Posted on 04/11/2007 11:11:59 PM PDT by FairOpinion
On Abortion: "Government should stay out of it... The ultimate decision must be made by the women... Government should treat its citizens as adults capable of making moral decisions on their own." -- Fred Thompson, July 1994
Are the Social Cons ignorant of Thompson's background?
Back in the early to mid-1990s, there was a raging battle in the Republican Party between the Moderates/Libertarians versus the Religious Right. On one side there was Ann Stone's Republicans For Choice, the Ripon Society, Log Cabin Clubs and the organization that I had founded in 1990 - the Republican Liberty Caucus. On the other side was the Religious Right.
Tennessee was right smack dab in the middle of it all.
The leader of the TN Anti-Religious Right forces at the time was Michael McCloskey.
During the same time, Fred Thompson was making noises of running for the US Senate. McCloskey was one of the ones who was influential in recruiting him to run. McCloskey saw him as a Celebrity counter-force to the Religious Right/Pro-Lifers that could win the GOP Nomination.
And the Religious Right, predictably came after Thompson. It was a bitterly fought primary. Thompson's opponent was Religious Rightist John Bakkes. In the end, Thompson's celebrity status carried him through, and he won with 62% to Bakkes's 37%. Many credited McCloskey and his "Young Republican brigades" with helping Thompson's win.
(Excerpt) Read more at libertarianrepublican.blogspot.com ...
He is using the same term President Bush uses.
Conservatives misuse the term all the time. Dubya uses it wrong consistently, most senators on both sides of the aisle use it wrong, and so does Rudy, and so do most of the candidates (I think all of them), and most of their interviewers (have never seen one make the distinction). I have seen Scalia make the distinction, and of course I encountered it in Law School.
I always watch it when Scalia is on CSPAN (usually Saturdays courts hour on CSPAN2), and I know the session you mention. He was very clear that his approach is originalism, and it’s clear from the usage of ‘strict constructionism’ on the part of most conservatives (and almost exclusively on FR) that they mean ‘constitutional orgininalist.’
And another problem I see on FR is the fairly simplistic approach that someone needs to personally be pro life in order to be against the Roe decision. It really doesn’t mean that someone will necessarily vote one way or another on Roe. A pro abortion person or a pro lifer can feel Roe was wrongly decided.
Rudy has been unambiguous that he would appoint judges in the Roberts-Alito mold. Frankly that’s the best pro lifers can hope for now, and it’s good enough for me. And it doesn’t matter much if Roberts or Alito are personally pro life, either.
Nighty night.
And then, once elected, Fred Thompson went on to achieve a good, conservative record in the Senate. Not the most conservative record, but pretty darned good. So, I don’t know what your point is with posting this crap.
The problem with Rudy is very simple, Congress will use whatever his position on abortion, guns, gays, and judges to produce some of the worst Draconian legislation possible, especially if the Dims are in control. And you know what? Rudy will most likely sign it as 'good for the nation', something along the lines of his support for gun control in NYC.
We produce Rudy's PUBLIC record on what he has done as a matter of reference. Not just what some other talking head THINKS. That is what you Rudybots do. Produce opinions of others while ignoring the factual basis for our concerns about Rudy or the reality of voting records for Thompson. Rudy is a liberal, don't kid yourself that just because he will be tough on terror, as ALL the GOP candidates are, that it is the only reason we need him. It's not, there are more far-reaching pitfalls if he gets the nomination.
Thanks, g’nite and God bless!
The point is that some people hold up FT as a conservative icon, even better than Reagan — ignoring all facts and reality about him. And the two main things they point to is that he is against abortion, which he isn’t and his position on gays, which is identical to that of Giuliani.
These same people are applying a double standard, bashing RG for the same thing they ignore in FT.
He's not the perfect conservative. So what? No one says that he is. But your efforts here to help your damned liberal candidate by hurting a decent conservative are just plain wrong. Yes, there are more conservative candidates, but maybe we need a candidate that is just conservative enough to hold the party together and also win the election. Your candidate is a damned liberal who will lose the general election and destroy the party and the conservative movement in the process. I'll take just conservative enough long before I will ever take the crap that you're pushing.
And your lies that his position of gays and abortion is "identical" to Giuliani's is a bald-faced and moronic lie. Lying about conservatives and conservative candidates is NOT an activity that should be tolerated on this conservative forum. Cut the crap.
His promise to appoint judges in the Roberts-Alito mode is nothing more than a sop to pro-lifers and conservatives in general. Rudy is neither personally pro-life nor against the Roe decision. He has rcently stated that a "stict constructionist", whether he understands or uses the term correctly, could uphold Roe. He thinks that the types of judges he woulsd appoint could uphold Roe. It doesn't get more unambiguous than that.
All I posted were FACTS about FT — if you don’t like them, examine your support of him, don’t shoot the messenger, which is what you are doing.
Duncan Hunter/Fred Thompson 2008!
BOTH PRO-LIFE!
Duncan Hunter even spoke at the pro-life march in D.C.
Here a FACT. 100% pro life voting record. Deal with it.
We’ve seen way too many of your dishonest, incomplete “facts”.
Prove a single one of them wrong.
So how come Fred Thompson didn’t come out and disavow it?
The interview and election is on record.
You excerpted TWO lines from an interview and then LIED about what he actually said. It is blatantly dishonest.
Murphey: Some conservatives got flustered by your comments on abortion and Roe vs. Wade. Would you like to explain your position on abortion?
Thompson: Government should stay out of it. No public financing. The ultimate decision must be made by the women. Government should treat its citizens as adults capable of making moral decisions on their own.
That isn’t the one I was talking about. I was talking about the Wallace interview. Thompson wasn’t “waffling” he was questioning whether it was really a lightning round or not.
Then there’s the matter of the thread you posted insinuating that Thompson’s church had mormon roots. It was completely false, and you refused to retract it, so it had to be removed.
And don’t claim that didn’t happen. Lots of us know EXACTLY what happened.
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