Posted on 01/13/2008 1:01:49 PM PST by TornadoAlley3
Six days before South Carolina Republicans go to the polls, the spat between the Southerners who need to win that crucial primary -- former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee -- continues to get uglier and uglier, even as both men tread more lightly on the candidate who leads the most recent poll in that state, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
"Fred Thompson talks about putting America first, and yet he's the one who is a registered foreign agent, lobbied for foreign countries, was in a law firm that did lobbying work for Libya," Huckabee charged Sunday morning on CNN.
Thompson, who had launched an aggressive attack against Huckabee's record during Thursday night's GOP debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C., responded by insinuating that Huckabee is in truth nastier than his sunny demeanor, is unprepared for the presidency, and is making personal attacks while Thompson is "talking about issues concerning this country."
Huckabee has "raised enough money now to get some hit pieces and dredge up personal stuff and personal accusations against me," Thompson told CNN. "And now you're seeing the real Mike Huckabee come out. So, I think we've done a favor to the American people. Because these are serious times, and they require somebody that knows what they're doing and doesn't walk into a situation with foreign representatives and heads of foreign nations with training wheels on."
Since 1980, no Republican has won the presidency without first winning the South Carolina primary. But in this year's unpredictable GOP contest, with any number of possible nominees and no clear frontrunner, the South Carolina primary has taken on extra importance -- for Huckabee and Thompson in particular.
Huckabee needs to demonstrate that his Iowa caucus victory Jan. 3 wasn't a fluke, and that his scotch-tape-and-rubber-bands campaign is capable of going national. For his part, Thompson needs to win somewhere. Anywhere.
Addressing the substance of Huckabee's charges, Thompson Sunday acknowledged he was "in a law firm that did some lobbying work for Libya," but his involvement was minimal. He said he'd registered with the government because of "five minutes' worth of contribution" to discussions about another client, Haiti.
"It was totally consistent with the policies of this country, where a dictatorship had taken over that country and we were opposing that," Thompson said.
During the Republican debate Thursday night, Thompson -- about whom even his supporters complain of less-than-energetic campaigning -- showed remarkable pep and vigor, attacking Huckabee for having overseen a net tax increase as Arkansas governor, for having pushed merit scholarships for the children of illegal immigrants, and for having suggested he would sign a nation-wide ban on smoking in public places. He took issue with comments Huckabee made that the Bush administration had demonstrated an "arrogant bunker mentality" in its foreign policy.
"On the one hand, you have the Reagan revolution," Thompson said during the debate. "You have the Reagan coalition of limited government and strong national security. On the other hand, you have the direction that Gov. Huckabee would take us in. He would be a Christian leader, but he would also bring about liberal economic policies, liberal foreign policies. .. That's not the model of the Reagan coalition. That's the model of the Democratic Party."
Huckabee didn't respond much during the debate, but appearing on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" Friday morning, he took his well-known wit literally below the belt, joking, "I think Fred needs some Metamucil. I think it would help a lot. He was in a bad mood last night."
Campaigning Friday in Michigan, Huckabee went on the attack more substantively.
"It was real interesting hearing Fred Thompson talk about Ronald Reagan last night," Huckabee said. "Because Fred Thompson supported [then-President] Gerald Ford in 1976 and not Ronald Reagan. He supported [then-Sen.] Howard Baker in 1980 and not Ronald Reagan. I appreciate his recent conversion, but some of us were for Ronald Reagan back in the early days; our legacy goes back a little further."
Huckabee also tried to paint Thompson as having been an undistinguished senator.
"Eight years is a pretty long time to get a check from the federal government and not be able to say" he was responsible for any major legislation, Huckabee said.
On Saturday, Thompson called the criticism of his previous support of Ford and Baker as "kind of silly. Howard Baker was my mentor and personal friend in Tennessee for years and years. If you check the record, Gov. Huckabee supported Democrats on a fairly consistent basis in his days in Arkansas politics. I don't think he wants to get into that discussion. We'll see."
Of Huckabee's Metamucil's joke, on Sunday morning Thompson said "his response was to return fire with some potty humor. That's the best he could come up with for the last three days."
He added that he was happy to compare his record to Huckabee's, whom he described as "having raised taxes $500 million more than he cut." He described Huckabee's criticisms of the Bush administration as "blame-America-first comments," and pointed out, correctly, the Huckabee campaign chairman Ed Rollins had called the Reagan coalition dead.
Huckabee, Thompson charged, "talked around the subject and smiled and giggled and told a couple of jokes. When I came back, I said, 'You know, this is about the heart and mind of the Republican Party, because I don't believe it [the Reagan coalition] is [dead].'"
Said Huckabee, "The Writers Guild strike needs to end soon. Fred's got to get some better lines. Calling me a liberal would be laughable in Arkansas, where people recognized -- if anything, they called me this ultra-conservative guy. ... It's always interesting to me, when people get desperate, they start grabbing for anything."
