Posted on 01/05/2008 8:29:07 PM PST by Jet Jaguar
Eight years ago, Fred Thompson came for an editorial board visit after we had already endorsed George Bush, to tell us how wrong we were. We should have backed John McCain, he told us. I knew that, of course, but I sat still for his gruff advice as a sort of penance for my failure. I had tried hard (more about that in my Sunday column), but the consensus on our board had gone against me.
As futile as his gesture was at that point, I still appreciated Sen. Thompson's position, as bad as it made me feel. McCain had been the man, and it was the nation's loss that he was not elected in 2000.
Since he knew that then, and Sen. McCain is the same man he was, I've wondered all year why in the world Mr. Thompson even thought of running. As I said back in this column, he forgot to do one thing when he jumped in late: Tell us what it was he brought to the campaign that the candidates already running did not already offer.
Now, it's my turn to return the favor and tell Fred Thompson something that he should already know: It's time for him to do the principled thing again, and assert what he knew to be true back then: He should bow out, and support McCain. And he should do it now; now is when he can make a difference.
Sen. McCain is tied for first place in New Hampshire polls with a damaged Mitt Romney; Mr. Thompson is in single digits. By the time he comes South, all he will be able to do is be a spoiler, to pull just enough voters away from another candidate (and I suspect that candidate would most likely be his longtime ally McCain) to throw the victory to the surging Huckabee.
Nothing against Huckabee on my part; I just don't see him as the alternative Mr. Thompson himself would prefer. Meanwhile, he has continued to express his continuing respect for Sen. McCain; this would be a chance to show he means it.
Speaking of Gov. Huckabee, his victory is his own. But he was not in a position to begin that rise, he was not in striking distance, until Sam Brownback gracefully departed from the race. They had both been drinking from the same well of voters, and Sen. Brownback clarified matters for them.
Quitting when he did was Sen. Brownback's greatest contribution to this campaign, and was the best thing he could have done to serve the values and ideas he espouses. If Sen. Thompson wants to advance his own values, if he wants to make a difference and serve the country -- or if he simply wants the gratification of being a player at all -- he should get behind McCain now.
I thought I’d read that, according to polls taken of NH Republicans, immigration is not a big issue with them, so it’s likely that it didn’t hurt Fred with them, at all.
Ah, good point! Those voters who might have wanted to gum up the GOP works will be instead fighting for their favorite Dem candidate.
If Fred can get more than 5 percent in NH it will be a miracle.
Think about it Suzie. Obamma has taken the lead in the Dem primaries, without once playing the race or victim cards, which is the standard pottage from the Dem Black Caucus, which has been badgering the feds for hand outs and special privileges for years.
Obama is a self made mad, and has been ignored by the Dem Black caucus. Obama as president will break their former style of victim politics, releasing their lock on Black urbanm communities. Then maybe some progress can be made.
Obama will likel recieve votes from a large proportion of Conservative Republicans, if there is no conservative nominee in the Republican party, because Obama, and the RINO candidates are essentially all liberal in their policies. If a conservative has to vote for a liberal, then they will vote for a liberal from whom they will get the most mileage: Obama. Obama is head and shoulders above any RINO Republican candidate.
It would be, and way more than he is even expecting. He’s been trashed from the beginning in NH, because he pi$$ed off the NH GOP leaders. They haven’t had time for him since. He’s made several campaign stops there, though, so who knows. Maybe folks will vote for him just to spite the petty leaders.
I disagree. He is a unbridled Socialist, and I don't want any of them anywhere NEAR the White House.
This isn't an academic exercise. Who sits in the White House come Jan. 2009 will go a long way toward determining just how safe we'll be in our own cities and towns, not to mention our military overseas. And those for whom abortion is a large issue, ANY RINO would be preferable, because there might be some chance a strict constructionist might get through the vetting process. With any of the Dems, there's no chance at all, and when the three older liberals retire off the Supremes, they will be replaced by even more rabid liberals than they. This would hurt our nation, judicially AND socially, for another generation.
Fred on FOX (finally)
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