Yes... And we don't understand exactly what happened to the Fred we originally sent to Washington, D.C.
Don't get me wrong... I don't hate the man... I don't dislike the man... In fact I really admired the "old" Fred that we saw when he first ran for office. I'm just confused by his actions as of late. I would like to know "Why the change?"
I spent a good deal of time talking to him one day at a small airport, just before his first election that sent him to D.C. (I live just up the road from his hometown of Lawrenceburg, TN.) He, at that time, was almost Reagan-like. Not a "middle of the road" or "moderate" statement came out of him at that time. He got elected, went to Washington, and made the people that voted for him very happy... The principles on which he ran for office were still with him in D.C.
I will never forget his common sense approach during the "Ruby Ridge" hearings: "We are all here, and all of this time and money is being spent, because an old boy sat under a tree with a hacksaw and cut an inch and a half off of a shotgun barrel..." He then proceded to take the bureaucrats to task.
I regularly spoke with his son up in Nashville, and was one of the people urging him to run for president... But something changed... I don't know if he just got tired of the political game or just got tired, period. I was never so disheartened in my life as I was to see the sorry way he ran his presidential campaign. Left the starting gate too late, and then never really broke from a canter into a full run. Why did he even bother?
Regards,
Raven6
Good post. I think Fred always had a great sense of duty. He was always very willing to serve his constituents and his country. When there was a groundswell of support for him in ‘08, I think he felt compelled to run, and then just discovered his heart wasn’t in it. You can’t fault the man, if he doesn’t have it, then he can’t fake it, and I certainly can’t blame him for tiring of the political game.