Posted on 12/12/2007 2:30:09 PM PST by JRochelle
First, let me say that this was by far the worst debate yet. The questions were not only skewed to the left, not only almost entirely neglected foreign policy, but they were so broad as to allow the candidates to fall back on talking points. Also, there was no room for back and forth between the candidates. Absolutely awful.
With that said, Fred Thompson was the only candidate who stood out. He was funny, charming, and peppy. Here was a guy who wasn't afraid to speak hard truths, and who displayed knowledge of the policy issues--especially on entitlements. But the moment of the debate, the moment that will be talked about should he defy expectations and go on to win the nomination, was when he refused to raise his hand at the behest of the moderator. This demonstrated conviction, showed he was able to stand up for his principles, that he was a man who valued substance, a leader rather than a follower, and somebody who is running a different kind of campaign. In short, today Thompson was everything that conservatives had hoped they'd be getting when he announced his candidacy.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
More than any of the other candidates, by far, Fred knows who he is and is comfortable with it. That comes across in situations like this.
The schedule is different now! Says it is on now on Cspan2, and it isn’t. I can’t find it on the regular C-Span!
http://inside.c-spanarchives.org:8080/cspan/schedule.csp
And, NO, all paths to God are not the same. There is one God, God of Abraham that we as Freemasons tend to worship. You pretend to even remotely know what it is you talk of, but you are lost, and I imagine you are just making stuff up on the fly. I have yet in my 25 years met a Bhuddist Mason, and I have traveled this great country extensively with the Shrine. I have yet in my 25 years met a Scientologist Mason. I am not saying they don’t exist, but Masonry in itself is founded on one God. Thats the big G that sets in the square. There are no Hindu Indian Masons that I know of either who worship all their different Gods.
I have been a 32nd degree for over 17 years, and will in the next 2 years (time permitting) earn my 33rd.
There are more similarities in say Dump Trucks and Bicycles than would be found in Masonry and Mormonism, and even MORE dissimilar attributes.
Now, I cannot talk for one blue lodge that you may have met in Utah, but I can talk for the bulk of the east, west, north and Midwest when it comes to lodges, and I have visited probably over 120 in my lifetime here in the US, and over a half dozen over seas (a few in the England and Ireland, Germany, Austria, and even one in Hungary).
I want to point you to your original assertion, that Masonry and Mormonism are “almost exactly the same” and I want you to prove that point to me and others watching this post, otherwise, retire your argument.
I don’t want one or two similarities, I’d like you to show us all how they are “almost exactly the same”.
After all a bicycle and a dump truck both have wheels, so they too must be “exactly the same”.
I await for your diatribe. At 63 years old, you should be old enough to know better than to make such broad assumptions, as a conservative, you should be honest, and as a member of FR, you should know that everything you toss out there will be challenged.
This is not DU where one makes blanket statements and gets a free pass. Show me the money.
Allright. I’ve been reading everyone’s posts here and can’t help but think all you people patting fred on the back just might be a bunch of chumps that fred played like a violin.
Did any of you dopes ever stop to think that maybe fred REALLY DOES BELIEVE IN GLOBAL WARMING, and then found a really slick way to get out of admitting it? He found a clever way to not alienate anyone on eiher side of the argument.
Now what do you have to say for yourselves?
I’m still voting for tancredo.
You’re extrapolating. I didn’t say “exactly the same.”
And I agree with you, that there is only one path to God. I wasn’t talking about my personal beliefs. I’m sorry if I invaded your safe zone, but if you’ve read Pike, I don’t know how you could have missed the very foundation of masonry. If your lodge makes you a 33 without finding you in acceptance of that foundational premise, I’ll be quite amazed.
Whether you like it or not, mormonism is a breed of freemasonry, just as B’nai B’rith is a breed. I’m unaware of any Hindu masonic org, but I would still be surprised if there were not one. Scientology will not fit. It’s for one thing, decidedly atheistic in it’s views, and also ridgidly self sufficient.
I will make no attempt to prove anything to you; if your own curiousity is not enough to cause you to investigate, then you’re welcome to your safe ignorance. And I do know that all things are challenged on FR, and that’s ok with me.
Knowledge is of value; if you don’t value it, that is your loss. A good place to start your education would be at cuttingedge.org. The owner of that site is a former mason, and many of his cohorts are former masons and former occultists of other stripes too. The sources on the internet are immense, but only for those willing to be informed.
I sure wish he had, in other words. =)
You know us idiot Fred Heads...
We never read nothin’ BEFORE we decide to support someone...
If we did we would be aware of articles like this:
http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=NTQzYWY1MGM5NTkyZTM2YWVlMDMzMDlhMzQwNThhNDU
Now if Fred has written somthin’ like this here Thompson fellow did in this article...
Ahem!
This is not to complain, but ....
And remember what they say about sentences with a ‘but’
(nothin’ counts but the stuff after the but.)
Anyway, when a poster responds to someone else, it would be so helpful if they would quote the person or at least reference what they said.
Earlier someone posted something like, “and Mark Levin agreed with you.”
But I would have had to go waaay back to find the post that Mark agreed with, and, well, I didn’t.
So if anybody knows what Levin thought about the debate and who won, please elucidate.
Hugh Hewitt claims not to know who George Strait is.
Now the man is either lying because he thinks he’s too cool to know about a country singer,
OR,
he is really so out of touch that he’s never heard of George Strait.
Either way, he lost all respect and I wrote him off.
It’s gonna take just a tiny bit more than a paul harvey skit read by paul’s substitute to convince me fred don’t believe in man made global warming. For all I know, those were paul’s words read by fred.
Thanks for the ping. I didn’t see the debate. Thanks to all contributors to this thread.
I know what you mean about looking back for previous comments. I need to watch it and make sure I add links or sources. Here is the link for Mark’s show today. It was during the first hour that he talks most about the debate and Fred. Just click on the link for today’s show.:)
http://www.marklevinshow.com/audio.php
To be perfectly honest, I have paid little to no attention to this entire pre-pre-pre election primary circus. I have not watched even one of these so called 'debates.' I have no favorites and aside from the goof ball Libertarian from Texas masquerading as an sane person, no one was off my list. The process is silly, IMHO, and why anyone gives a s**t what a few thousand hard core political ativitists who flock into Iowa for winter coffee clatches every four years think is way beyond my comprehension. God bless the Iowa Chamber of Commerce for draining some cash from inside the beltway, but this process is way beyond insane.
That said, if Thompson is willing to call the Global Warming Scam what it is, a Scam, he has my vote until someone else ups the anti and promises to prosecute Al Gore for consumer fraud.
Does the language in the article even sound like Paul Harvey?
Well you did say you backed Tanc, so "obvious" is something you probably do have trouble with.
And we are the "gullible" ones...
Sheesh...
Who was the Dyke asking the questions?
Thank you for explaining. I heard the exchange on the radio today but didn’t know who was talking or that it was the debate.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.