Thompson responded that he had been asking questions about Huckabee's support for closing down the prison at Guantanamo Bay, his support for public programs for the children of illegal immigrants, and the fact that he was endorsed by a teachers' union.
"These are substantive issues," Thompson said. "These are not personal attacks. If the governor wants to get into personal attacks and things that happened some years ago and things that they've done and allegations, there's enough on the record in Arkansas that will keep us busy for the rest of this campaign."
Or at least until Saturday.
What? Where did Fred rewrite his history?
Huck, of course, has no history. He wasn’t playing with the big boys yet in 1976 and 1980. He helped plan a rally in 1980. So what?
You are saying Ronald Reagan supported abortion so it’s okay for Fred Thompson to do the same? That is revolting!
Many of us did not know how great he was going to be.
I am pretty darn sure how bad a guy that pardoned 1000 crooks including child rapists and murders is going to be...
Which ones? The ones he gave yesterday? Or the ones he gave two months ago? Or the ones he gave in Arkansas?
Guess who owns the Tennesee rifle? Those fat wild turkeys that fly around there should be on a grille. Mmmm. With stuffing, cranberries and salad. And fresh bread. Mmmm. I’m turning on the Food Channel so that biker babe can show me how to cook:)
You Huck folks sure are a gullible lot. The left thanks you for your efforts. Getting Huck in the general is a Win Win for them and the up and coming American version of the Christian Democrats.
It is sad to support socialist, sadder still when you don’t even realize it...
We'll see. You do your candidate a huge disservice my propogating demonstrable lies. In fact, it really pisses people off. Fred will, I predict, kick Huck's A$$ all over the South and it will be because of people like you. No one wants to be associated with the likes of you.
The more one learns about Huck and his supporters, the more repugnant they seem. Repugnant. That being said, I am done with you.
Um...no. Though it's no surprise that you have trouble with reading comprehension. There was an assertion that anyone with conservative principles supported Reagan in 1976. To which I responded, "Even though he was still pro-choice then"? (Making the evidently hard-for-you-to-grasp point that principled conservatives might have trouble supporting an explicitly pro-choice candidate.)
Thank you, now, please drive through.
Yes it is.
''National'' polls? Run by whom? Zogby, Rasmussen? Gallup? Any of the LSM? He who takes ANY poll's result at face value these days is little more than a dupe, and begging to be deceived.
It takes a thief to catch a thief, but a Republican big-taxer big-spender doesn't either catch or beat a Marxist big-tax big-spender very often. And a RINO doesn't ever defeat a politically competent (that's the operative word--see 'Dukakis' for an example of an incompetent) 'Rat.
But, no, as long as the yokels see this con man saying 'prolife' 100 times a day and thumpin' the Bible t'beat the band, you're happy.
Good luck to you. You're going to need it.
Repugnant, I like it...
I was thinking gullible morons my self...
The fact that Huckabee wants a national smoking ban enforced by the federal government does it for me......
Where is it written that the role of government is to engineer how we act and what we do? And this guy calls himself a Repub....
Hit the road Huck.....
I'd put Guiliani ahead of McCain based on his record of cutting taxes in NYC while McCain initially blocked the Bush tax cuts.
Otherwise, you are spot on, except that the gulf between Romney and Guiliani is so great, I'm not sure I could make the leap. If it was McCain or the Huckster, I'm sure I couldn't!
Hogwash. Fred has picked up many endorsements from Pro-Life organizations. I haven't heard anyone say they would vote for Thompson if he was only more pro-life.
Nobody is fooled by the abortion lobbyist Thompson’s campaign lies. We Christian Conservatives aren’t as stupid as Fred thinks we are.
Oh, please. Fred's voting record was 100% PRO LIFE. I understand he's not in favor of a constitutional amendment. Face it, the amendment is not going to happen, at least not any time soon. The best chance we have to reduce and eliminate abortions is for the USSC to recognize the un-born as persons, and thus afforded the full protection of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". Short of that, it's to have the USSC to overturn Roe V Wade and give it back to the states. The only way either of those will happen is with strict Constitutionalist Federalist judges appointed. Fred will do that.
Sorry to upset you.
Nobody will even know Fred’s name a month from now! You will be a pissed off loser and nobody will care at all!
Tlaloc, Mexican Aztec god who commanded child sacrifice, you are a liar. You make statements that are thoroughly untrue - and you probably know they are untrue.
You support a liberal, big government, pro-illegal immigration, tax-and-spend socialist who claims, as Jim Bakker-types and the rest of the televangelists the huckster dropped out of seminar to work for, that he is a Christian. what would Jesus say to someone who lied as you do? (Hint: it starts with hypo- and ends with crite.)
Just because you say His name, does not mean you follow His teachings. Have you no shame?
That’s probably just the reverse order that they will finish in the polls. Good luck with that.
Fred opposes the Republican Party abortion platform. Huck supports it. That’s why he is winning. All the endorsements in the world won’t change that fact.
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