Posted on 01/19/2008 6:31:23 PM PST by FocusNexus
Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson didn't drop out of the Republican presidential field after his disappointing finish in Saturday's South Carolina primary -- but he sounded close to it.
About an hour after the polls closed, Thompson addressed a ballroom in a college student union, an event that featured as many students enjoying free beer as it did hardcore Thompson supporters. He delivered a lengthy soliloquy, speaking in the past tense about "clear conservatism," the cornerstone of his campaign.
"My friends, we will always be bound by a close bond because we have traveled a very special road together for a very special purpose," Thompson told the crowd. "It's never even been about me, it's never been about you. It's been about our country."
Thompson's campaign declined to say whether the speech was a concession, a swan song, a stump speech to signal that he's fighting on, or what. Campaign spokesmen wouldn't say what the former Tennessee senator's next move is.
"The campaign is still a campaign until it's not the campaign," said Rich Galen, a Thompson campaign senior adviser. "There's no hurry to make a decision, other than your deadline. I don't have anything to add -- not tonight."
Thompson conceded earlier Saturday that he needed a win in South Carolina to keep his presidential campaign alive.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
“What happened to Thompson? One word: Huckabee,” said Clemson University political science professor Dave Woodard. “He stole all his (Thompson’s) votes. As Huckabee began to rise, he got more money, more mailings, and the values voters who were going to Fred switched allegiances to Huckabee.”
That would seem to not make any sense. Didn’t Fred enter the race AFTER Huckabee?
“McPain and GWB are on the same page re: amnesty. So what? If you have proamnesty vs proamnesty in the general election, you have to look to other factors to make a choice. For me, nat’l defense makes the choice of GOP v DEM very clear, and very easy.”
Just one serious terrorist act carried out by people who crossed our southern border and Jorge and McPain might finally be able to make the logical linkage between national security and non-enforcement of our borders and immigration laws. Or, American citizens would make the link and find Jorge and McPain to be two of those most responsible for ongoing non-enforcement.
I can’t take one word seriously anyone says about national security if they aren’t for strict border and internal enforcement of immigration laws.
Jorge Bush and Juan McPain are two of the least serious office holders when it comes to national security.
The World Trade Center was not located in Baghdad or Kabul.
McPain is one of many of our traitors on the Mexican border conflict, and this evening a Border Patrol agent was shot and killed while in pursuit of someone in a Humvee illegally crossing into California. They turned and sped back to Mexico. Thanks, McPain, and sorry to say, Bush, there is going to be war down there yet.
“No Huck staying in takes votes from Thompson a real conservative”
You honestly think Huckabee and Thompson are pulling from the same pool of voters? The two are opposites. Huckabee believes the government should force a segment of the population’s values on the entire population. Fred believes the government shouldn’t be involved. Their messages don’t even begin to overlap.
The question is whether or not the GOP is willing to accept the facts. We are in quite the pickle without a consensus candidate. None of the others fits the bill. So if Fred is gone and there is a ceiling on the support of each of the others, where will it leave the party?
Maybe one of them eeks out the required delegates, but where will the base be during the run? Only the portion of the base that belongs to whatever faction wins will be sending money and working toward the general. It's quite possible a large majority will sit out the vote, too. Especially since our nominee, whichever left leaning one we pick, will almost certainly run back to the left in the general because all of them have been there in the past, are most comfortable there, and they believe they will need to do that to win.
In a race with leftists, we can't win with one of the left tilting baggage queens we have to choose from. In addition, we have the probability that Ron Paul will run 3rd party. We will no doubt lose many of those from the base who are still inclined to participate to a protest vote. [Sorry, but an angry, betrayed base will do things like that. Remember Ross Perot?]
So, ultimately, the party will be faced with the elephant in The Elephant's living room. The reason Fred was drafted was because, among the remaining field, no one passes as a convincing conservative and the weight of the baggage they all carry puts off large segments of the voting population for each one of them. One even has mental problems no one wants to openly discuss.
So what is the GOP to do? Without Fred or another conservative uniter in the race, we are heading off the cliff no matter whom we choose. The only possible hope may be to pray we can't pick and hope that somewhere, in a smoky back room at the convention, some acceptable solution is found. But if the consensus is that we should pick from among the candidates who ran in the race, it would have to be Fred Thompson or Duncan Hunter.
So, round and round we go...and there we are.
They are indeed quite comfortable with that situation for some sick reason ....
*arrrggghhh* (hands over ears) .. Nananananananana....
Otherwise, good uplifting post, thanks!
Most of the people who espouse this particular conspiracy theory believe that Thompson and McCain basically marched in lock-step in the senate, and believe most of the same things.
But if that were true, then they would be competing for the same voters, correct? Logically Thompson would be splitting the McCain vote (or McCain would be splitting the Thompson vote), and without Thompson in the race McCain would have even more support.
*ding* We have a winnuh. That's what you get when you put up a liberal RINO for President.
“Romney is has nothing but money and so far it’s bought him very little.”
Oh yeah, he only has 3 firsts, 2 seconds, and more delegates than anyone else. But I guess that’s nothing.
This party isn't my house -- it's a co-op. And the lifestyles of my co-habitors seem increasingly incompatible with my own.
I heard how afraid the media was of Hunter even today before he withdrew from the race.
I’m sorry, but I’m not buying it. Fred drew his line in the sand in South Carolina and the result was not even close.
He obviously didn’t mean what he said, because he’s going to continue on to Florida without any money or any boldness where he can say he’s drawing the line there. Nobody is afraid of him.
Feel free to retrieve this statement of mine if he proves me wrong in ten days. I don’t like a big plate of crow, but I’ve eaten it before. I’m willing to bet I’ll be eating something else.
Amen, FM Jock!
With Romney, you just simply get screwed. Pathological liar and liberal. Ditto Huckster.
Conservatives have nothing to vote for. Nothing.
Your philosophy appears to be that of the Frog in the kettle....The water is warm and feels nice.......for now...
“Most of the people who espouse this particular conspiracy theory believe that Thompson and McCain basically marched in lock-step in the senate, and believe most of the same things.”
That does seem to be the centerpoint of the argument, along with Thompson’s endorsement of McCain in 2000.
“But if that were true, then they would be competing for the same voters, correct?”
You must remember that Thompson didn’t choose to run, people begged him to. A look back at posts on this very forum at the beginning of last year will reveal the real reason. He was recruited because he was conservative enough, and because he was famous, and his supporters were hoping for an Arnold-esque cruise into the White House.
Truth is always the enemy of the liberal, no matter which party they infest.
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