Posted on 10/18/2007 9:51:05 PM PDT by Doofer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After the noon event in Kennesaw, Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson held a fund-raising luncheon with state lawmakers in downtown Atlanta.
Afterwards, in the 36th floor offices of Tom Bell, CEO of Cousins Properties, Thompson had time for a 10-minute, two-topic interview. The subjects were illegal immigration, and concerns of evangelical voters.
Here’s the transcript that served as a basis for Friday’s AJC story.
The first question was about immigration, and its impact on the South.
Said Thompson:
“Illegal immigration is a problem all over this country. I don’t think it’s limited to just Southern states. People are concerned that the politicians kind of announced one day that there are ‘X’ million people that have come here, and are illegal, and there’s more on the way.
“And there’s basically nothing that we’re doing to stop it.
“We have essentially open borders. I think that came as a surprise to a lot of people, and there’s been a reaction to that. There was a reaction to that bill that they tried to pass. It was a bad bill.
“And so now we’re struggling with securing the border, which has got to be the first thing that we do — securing the border, which is part of enforcing the law, as the first fundamental step we’ve got to take.”
(Read the rest on the jump below.)
Are you talking about a physical wall or electronic surveillance?
“All of the above, plus I think the border patrol has still got to be enhanced. The numbers have been increased somewhat, but it appears that we need more. Whatever it is we need we’re going to have to have.
“It’s not a matter of a lack of technology. We used to say, we can go to the moon but we can’t do this? It’s been a long time since we’ve gone to the moon, and we’re telling the American people that we can’t secure our own borders? Certainly, we can. Obviously, we can.
“Electronic means is a part of that. The wall is a part of that. There’s several hundred miles already on the books, that are supposed to have been built. And we just need to get about doing that.”
And the 12 million or so who are already here?
“If you secure the borders, stop luring people here with sanctuary cities, with in-state tuition treatment for illegal immigrants and other things of that nature, if you’ll help these employers do more to identify illegals, with an E-verify system that will allow them to quickly and electronically do that, with the help of the federal government, you will address the problem by attrition in large measure.
“They set up a false choice — either we get giant busloads of people tomorrow, and round them all up, or we have to grant amnesty. Attrition by enforcement is what makes the most sense.”
Do you favor boosting penalties on employers?
“I don’t know that you have to boost penalties on anyone if they know that the law is going to be enforced. I think the issue now has to do more with enforcement than it has to do with the size of the penalties.
“No one wants to have a penalty levied against them. That’s a stigma and bad for business.”
You’re going to talk to the Values Voter Summit in Washington. You’ve had people question your church-going habits, your faith. James Dobson and such. What do you say to them?
“Everybody has their critics. And everybody has things coming at them from different directions. I’m no different there. I point to my record.
“I am a consistent conservative. Over eight years of service at the national level, dealing with national issues. I have been a consistent tax-cutter, a budget balancer — which we did not long after I got elected. Welfare reform. Strong national defense, and 100 percent voting record with regard to pro-life issues.
“I’m a strong believer that a source of a lot of the problems in this country has to do with the judiciary, and that we need strong federal judges who will apply the constitution and the laws of this country and not make it up as they go along, according to their own personal dictates and desire to change social policy.
“I think that underlies a lot of the difficulties that we have, in regard to social and religious decisions that have been made over the last several years.
“My record is consistent on that. While a lot of people are saying a lot of the same things regarding these issues, certainly some are not.”
Is a discussion of the strength of your beliefs fair game?
“I think it’s fair to discuss. I don’t have any problem with discussing any of that. I’m a person of conviction. I’m a person of faith. I’ve been blessed in many ways. I’m aware of those blessings.
“I have received the worst tragedy that a man can have in his life. [This is a reference to the death of his grown daughter.] I’ve received the greatest blessings. I have been a father at a very young age. I’m now the father of a 4-year-old and a 1-year-old.
“You learn from that what’s important and what’s not. You learn the importance of God in your life, and the need to try to live your life in a way that your loved ones will be proud of.
“If you’re right with the man upstairs, and you’re right with those who love you, and those who you love, then everything else will take care of itself.”
At the airport, someone in the audience asked if you regretted the lobbying work you did for an abortions rights group. Do you?
“No, I don’t. I was practicing law, and this was a client of a big firm. They asked me to help out on a couple matters.
“Now, [the same abortion rights group is] out there trying to defeat me because I went to the United States Senate and voted against them for eight straight years, on everything that came up — whether it be federal funding for abortion, whether it be Mexico City policy, whether it be partial-birth abortion or any of those issues that they may have been interested in.”
“[Supreme Court] Chief Justice John Roberts was asked similar questions about clients of his law firm, and he pointed out that, in our country, don’t confuse the lawyer with the client. And I don’t think most people make that mistake.”
Are you also aware that CheyennePress has been lying about Fred Thompson's record? He's been posting little drive-by shots anywhere he can, saying that Fred's soft on the border and wants amnesty.
An example of CheyennePress' lies can be found in the post just above yours, where he said that Fred Thompson voted for amnesty for Cubans and Nicaraguans.
What he's referring to is the Mack Amendment.
