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Evangelicals turn on Thompson
Politico ^ | September 26, 2007 | Jonathan Martin

Posted on 09/26/2007 5:49:53 PM PDT by Canticle_of_Deborah

Thompson's refusal to back a nationwide ban on gay marriage has irritated potential supporters.

Fred Thompson is failing to meet expectations that he would rally widespread support from Christian conservatives, and he almost certainly will not receive a joint endorsement from the loose coalition of "pro-family" organizations, according to leaders of the movement.

Many religious conservatives, faced with a Republican primary top tier that lacked a true kindred spirit, initially looked to Thompson as a savior. But the former Tennessee senator has disappointed or just not sufficiently impressed the faith community since his formal campaign launch earlier this month.

While Christian conservatives once seemed willing to readily give Thompson the benefit of the doubt earlier this summer, when questions were raised about his lobbying for a pro-abortion-rights group, they are not willing to turn the other cheek anymore.

Even some on the religious right who remain sympathetic to Thompson are unhappy about his refusal to back a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, and were unpleasantly surprised by his confession that he doesn’t belong to or attend any church and won’t talk about his faith.

It was Thompson’s refusal to discuss his faith that is likely to deny him any unified backing from the organizations that comprise the Arlington Group, the umbrella coalition of almost every major social conservative group in the GOP constellation.

(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008; arlingtongroup; christianvote; electionpresident; elections; evangelicals; fredthompson; homosexualagenda; rino; rinoalert; thompson
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To: Spiff

Hi Spiff,Do you have link”s for this.”Fred Thompson is reported to have fought to REMOVE the Ronald Reagan Pro-Life plank from the GOP Platform.”


161 posted on 09/26/2007 8:14:29 PM PDT by fatima (Baby alert,Baby Ava arrived 6-29-07 at 3 PM-she is 10 pounds:))
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To: seekthetruth
I you could care just a little less, then it's totally a non-issue. ;) Government out of our lives, right? That'd be marriage too.

Feds should not recognize ANY marriage!

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

162 posted on 09/26/2007 8:14:33 PM PDT by davidlachnicht ("IF WE'RE ALL TO BE TARGETS, THEN WE ALL MUST BE SOLDIERS.")
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To: SoConPubbie
Please provide proof for your accusation!

Google it. It is reported (as I said) that he lobbied against the pro-life plank. I think it would be an excellent question to ask him during a debate just to be sure. I've seen it reported in several places on the Internet. Chuck Baldwin is one of the sources. I'm looking for more verification, but the reports are out there along with reports that he ran as a pro-choice candidate both times he ran for Senate. That, and his core sponsorship of CFR legislation, would explain why, as far as I know, no pro-life groups have endorsed him.

163 posted on 09/26/2007 8:15:54 PM PDT by Spiff (<------ Mitt Romney Supporter (Don't tase me, bro!) Go Mitt! www.mittromney.com)
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To: Spiff; kingu

“Interesting...so, are you a Republican? Because, if you’re not a Republican then maybe you should butt out of the REPUBLICAN Primary.”

You mean if he is not a conservative that he does not belong here, because this is not a Republican web site.

That is one reason that Romney gets so little traction here, this is a conservative web site.


164 posted on 09/26/2007 8:16:06 PM PDT by ansel12 (Proud father of a 10th Mountain veteran. Proud son of a WWII vet. Proud brother of vets.)
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To: Canticle_of_Deborah

Do these people think you just go down to Wal-Mart and buy a amendment to the Constitution? Even getting it acted on takes a while then requires ratification by the states would take years if you can get enough states to sign it...


165 posted on 09/26/2007 8:21:09 PM PDT by tubebender (disparage them.)
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To: codercpc

Very interesting.


166 posted on 09/26/2007 8:28:27 PM PDT by redgirlinabluestate (Mitt = Newt-like brilliance without the baggage)
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To: jveritas
Also very important Fred Thompson can crush any democrat candidate in the general elections.

No. Not without the Evangelical Right, he can't.

167 posted on 09/26/2007 8:30:36 PM PDT by roamer_1 (Vote for FrudyMcRomson -Turn red states purple in 08!)
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To: basil

My thoughts entirely.


168 posted on 09/26/2007 8:31:57 PM PDT by ZULU (Non nobis, non nobis Domine, sed nomini tuo da gloriam. God, guts and guns made America great.)
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To: Brilliant
It’s impossible to win the Presidency with the positions advocated by the religious right.

It is impossible to win without those positions, as without them one is without the Religious Right and cannot win.

