Posted on 09/05/2007 11:01:25 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Former Tennesse Sen. Fred Thompson plans to make his campaign for the White House official on Sept. 6, after a summer of fund raising and shadow campaigning. Thompson gained name recognition in recent years as an actor, especially for a his role as District Attorney Arthur Branch in NBC's crime drama "Law And Order." He served in the Senate from 1994-2003, he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and he is a visiting fellow with the American Enterprise institute, a conservative think tank, in Washington, D.C. He lives in Virginia with his wife and two children.
Abortion
In 1991, as part of his work in a law firm, Thompson consulted for an abortion rights organization. In June 2007 he said Roe v. Wade "usurped 200 years of law." He now says he favors returning abortion laws to the states. As a senator, he voted in favor of maintaining a ban on military base abortions, in favor of a ban on late-term abortions, and in favor of a ban on human cloning.
Energy And Global Warming
As a senator, Thompson voted in favor of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, in favor of ending the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, or mandatory fleet mileage standards, and in favor of defunding renewable and solar energy research funding.
"Some people think that our planet is suffering from a fever. Now, scientists are telling us that Mars is experiencing its own planetary warming: Martian warming," Thompson wrote on April 13, 2007, on his ABCRadio.com blog. "It seems scientists have noticed recently that quite a few planets in our solar system seem to be heating up a bit, including Pluto. NASA says the Martian South Pole's ice cap has been shrinking for three summers in a row. Maybe Mars got its fever from earth. If so, I guess Jupiter's caught the same cold, because it's warming up too, like Pluto."
Guns And Crime
In speaking about the mass murder of 32 people at Virginia Tech, Thompson said, "The statistics are clear. Communities that recognize and grant Second Amendment rights to responsible adults have a significantly lower incidence of violent crime than those that do not. Incarcerated criminals tell criminologists that they consider local gun laws when they decide what sort of crime they will commit, and where they will do so. But Virginia Tech administrators overrode Virginia state law and threatened to expel or fire anybody who brings a weapon onto campus. Those 'Gun-free Zone' signs don't mean much to the sort of man who murdered 32 people."
Health Care
As a senator, Thompson voted against allowing reimportation of prescription drugs from Canada, against allowing patients to sue HMOs to collect punitive damages, in favor of limiting self-employment health deductions, and against increasing tobacco restrictions.
Immigration
"I think it's time for a little plain talk to the leaders of Mexico. Something like: Hey guys, you're our friends and neighbors and we love you but it's time you had a little dose of reality," Thompson said on his ABCRadio.com blog. "A sovereign nation loses that status if it cannot secure its own borders and we are going to do whatever is necessary to do so."
When he was a senator, Thompson voted in favor of allowing more foreign workers into the United States for farm work, creating a national registry containing names of U.S. workers who want to perform temporary or seasonal agricultural work, and against restoring food stamp benefits to the children of illegal immigrants.
Marriage
When asked by Fox News on March 11 whether he supported gay rights, Thompson said, "I think that we ought to be a tolerant nation. I think we ought to be tolerant people. But we shouldn't set up special categories for anybody. And I'm for the rights of everybody, including gays, but not any special rights." On the question of gay marriage, he said, "You know, marriage is between a man and a woman, and I don't believe judges ought to come along and change that."
Taxes
"Taxes are necessary. But they don't make the country any better off. At best they simply move money from the private sector to the government. But taxes are also a burden on production, because they discourage people from investing and taking risks," Thompson said in a speech to Lincoln Club Annual Dinner in Orange County, Calif., on May 4.
War And Foreign Policy
Thompson was asked by Fox News on June 6, 2007, what he meant when he said that the war in Iraq was a war between "civilization and evil." Thompson's reply: "It has to do with the need for all of the civilized countries -- that is, most all of them that are not terrorist countries or terrorist havens -- to realize we have to come together. That's one of the big failures that we have right now, because a lot of people in other parts of the world just don't see it yet. They see us as the No. 1 threat and really, in some cases, the only threat, when we're going to have to bond together and face this thing together against these forces, because it's going to pick us off one by one."
"We have a threat out there like we've never faced before," Thompson said. "This has been something that's been going on for a few hundred years, and our enemies have another 100-year plan. We have a plan basically to get us through the next election. And we've got a military that's still in the works, as far as transformation is concerned, to deal with that kind of a threat. We're spending much less than we need to, to face that threat."
