Posted on 11/29/2007 6:01:30 AM PST by xzins
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You presume too much.
I would like to believe it, but being the “only viable conservative” in a race with a bunch of guys who are all touting their conservatism, newly aquired or not, just isn’t going to be enough. People are also looking for a candidate that can beat Hillary head to head, and Fred’s performance so far leaves the question of whether or not he’d fight to win, or fight at all.
He has the plan, but he’s not selling it to the public. Hillary and Obama and Romney all have plans which they are actively selling. People are going to end up buying one of those instead because Fred doesn’t bother to advertise. You can’t buy a product if you don’t know it exists.
I’d like to point out that he is paying for (with cash) national television ads.
He has some money behind him, and I think that he’ll break out in the next few days.
His name recognition is getting much better, and now it’s a matter of associating that name with positive, pro-America ideas.
If he succeeds at that in the next few days, you’ll see conservatives coming to his side.
I'm not knocking Dole -- I voted for him. But I think comparing Thompson to Dole is ... looking for something to complain about. Doesn't hold much water for me. I can see it does for you, and that's fine. Whatever floats your boat ... or whatever!!
I don’t have t.v. or cable, and I do wish Fox would live-stream over the internet. KNBC does.
I have both of the other, but I have only dial-up internet.
Anything other than script (audio, video, pics, etc) takes hours to download.
I love country life, but the rural has it’s problems.
Dole did reflect a “gutsy, risk-all career ballsiness” when he quit as Majority Leader in the Senate to run against Clinton as President.
But when using your anecdotes about your self-proclaimed knowledge of the entertainment industry just because you happen to live in the same general part of California, you’re really making an irrelevant and frankly nonsensical argument. It doesn’t matter how or why Fred Thompson has succeeded in his career as a supporting character actor, though Fred will tell you himself that he happened to have to good fortune of doors being opened for him, and he just walked through them. He’s never fought for a role, he’s has them handed to him because of his presence and deep voice, and because he can project authority. He gets the part because he looks the part.
But the rest of America isn’t shallow like Hollywood, and you need more than looking the part (especially when the part is Gerald Ford, the unelected President). I think Fred has the substance, he has what it takes, he has the record and the right positions, and good ‘ol downhome Fred would even look the part speaking directly to the American people from behind Harry Truman’s desk, but first he has to captivate the voters, and he hasn’t. Not even in his own party. That much is self-evident. He needs to get people excited about his candidacy, and he has not. Or actually, he had when he first entered, and then his non-performance lost them. If that wasn’t true, then he would have the kind of primary election poll numbers Hillary Clinton has, instead of struggling to hang on to 4th place. Romney, Giuliani, and Huckabee are all ahead of him because they are putting out something he so far hasn’t: energy.
Whatever. You’re convinced yourself, that I can see.
Here's my argument: a guy who plies the ocean on a fishing boat and makes a good, honest living catching fish for 25 years has big balls, even though you and a million others would look at him, the way he walks, talks, aw-gorshes, dresses, etc., and say he's as milquetoast as they come and "doesn't have what it takes." I know he DOES because I've SEEN him earn a living on the sea, and I know what it entails. Looks and style don't tell you nearly as much about a person as his record of successes and failures.
It's the same with Thompson. For the guy to have led the life he has, it's absolutely A GIVEN that he's got guts and knows how to play hardball. To say otherwise is to say that you think a one-legged unicyclist could do just fine in the unicyclist 500.
You call it "gutsy and risk-all" for a career politician to quite Majority Leader to run for president. Man. You need to get out more.
I thank you for the substance of what you said and the manner in which you said it, even though we’re not completely on the same page.
I’ve heard Hunter do interviews where he was the only one, and all he wanted to talk about was the fence, when he had the chance to talk about more things. And he talks about China trade. I believe he would get more questions his way if he’d take the opportunities he has had to expand on subject matter. He might be closer to the top of the heap if he had done that.
Border security is important and he is well known for his position on that but there is more to the job than that. It also might be too late for him to move up, although that is a matter of judgment.
Your post was good and I appreciate it. I do wish Hunter was doing better than he is.
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