169 posted on 09/26/2007 8:34:56 PM PDT by roamer_1 (Vote for FrudyMcRomson -Turn red states purple in 08!)
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To: Spiff

You’ve reduced yourself to spreading rumors about Fred in an effort to smear him...all to support the candidate who lied about Ronald Reagan’s abortion record.

When is Willard going to apologize for lying about Ronald Reagan’s pro-life beliefs?


170 posted on 09/26/2007 8:35:21 PM PDT by Petronski (Congratulations Tribe! AL Central Champs)
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To: thefactor; kingu

####this issue isn’t about the church anyway! it’s about the federal gov’t recognizing or not recognizing gay marriage. i guess i just don’t understand. maybe because no one can explain it in a cohesive manner.####

Here’s how I would explain it. You didn’t see conservatives trying to pass constitutional amendments to define marriage as being between one man and one woman fifty years ago. Or a hundred years ago. Or twenty years ago.

Why not? Because there was no judicial activism on those issues back then. This is an issue that properly SHOULD be left to the legislatures and/or the voters of each state. On that, the libertarians are correct. However, once judicial imperialism begins, it must be stopped somehow. And just as we don’t like to go to war, but sometimes have to, we sometimes have to amend the constitution, either the federal one or our individual state one.

Here in Tennessee, we amended our state constitution last year to define marriage as being between one man and one woman. We shouldn’t have had to do that. Kingu made a valid point when he said the constitution shouldn’t be for legislating. But once judges start legislating from the bench, what is the alternative?

These FMAs are defensive in nature, not offensive. It wasn’t conservatives who decided to make same-sex “marriage” a constitutional issue. It was liberals. It’s the same with abortion. It was the left that made this an issue. It’s the left that’s threatening to use the imperial federal judiciary to impose the same-sex “marriage” agenda nationwide. All we’re trying to do is constitutionally defend ourselves.

I find it bizarre that there are libertarians who would rather see five federal judges strip every state in the union of its power to define marriage, than to amend the constitution properly to protect traditional marriage, on the amazing grounds that such an amendment would “trample on states’ rights”.

Imagine if the federal courts were about to impose a new federal property tax on us, something they have no constitutional authority to do. Suppose conservatives tried to amend the constitution to stop this, but libertarians blocked the amendment on the grounds that such an amendment “would federalize property tax law”. Yet the result of not passing the amendment would be that the federal courts would get away with not only federalizing tax law, but actually imposing such a tax on us.

That’s the situation we’re in now on same-sex “marriage”. Unless we pass an FMA, the federal courts will eventually force same-sex “marriage” on the states. So the libertarian argument is that they’d rather have the feds impose an unpopular policy on the states via judicial fiat than amend the constitution to stop it, on the grounds that such an amendment would federalize a traditional state issue.


171 posted on 09/26/2007 8:35:31 PM PDT by puroresu (Enjoy ASIAN CINEMA? See my Freeper page for recommendations.)
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To: Saundra Duffy

Here’s a question for you: what Constitutional role does the President play in amendment of the Constitution?


172 posted on 09/26/2007 8:37:08 PM PDT by Petronski (Congratulations Tribe! AL Central Champs)
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To: SoConPubbie; Spiff
It was brought up some time ago during the early smear attempts. As were the ridiculous attempts to make his position when he ran for Senate out to be pro-choice.

Here's Brody's article on Fred wanting to ditch the platform in 96 as a way to quell party infighting:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1864165/posts

It seems misguided to me, but his basic point was that all of the energy was being directed inward instead of at trying to win the election.

Spiff is clever to point this out, especially when he supports Mitt Romney, a candidate that is on video trying to out-choice a pro-choice activist candidate for governor.

173 posted on 09/26/2007 8:39:55 PM PDT by perfect_rovian_storm (John Cox 2008: Because Duncan Hunter just isn't obscure enough for me!)
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To: roamer_1
No. Not without the Evangelical Right, he can't.

None of them will vote for Hillary, so the only danger would be if they stay home en masse.....that is extremely unlikely in Fred v Hillary election. They will vote for Fred.

174 posted on 09/26/2007 8:41:08 PM PDT by HerrBlucher (He's the coolest thing around, gonna shut HRC down, gonna turn it on, wind it up, blow em out, FDT!)
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To: puroresu
However, once judicial imperialism begins, it must be stopped somehow. And just as we don’t like to go to war, but sometimes have to, we sometimes have to amend the constitution, either the federal one or our individual state one.

