynthia Fish, a mother of a 6- and 8-year-old. “... I wish you could explain to me more, why if we are sending our troops over to fight for liberty and justice for all throughout this country, why not for me? Why not for my family?”
Romney paused, asked Fish about her children and then praised her.
“Wonderful,” Romney said. “I’m delighted that you have a family and you’re happy with your family. That’s the American way. ... People can live their lives as they choose and children can be a great source of joy, as you know. And I welcome that.”
But then Romney repeated his view of marriage.
“Marriage is an institution which is designed to bring a man and woman together to raise a child and that the ideal setting for society at large is where there is a male and a female are associated with the development and nurturing a child,” Romney said.
The former Massachusetts governor acknowledged other scenarios that raise children.
“There are other ways to raise kids that’s fine: single moms, grandparents raising kids, gay couples raising kids. That’s the American way, to have people have their freedom of choice,” he said.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/06/06/nh_woman_challenges_romney_on_gay_marriage/
Thanks, CoD! It was a touchy situation. Mitt handled it well. The woman knows he doesn’t approve of her situation as the ideal for child-rearing, but he still handled the discussion with her politely. Like, our friend, WOSG, said above, it is a good thing when our GOP leaders can be pro-family without appearing to be bigots.
Not really. Just like an NRA endorsement, they'll sometimes choose the guy who's "less bad". If Romney's positions fundamentally differed from his actions, it's just another example of how he'll lie to anyone to get their votes.
Oh, I see. But I thought you said he was worse? So you were wrong when you said he ran to the LEFT of Kennedy. Got it.
No, he tried to run the Kennedy's left -- he claimed to be the "true" pro-choice candidate.
The fact that he told a special interest group something else in order to get their support doesn't surprise me one bit.
Since videos seem to be all that interest you, be sure to check out this thread. There's even one from 1994! Should we go by this or the record?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1822975/posts?page=25
The bottomline is that he told them exactly what he ended up doing. He maintained the status quo on abortion rights. He did not expand them. He did not restrict them. He did not lobby for a pro-abort group. He did not pro-actively work on behalf of any pro-choice cause. If you want to trash him for having a change of heart while governor and then acting on behalf of life, so be it. I think we should welcome converts, not attack them.
Thanks ...
“Marriage is an institution which is designed to bring a man and woman together to raise a child and that the ideal setting for society at large is where there is a male and a female are associated with the development and nurturing a child,” Romney said.
I am NOT wrong. He made the statement during this campaign that he thinks embryonic stem cell research is fine if the embryos are “unwanted”.
The statement was not out of context. Coming from someone who promised “a gay-friendly” administration, I don’t trust him trying to weasel out of it at all.
Then there’s the Log Cabin Rebublican endorsement, the desire for gays to be included in the Boy Scouts, and the pink flyers distributed at the Gay Pride events talking about how gay friendly he was.
Family values, my eye.
Just as convincing and sincere as Bill Clinton.
I can just hear him saying “I feel your pain...”
He cites the death of his brother-in-law's teenage sister from an illegal abortion.
Instead of condemning the abortion, he and his mother bemoan the ILLEGALITY of it!
No amount of donated money will convince me that he's no longer aligned with his mother on this.
And now the rest of the quote:
“”I support the right of the Boy Scouts of America to decide what it wants to do on that issue,” according to the Globe. He then added, “”I feel that all people should be allowed to participate in the Boy Scouts regardless of their sexual orientation.”
Let’s just lay out a buffet for the pedophiles.
Look at his women, to find his biggest influence.
Learned that the hard way ~ from Schwarzenegger.
Do you know if and when Fred will flatly reject the Z-visa? That is more worrisome to most Americans right now than a lot of other stuff. We cannot trust anyone with immigration again without getting specifics. Romney has flatly rejected it. I bet Fred will too. But until he does, buyer beware. Ping me when he does it. :-)
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