In Orlando, GOP hopefuls hammer away at Clinton

The Orlando Sentinal ^ | October 21, 2007 | John Kennedy and Jim Stratton

[codercpc]

Florida Republicans, splintered by a crowded field of presidential candidates, opened the party's Presidency IV convention Saturday pledging to unify against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/orl-politics2107oct21,0,7620762.story

[codercpc]

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/orl-politics2107oct21,0,7620762.story

Overview of yesterdays GOP convention in Florida. Sounds like Fred failed to impress again, only speaking for 4 min and 37 seconds.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2007/10/freds-moneys-wo.html

Two Freepers (Fred supporters) were there and they were somewhat unimpressed also

http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1914146/posts

[codercpc]

Repost of links to go straight to the story.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2007/10/freds-moneys-wo.html

http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1914146/posts

[dano1]

"Thompson's speech was so short -- 4 min. and 37 seconds -- some people in the crowd mistook his conclusion as just an applause line. ... Big deal, you say. ... Well, keep in mind that each campaign paid $100,000 to talk to the group of 3,000 Republican activists. If you do the math, that means Thompson paid $20,000 per minute, while Giuliani got away with a much more fiscally conservative price of $4,500 per minute."

???

[vetsvette]

“hammer away at Clinton”

Hildabeast Klintoon, the ultimate in target rich environments.

[codercpc]

Here is what RedState says about Freds performance.

http://www.redstate.com/blogs/robert_a_hahn/2007/oct/21/the_presidential_4

Lastly, the highlight of the evening, the man every GOP activist had been waiting to finally see in person: Fred Thompson. Not much can be said about Fred Thompson’s appearance here this evening because Fred didn’t say much. He spoke for less than four minutes and said nothing. Many were appalled. More were disappointed. Some were even insulted at what was obviously a total lack of preparation to address a large and important state’s GOP activists. Many who had sought out “Fred Thompson” signs on the way in, left them in their chairs on the way out. Make no mistake: Fred blew it here tonight. He blew it badly. If he’s as ill-prepared for tomorrow night’s debate, his campaign will be over by Monday morning.

[Swordfished]

Lastly, the highlight of the evening, the man every GOP activist had been waiting to finally see in person: Fred Thompson. Not much can be said about Fred Thompson’s appearance here this evening because Fred didn’t say much. He spoke for less than four minutes and said nothing. Many were appalled. More were disappointed. Some were even insulted at what was obviously a total lack of preparation to address a large and important state’s GOP activists. Many who had sought out “Fred Thompson” signs on the way in, left them in their chairs on the way out. Make no mistake: Fred blew it here tonight. He blew it badly. If he’s as ill-prepared for tomorrow night’s debate, his campaign will be over by Monday morning.

I'm beginning to again consider the idea that Thompson's campaign is a secret ploy to give McCain a better shot at somehow winning.

[codercpc]

You know, I never considered that, but I just read another post at RedState that brought up the exact same point (it wasn't you was it LOL).

For his Florida chances, he had better perform well tonight.

[LS]

To say I'm seriously disappointed in Fred, so far, is an understatement. There is NO report of any of his speeches where people come away foaming at the mouth, ready to do battle for him. I watched three complete speeches on the web, including one from IA, and it was dull, uninspiring, and above all failed to attack HILLARY as the main foe.

Worst of all, like you I'm very concerned about the McCain "surge." In three state head-to-head polls, he now is close to, or beating Hillary in MO, KY, and OH. Rudy's close too, but McCain comes out best of all. This man is simply nuts, and would be the biggest disaster of all of them if he is the candidate.

[libstripper]

All these reports about Fred leave me in a profound state of quandary, i.e., not ready to open my check book for any of the candidates. Although we have early voting here in
Tennessee and, in the past I’ve voted early every time I could, this time I’m probably going to wait to the day of the primary before I vote. The state of quandary reigns.

[WVNan]

In watching Fred T. I get the sense that he doesn’t truly want to be president. Can you imagine a person becoming a doctor if that person had no deep desire to be a doctor? A politician is someone who desires the give and take of ideas and to be able to impact the outcome of ideas. I think some people are born to be certain things, and I don’t get a sense that Fred T. was born to be a politition. He was a fine actor, and probably a good man, but he doesn’t have the “fight” to achieve the presidency. McCain has it, and Romney has it. I’m not convinced that Rudy has it. Huckabee is a Baptist preacher who loves attention. I’m afraid that we are going to have to face the fact that we will have a “less than perfect conservative” as our candidate. We will have to fight for our country instead of our values this time around. If our country goes to hillary, our values will take an even bigger hit. We have to live to fight another day. JMHOs

[codercpc]

I think Fred was "talked" into running from a very impressive grass roots organization (many right here on Free Republic), and his politically active wife. He would have been quite content to spend his time dabbling in a little acting, and being with his young family.

Many here have been berated for daring to say that we just didn't see the passion from him, yet he just keeps failing to impress. I don't know how long the voters will wait for him to improve, but since the first primary is only 75 days away, he had better start tonight.

We do live in an American Idol type society, and no matter what his hard core supporters say, it is delivery as much, or more than the actual message. Voters do want vibrant, and healthy. To this point Fred has not portrayed neither.

[Prokopton]

From what I’ve seen, Fred’s campaign staff is terrible. This type of gaffe is something the staff should have foreseen was going to be trouble. Unless Fred is ignoring staff advice, it appears his staff is out of touch, maybe spending too much time on fundraising and not enough on campaigning. If Fred doesn’t get it together, it’s hello Rudy/Hillary.

[Guenevere]

NautiNurse was there and reported very much the same thing!

[codercpc]

I have been very critical of Fred, but I have been complimentary of his wife, so where the Hell is she?

I thought she was supposed to be a GOP stratigist, yet unless his campaign steps up, this could go down as one of the biggest failures of a campaign since Mondale.

[codercpc]

mission9 started this thread as a general overview, and came away with the same impression.

http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1914146/posts

[Bon mots]

[finnman69]

What can I say, other than other’s are saying what I have been saying. Thompson is an empty suit.

[org.whodat]

For a rudy bot with his head up the cross dresser, does the air smell different when you remove your head?

[LS]

I said this from day 1. I was trying to get involved in his campaign in the summer, but no one returns calls; there is zero organization in Ohio (a KEY state for the general election), and there were constant upheavals in his staff. Not good.

I'm getting VERY concerned that McCain seems to be benefitting from all this. I will hold my nose and vote for Rudy or Romney, but McCain is unbalanced, and I would be deeply concerned about him having the "finger on the button."

[Grig]

There is no way Fred will maintain his current standing in the polls the way he is lazing around doing next to nothing. The Fred-heads have their talking point at the ready, ‘They must be really scared of him to attack him like that’ or ‘It’s part of a master plan, just you wait...’ too blind or scared to see that the ‘attacks’ are just legitimate descriptions of the facts.

It’s going to be a hard fall off the bandwagon for some, others will ride to the crashing end.