Nice clear viewpoints. Let’s hope the campaign provides the same clear viewpoints.
Did you catch Jay Leno tonight? Or here’s this: http://www.Fred08.com
i’ll be interested to see if he has hardened his stance on illegals since his run in the senate. times have changed.
GO FRED GO!
Seems like it to me, from what I’ve seen. He knows the folks aren’t going to stand for a blanket amnesty and open borders...
No special rights = gay rights in your opinion, I see.
You are confusing legal immigration with illegal aliens, which, of course, are apples and inner tubes! But you just hate Fred for some reason, right? That’s why you are “Johnny on the spot” at EVERY Fred thread to impart your vast wisdom on us peasants...
If it is heavily Chamber of Commerce and Big Business, i.e. pro-illegal alien, you cannot expect much from him if he is elected and it will pretty much be a continuation of Jorge Bush. But if it is a solid core of dedicated, pro-sovereignty conservatives holding him up in both advice and $$$, I can see things changing. Let us hope it does not go the former way (as we have had too long of this under Bush) but rather the latter way and we are not suckered again.
Again, regarding restoring our borders and getting comprehensive deporation, the proof, along with being in the pudding, is in the ADVISORS/CONTRIBUTORS and not in the sound bites and pamphlets that come and go.
Yes, because legal immigrants are the same as illegal aliens. You better run along now, the short bus is leaving without you.
I just donated to a canditate for the first time in my life! I’m bragging, but it feels good!
and will he distance himself from mccain? i like that they are friends, but really. politically, mccain is an anchor. gonna be an interesting debate when they all get together! everyone is going to be gunning for fred.
Fred Thompson on illegal immigration:
“We are all very well aware of the fact that we have an illegal-immigration problem in this country. As usual, we avoided the problem for as long as we could and when we couldn’t avoid it any longer we were told that, indeed, somewhere between 12 and 20 million people had somehow come into this country unnoticed.
“It’s like we went overnight from “no problem” to a problem so big that it now defies a good solution. It’s become one of those “there are no good choices only less bad choices” that Americans are becoming all too familiar with.
“We know that the overwhelming majority of illegals come across the Mexican border. Fortunately, we’ve got someone who is all too willing to tell us what we should do about it — the president of Mexico Philipe Calderon. President Calderon doesn’t think much of our border policies. He criticizes our efforts to secure the border with things such as border fencing. He says that bottle necks at U.S. checkpoints hurt Mexican commerce and force his citizens to migrate illegally in order to make a living (and of course send money back to Mexico). He apparently thinks we should do nothing except make American citizens out of his constituents. Calderon also accused U.S. officials of failing to do enough to stop the flow of drugs in to the United States. Mexican politicians gave President Bush an earful of all of this during his recent trip to Mexico.
“I think its time for a little plain talk to the leaders of Mexico. Something like:
“’Hey guys, you’re our friends and neighbors and we love you but it’s time you had a little dose of reality. A sovereign nation loses that status if it cannot secure its own borders and we are going to do whatever is necessary to do so, although our policies won’t be as harsh as yours are along your southern border. And criticizing the U.S. for alternately doing too much and too little to stop your illegal activities is not going to set too well with Americans of good will who are trying to figure a way out of the mess that your and our open borders policy has already created.’
“My friends, it’s also time for a little introspection. Since we all agree that improving Mexico’s economy will help with the illegal-immigration problem, you might want to consider your own left-of -center policies. For example, nationalized industries are not known for enhancing economic growth. Just a thought. But here’s something even more to the point that you might want to think about: What does it say about the leadership of a country when that country’s economy and politics are dependent upon the exportation of its own citizens?”
The solution as of late is for the US taxpayer to to funnel hundreds of millions in it. Does Fred agree?
That’s great ... and needs more circulation to the one-issue folks around here.
You are such a liar.
I didn’t make the statement that’s the source of this problem. Fred did. All he has to do is say something simple:
“I believe in reducing the incentives that bring illegals here. I believe in a fence. I believe in sending the ones who are here back home.”
He’s supposed to be the master of straight shooting, after all.
Speak for yourself!
Really, I think Mr. Thompson is very smart and therefore he could have said this much differently....
Mexico (and it's virulently anti-American populace) has been one of the biggest enemies of this country and the reasons and incidents, were I cite to them, would run clear off this thread.
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