Thompson did not vote to grant amnesty for illegals from Nicaragua and Cuba. The Mack Amendment amended the touch 1996 illegal immigration enforcement bill, which Thompson supported. Specifically, the Mack amendment addressed some illegal immigrants who had fled our wars against communism AND who had their deportation cases in the pipeline before the tough 1996 bill passed — it said that these immigrants would have their deportation cases considered under the pre-1996 laws, rather than under the new laws. This was in line with agreements that the Reagan and Bush administrations had made as part of the American Baptist Churches et al. v. Thornburgh case. It did *not* grant anyone amnesty — it simply defined the criteria by which certain deportation cases that had already been in motion would be evaluated.
This has been detailed here on FR many times for anyone who interested in it.
You may have been treated unfairly, but the unfair treatment that your received does not apply in this case. CheyennePress is a Mitt Romney supporter who has been utterly shameless in doing anything he can to deride Fred Thompson in a futile attempt to convince others to buy the bill of goods that Mitt Romney has sold him.
We all need to do everything we can to combat misinformation by dishonest posters here on FR.
Well Fred does appear to be one of the more genuine of the front 3. Rudy is decent but isn’t a real conservative.
Mitt appears good but then when you dig in...he comes off as another slick politician.
Good thing is McCain is no longer considered a front-runner so we don’t have to deal with that.
The MSM wants Rudy, because if he is selected as the Republican nominee in August, 2008, he will withdraw from the race in September, and have Rick Lazio take his place!
Thank you Bobbisox for that wonderful post. I’m with you on being 100% behind Fred.
I was called by a polling company last night.Didn’t say who. I was first asked if I was involved in Republican politics. In which I said yes.Then I was asked who I supported for president in the Republican primary. Naturally I told them Fred Thompson.
OK...done!
Most cool!
Heh, I actually drove my van with my “W Stands for Women” all around MA from 2000-2004! I never had a problem. My “Babes For Bush” button, which I wore on my coat before each election, however, got lots of notice, and I had the chance to talk up the conservative viewpoint to folks who asked. ;o)
CheyennePress wrote: “It’s good to see Fred shifting his positions on the border. He’s been a somewhat consistent conservative, but not even close to consistent or conservative in that regard.”
LOL, this from a supporter of the worst flip-flopper since John F’n Kerry.
Is there something in the water in Massachusetts?
I wanted to share this Prayer I received today that was given by Minister Joe Wright, at the new session of the Kansas Senate:
“Heavenly Father,
We come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance.,
We know Your Word says,“Woe to those who call evil good” but that is exactly what we have done,
We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.,
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.,
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.,
We have killed our unborn and called it choice.,
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.,
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem.,
We have abused power and called it politics.,
We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition.,
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of speech and expression.,
We have ridiculed the time honored values of our Forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us, Oh, God,and know our hearts today; Cleanse us from every sin and set us free.,
Amen!”
I have been praying for years that the sin of abortion will be gone from our country.
This is an eloquent prayer, thank you for posting it.
1. A fence will not do the job alone. FDT has stated it will take technology and an enhanced border patrol. So his comment on a fence working or not working is not indicative of a willingness to not support building a fence, it merely highlights the fact that a fence is not a solution in and of itself.
2. His sentiment to give illegals a chance to come here legally without making it too easy as to be unfair to those standing in line is not indicative that he is pro-amnesty. For generations migrant farmworkers have come to the USA, slept in bunkhouses and saved as much as they could to return and live well in the regions of Mexico and Central America where they traveled from. The problem today is the myriad of socialist programs, workers rights, workers comp and so on that has gotten in the way of earning dollars for half a year and returning to live really well the other half of the year. In other words, FDT wants to end the magnet socialism and allow farms to hire seasonal workers on migrant visas. Nothing wrong in that, but they have to go home for a part of the year. And if they are honest and law abiding they should be given a chance to immigrate if they really want to. But cost of living in say Yucatan is real cheap, and seasonal farm wages can go a long way there, as in building a house there. My guess is that honest farm workers would want to return. Why would they stay here if there are no benefits other than making dollars to return home?
3. FDT’s point on not being able to round up 12 million illegals is spot on. He could pull an Eisenhower ‘Wetback’ operation to scare alot of illegals back across the border but with electronic verification of employment and other technology, it is no longer necessary to be brutal. Just deny illegals everything from getting social services to opening a bank account and so on, and they will either choose to work on the farm or head back across the border. This policy is known as the ‘Policy of Attrition’.
So try as you may to persuade that FDT is a flipflopper, he is indeed not.
His votes while Senator were mostly against wide open immigration, totally against illegal immigration. His votes for immigration were in response to Silicon Valley bemoaning the shortage of tech workers and his other votes were humanitarian in allowing family reunification. Just because La Raza and other groups took advantage of family reunification immigration law does not mean that FDT was in their camp. He was likely fooled like so many others before the problem became headline news. Ronald Reagan was also fooled and expressed regrets later.
Americans want to be humane in their immigration policies but when they become aware that they are being played, they are quick to slam the door shut. That is the nature of FDT.
Sorry about my delayed response...we were out dismantling the car, surveying the damage that was done a couple weeks back....OUCH.
Thanks for the VOTE!!!!!!!
I got the chance to tell Sen.Thompson face-to-face that we had his FRED’08 decals on our dragcar. He mentioned that one of his family members had a hand in the local track near his home at some point in the past, it was very cool to me that he had a link of a sort to the racing we do with our car that we run his campaign decals on.
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