Posted on 01/19/2008 12:42:00 PM PST by pissant
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Fred Thompson, trailing Mike Huckabee and John McCain in the polls, will continue his presidential bid even if he finishes third in today's South Carolina primary, his campaign said.
Thompson, who had talked of South Carolina as his last stand, appeared this afternoon at a gun show in a suburban Shriners' auditorium -- a natural fit given his strong support of the Second Amendment right to own firearms. Several patrons wore "Fred '08" stickers on their clothing; as Thompson swept into the packed hall he was greeted by a modest round of applause.
"Go, Fred!" one woman shouted.
"How we doin'?" Thompson asked, greeting passers-by as he walked along the narrow aisles displaying hunting scopes and high-tech shotguns. He shook hands, paused for autographs, and posed for photos snapped on cell phones.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Looks like your dreams will have to go unfulfilled a little longer. Sorry ‘bout that.
Do you actually support a candidate? I’ve looked at your posting history and it is obvious that, despite your denials, you hate Fred Thompson with burning and destructive fire but you’re not doing much FOR anybody. How does it feel to be so empty?
If you haven't sent Fred any money, why is it of any concern to you? I send him some every month. I don't think he's wasted one thin dime of it! I'm thrilled that he's moving on to FL!
Hey- is there an echo in here????
You must need glasses, feller. Or remedial reading classes.
He supports Hunter Duncan.
Wait, that's pretty much the same as what you said: "not doing much FOR anybody" and "empty."
Never mind. Forget it.
They both endorsed him this week pretty much. Rush nearly ended his show with a quoted part of the latest Human Events endorsement, focusing on the part where South Carolina is urged to consider Fred to save the party and the conservative movement. It was pretty close to a pure endorsement, as some may not even have realized he was reading from another’s words. He darted to the commercial right after.
Levin apparently ended one of his shows (Thursday?) asking South Carolinians to vote Fred. I did not hear that one but people on FR were talking about it.
Fred just said he needed to finish strong in SC, not necessarily first. I think he’s doing that, as we speak.
“Interpret how you see fit.”
I’m sure what Fred meant was that he would struggle on even with a 4th place finish. I mean he said he needed to do well....define well...4th could be considered well.
The only reason the MSM reported that Fred said this is because they fear him. FEAR HIM I SAY. That’s the same reason that they keep saying he didn’t win in Iowa. Just because he didn’t get the most votes the MSM keeps saying he didn’t win. Any minute now millions of people will log on to Freds website and read his excellent position papers, and then the true surge will begin...Yep any minute now....Here we go.....Still waitin.....Any minute now...Here it comes...Ready....Ready.... LOL. BTW I love your posts.
Fred Thompson speaks with forked tongue. You said you were drawing a line in the sand, now you are flip-flopping?
If Fred doesn’t finish first or second in South Carolina, he should keep his pledge and drop out of the race.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO_4XEAf61E&feature=related
If you search for “Fred Last Stand”, you will find dozens of hits to stories about South Carolina being his last stand. There’s even one or two where his own aides say it “may” be his last stand. They also joked about it being “Custer’s last stand”.
But they never actually said that they would quit if they lost South Carolina. Nor did Thompson, so far as I have found, ever say the words “last stand” — either to claim it, or to refute those who were saying it.
If this was a Romney thread, the same people of course would be calling him a liar. But I don’t think Fred ever said he was quitting, regardless of how all the news media reported it.
Frankly, it doesn’t really matter. If just staying in the race would eventually get you the nomination, nobody would ever drop out. People don’t drop out because they decide they should NOT get the nomination, they drop out because otherwise they are some sad footnote wasting time, energy, and money.
There’s really no particular reason for a candidate to drop out other than self-preservation. I’m beginning to think nobody is EVER dropping out.
I’m also back to hoping that if Thompson doesn’t put down McCain in South Carolina like Romney and apparently Ron Paul have done in McCain’s back yard, Nevada, I guess I’d like Huckabee to do it.
The WORST out come is that Romney’s keying down in SC to give Thompson a shot does nothing more than put Thompson in 3rd, behing Huckabee AND McCain.
If Thompson can crush Huckabee, or even win, great. But if Thompson is coming in 3rd, I hope Huckabee beats McCain.
That's one big eason why Fred didn't spend a lot of time and money in either Michigan or NH, but did a lot of campaigning in IA and SC.
Likewise, no candidate deserves to win if they do not campaign. Where the heck has Fred been? Not in FL and we have been voting since Monday.
HANNITY: You've said, this is it, this an important state for you. How well do you have to do in South Carolina to continue this campaign?
THOMPSON: I have to do very well. I have to do very well.
Well, I guess it depends on what the meaning of "very well" is. Maybe 3rd place in Fred's mind is "very well." Truth be told, it would be "very well" compared to how he's fared thus far. Trouble is, 2nd place in November gets you nowhere.
You could just post a thread that says “Rush Endorses Thompson”, and another one that says “Levin Endorses Thompson”. (You should ping Levin into that 2nd thread, he might have something to say about it).
I mean, does it really matter whether they both have decided they don’t want to endorse people? Why should we respect their wishes, when we know they REALLY want to endorse Thompson.
We can thank the RNC Chair for this mess.
I hope Fred wins. I want to see that headline. ‘The Centrist Coalition Saves Conservatism’-—— ‘Howard Baker Conciliation, The New Conservatism’. We shall see.
I saw Fred tell Greta van Susteren that he wasn’t going to make any predictions about where he’d end up in the voting, or about any decisions he’d make based on it, because he was more interested in discussing the issues, than the process.
Well, the Primary has been happening. We started voting on MONDAY. It is a two week process and the last day is the 29th. In my county 30% of the vote was in by Tuesday.
Some seem to be staking a hope on a brokered convention, with Thompson being the candidate “acceptable” to everybody.
I think they will be dissappointed if that is the outcome, because I don’t see the RNC picking Thompson.
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