You point out the solution while at the same time ignoring it. The solution /isn't/ turning the Constitution into a dictionary, but stopping the judicial activism. That will /only/ occur by bringing more constructionist judges to the Supreme Court to get the judicial back on track. Sure, we can pass all the laws we want, even pass constitutional amendments, but as was pointed out before, a judge ten years from now can interpret it as meaning that the federal government is forbidden from recognizing any marriage at all. The slap down has to come from high court, or the miracle of actually getting enough conservatives into Congress to hammer the activist judges and remove them from the bench. Not simply give up the war.

175 posted on 09/26/2007 8:42:31 PM PDT by kingu (No, I don't use sarcasm tags - it confuses people.)
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To: Brilliant
I’m part of the religious right. But we’ve got to recognize that we’re a minority.

Pardon me? The Christian right is not a minority. 40m strong in the last election, and that was a poor turnout.

176 posted on 09/26/2007 8:42:53 PM PDT by roamer_1 (Vote for FrudyMcRomson -Turn red states purple in 08!)
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To: kingu
No such amendment would ever pass...why would FDT back it?

Why is it the business of the Federal Government? The Feds don't even have a nationwide law against murder...the federal law on murder only applies to federal lands.

Such an amendment is clearly contrary to the intent of the constitution...as surely as the Roe v Wade interpretation of "privacy" is.

177 posted on 09/26/2007 8:43:46 PM PDT by Mariner
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To: roamer_1

90% of the evangelical right will vote for Fred Thompson because he is vastly better on the social issues than any democrat candidate.


178 posted on 09/26/2007 8:44:16 PM PDT by jveritas (God bless our brave troops and President Bush)
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To: Spiff

Fred Thompson did NOT run as a pro-choice candidate, ever. That has been debunked repeatedly.

Of course, the lies originated with Romney supporters. His campaign is usually the one spreading the muck.

“Do not be deceived:

Today, the Evangelicals for Mitt operation has spent its time attacking conservative Republican presidential candidates, most recently former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and unannounced candidate, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson.

Thompson, who has made it clear that he does not support Roe v. Wade, and who was certified as pro-life by the National Right to Life Committee back in 1994, has continued to state that he is pro-life. But the Evangelicals for Mitt, using research provided by the Romney campaign, has been putting out information on its blog that Thompson, as well as other Republican Senate candidates, were not.

The Romney campaign has targeted Thompson as a serious threat to its ongoing political survival. Recent polls that have just begun including Thompson in surveys show him running ahead of Romney in Iowa, without his having spent a dime.

National Right to Life says Thompson has been reliably pro-life and his voting record sustains that view.

- Bill Hobbs, Elephant Biz, March 26, 2007

http://www.elephantbiz.com/2007/03/independent_blog_has_ties_to_r.html";

*****

This morning, I cited reports being promoted by the pro-Romney blog Evangelicals for Mitt suggesting that Fred Thompson ran his two campaigns for Senate in Tennessee as a pro-choicer. Not so, National Right to Life executive co-director Darla St. Martin just told me.

St. Martin said that she went down to Tennessee in 1994 to speak with Thompson personally when he first ran for Senate, and that she determined he was against abortion.

“I interviewed him and on all of the questions I asked him, he opposed abortion,” St. Martin said. She told me that the group went on to support him in that election, and his record reinforced for her that their determination was correct.

“He has a consistent voting record that is pro-life,” she said.

On the NRLC website, they archive their congressional ratings back to 1997, so they include six of his eight years in the Senate. Thompson took the pro-life position on every vote he cast on the abortion issue. The only reason he didn’t have a 100% rating is that, as Jim pointed out, the ratings also include votes on campaign finance reform, which he supported.

I specifically pressed her on the 1994 National Review story that read: “On abortion, both Thompson and Cooper are pro-choice. But Thompson favors parental notification, Cooper voted against it.” I also asked her about the 1996 AP story mentioning Thompson’s opposition to a constitutional amendment banning abortion.

St. Martin said she was skeptical of such media reports, because they can be wrong as was her experience with stories in 2000 that George W. Bush had been pro-choice. She reiterated the fact that she knows Thompson opposed abortion because of her conversation with him, and that was reinforced by his subsequent voting record.


179 posted on 09/26/2007 8:44:53 PM PDT by Politicalmom (Of the potential GOP front runners, FT has one of the better records on immigration.- NumbersUSA)
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To: mgstarr
"so called conservatives"

That's the issue, they're NOT conservatives. They're social crusaders. They're all for big government when it suits their agenda...opposed when it doesn't.

180 posted on 09/26/2007 8:46:05 PM PDT by Mariner
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