Posted on 01/23/2008 12:46:20 AM PST by gpapa
‘We need to deserve to lead. And this is what this is all about; it’s about deserving to lead.”
That was Fred Thompson on Saturday in South Carolina during a sincere, passionate, well-grounded speech that sounded like his farewell to the campaign trail. With his announcement Tuesday afternoon that he has withdrawn his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president, we now know it was. It was a bittersweet moment for any conservative who had been watching his campaign and wished it had been a more effective one earlier in the process. It was also a moment for the ages — one that every civics class in America should reflect upon: Politics is about policy and service to this great nation; that’s what makes the campaign worthwhile. That’s why you put up with the trophy-wife slanders and Chris Matthews’s questions.
It was about a year ago that Thompson filled in for radio legend Paul Harvey on ABC radio. In commentaries we reprinted here on National Review Online, the former Tennessee senator took on Ahmadinejad, anti-Americanism, Hugo Chavez, feminists, Islamic radicals, and even the Sainted Al Gore’s inconvenient religion. He praised the work of our men and women in uniform. He took on immigration plans offered by the president and John McCain.
You got the sense from those commentaries that he just gets it. He cares about his country and he cares about common sense. The good conservative sense Thompson articulated certainly resonated — the blogosphere got enthused for a possible presidential run. They could get into this guy.
(Excerpt) Read more at article.nationalreview.com ...
Fred came in 3rd in South Carolina. Get your facts straight first, then form your opinions.
By the way, how many primaries has Ron Paul won?
In how many has he taken third?
” By the way, how many primaries has Ron Paul won?
In how many has he taken third?”
Whdo you care? You think he’s a 1%er.
Fred is out of money - that’s why he dropped.
Ron is in it to win it.
Soon it will be just Paul and Romney.
Long time advocate of liberty vs longtime advocate of gun control, abortion, government bailouts, and state mandated health care.
What, did that come to you in a dream?
The Thompson campaign is actually in reasonable shape financially.
As for Ron Paul, hey I might vote for him. He's a lot closer to my politics than any of the others still in the race. But you are little better than a crack-head if you think he can win the thing.
” The Thompson campaign is actually in reasonable shape financially.”
His staff went with half salaries for January - it was one reason he killed it. Most of them are people with families to support.
“As for Ron Paul, hey I might vote for him. He’s a lot closer to my politics than any of the others still in the race. But you are little better than a crack-head if you think he can win the thing.”
It’s a long shot but he could win.
Honestly JV, I don’t know how he’d have had the energy to do a come-from-behind campaign and take care of an extremely ill mother. That’d stretch anyone very thin. For some people, family comes first before all else.
I think your analysis is correct though. Fred kept his powder dry, and Rudy and Huck are almost done. McCain is pretty thin too. Fred had a very motivated core, and I think if he’d of stayed in it would have been him and Romney in short order. It’s unfortunate things went down like they did.
If she liked Fred that much, why didn’t she support him all along? Might have been a help to his campaign.
I still respect the man, and hope he continues speaking out for conservatism. Maybe it will raise the bar for the remaining candidates.
>Had conservatives gotten involved in their state Republican Parties, we would not have independents voting the primaries
Guess what? Independents do not vote in our primaries.
I challenge anyone - YOU - to show a state more heavily run by conservatives holding the seats of office, or that has lower taxes.
>But, like so many conservatives, you just want to cry and take your marbles home. You don’t want to play anymore and that demonstrates a juvenile understanding of politics.
Rude, insulting, and uninformed.
I am guessing that, at this moment, I have more direct involvement in politics then you do. - If you have any.
Good day.
Who did you want to waste your vote for?
It is really sad. The peeps, the masses, go for show. They go for that desperate glint in the eye that they see in their soap opera and movie stars. Abe Lincoln would NEVER have happened.
How many times did we hear someone on FR say that Fred was their first choice but they wanted their vote to count for stopping someone else, or they just wanted to vote for the poll perceived winner?
I understand and feel all the disappointment. I wish he had stayed in as well. But to criticize him to this extent now makes us no better than the other half that dumped on him for stupid reasons last year.
The fair weather conservatives let him down. We can’t blame this on one the RINO’s.
“I will also be doing a few more things.
1. Buy more ‘black guns’
2. Buy more ammo by the crate if possible.
3. Buy components for reloading.”
Good thinking Pistolshot. Turn a negative into a positive. Now that I don’t have to contribute to a presidential campaign, I have more money available for the above.
“It had long been assumed that if Thompson dropped out he would almost certainly support McCain. Thompson was one of a handful of senators to support McCain’s 2000 presidential bid, and the two men had been friends and allies in the Senate.”
I think this line was pushed to suppress the Thompson vote. We shall see. I doubt if Thompson endorses anyone during the primaries.
Agreed on all points, but the point I have tried to make over and over here is that the “strategic voting” that you allude to was about to end. The field was narrowing with the imminent departure of Huckabee from effective campaigning, and also Giuliani was also about tobecome a non-factor.
By the way have you heard that the Louisiana caucus yesterday would have been overwhelmingly Thompson’s and put him no. 1 or 2 in delegate count? As it turned out he quit hours before the gatherings in Louisiana and they went uncommitted instead.
Great timing, eh?
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