Posted on 05/01/2007 3:08:56 PM PDT by Politicalmom
Tuesday, May 1:
EXCLUSIVE! Former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson sits down with us tonight. Will he or won't he enter the 2008 presidential race?
Given your “analysis”, I don’t believe you’ve ever been in NY, Conn, or MA. I wonder if you’ve ever been on college campus.
Those who espouse liberal thought have much stronger and deeper support than you portray.
I get you about the odd lack of enthusiasm for Mitt. In a way, he seems to have it all. He’s young, good looking, articulate, has a funny (if low key)personality. I would love to see him as Veep so the country could get to know him.
I think a lot of people are afraid the Mormon thing would drag him down and are desperate for a candidate who could win.
But Fred just has a presence and charisma...and, it’s hard to explain but, there it is.
Hoefully that comes true
All - I’m late to this thread - Thanks for the running commentary and highlights.. Sounds like he “done good”
I agree with you about Mitt.
I would support and work for Romney without reservation.
the you tube vids are a little better:
oops “Hopefully”
what a slip!
Where's the evidence that Fred Thompson has left behind his moderate mindset and adopted our conservative agenda?
Why should Thompson get a pass, when no one else has?
If we don't demand that he prove himself now, how can we expect to have any influence down the road?
(Does the emperor have any clothes?)
Yeah, I’ve considered calling his hate hannity line to call him out on his hypocritical shilling for Rudy who stands for most of what Sean says he’s against
cool, thanks I’ll check ‘em out!
cool, thanks I watched it on TV last night though.
Yeah, if you listen to him daily on his radio AND tv show, you’ll see his pattern of pushing Rudy. I think his interview with Fred may have interrupted that though...
Look at his voting record in the senate, ya goof. Also on one of the ping lists you can get to a page full of all of his speeches, etc. including some discussion of McCain Feingold. If you are genuinely interested the info is only a few clicks away.
If all you want to do is try to muddy the waters with questions I and many of us had 2 months ago that have been answered over and over and over and over again, well then you’re just wasting your time. Our FRiends who want to get answers can do so easily, those who want to try and sew doubt for alterior motives will generally be ignored and/or flamed.
Sean likes the way Rudy handled NYC, and believes the WoT is the foremost concern. He doesn’t like Rudy’s stance on social issues, and badgers him consistantly about why social conservatives should be expected to support his candidacy.
I don’t know why this approach would bother you, but given Sean’s very well known socially conservative stances, I believe he handles Rudy well. I don’t believe he will be working for Rudy in any primary situation. He clearly does not agree with him in this respect.
It’s plenty for now.
RUNFREDRUNFREDRUNFREDRUNFREDRUNFREDRUNFRED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m not claiming Thompson is a Buckley conservative. What he is is a guy who is legitimately conservative enough to get the base excited and that can probably woo the squishy middle as well. I think he can probably pull a lot of Liebermann style democrats and be the first president since Reagan to govern with a real mandate.
The problem with Rudy is that there are too many of us that won’t vote for him no way, no how. I’ll immanentize the eschaton first.
(I’m not arguing with you, just chose you as a vehicle to comment on some things I’ve seen in the last 30 posts or so.)
George Allen had a decent pro-life voting record in the Senate, too. Yet he supported first-trimester abortions. Reportedly, Fred Thompon held the same view, did not support the pro-life plank in the party, opposed a human life amendment to end abortion, opposed criminalizing doctors who perform abortion, and urged that "we need to concentrate on what brings us together and not what divides us."
"I think when you get right down to the question that youve posed, should the government come in and criminalize, lets say, a young girl and her parents and her doctor--which, as aiders and abettors, that would be involved--I think not." -- Fred Thompson, 1994 debate (Note that most pro-life advocates favor punishments on doctors, not mothers and their parents.)
August 18, 1999
Web posted at: 1:38 p.m. EDT (1738 GMT)
KANSAS CITY, Missouri (CNN) -- Sen. John McCain's bid for the Republican 2000 presidential nomination got a boost Wednesday when he was endorsed by fellow Sen. Fred Thompson, who joined McCain's campaign as national co-chairman.
"When it comes to personal courage and integrity and the courage to do what he thinks is right, regardless of whether or not it's particularly popular at the moment, John McCain has shown characteristics of leadership like no one else I've ever seen," Thompson said at a press conference.
Thompson, a Tennessee Republican, and McCain are both independent minded senators who have bucked their party, most notably on the issue of campaign finance reform. McCain has repeatedly sponsored a campaign finance reform bill with Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) to ban the so-called "soft money" donated to political parties and Thompson has endorsed his efforts.
When it comes to reform of the way Washington does business, John McCain is the leader," Thompson said.
McCain is a three-term GOP senator from Arizona. He was a Navy fighter pilot during the Vietnam war who spent nearly six years as a prisoner of war.
Thompson headed a Senate investigation into President Bill Clinton's campaign fund-raising practices and was once mentioned as a possible presidential candidate himself.
In preparing for the Senate campaign finance hearings, Thompson irritated several Republicans when he expressed a desire to investigate congressional campaigns, possibly putting certain GOP congressmen at risk for fund-raising wrongdoing. In the end, the Senate approved an extended investigation.
Thompson had endorsed his campaign of his fellow Tennessean, Lamar Alexander, who dropped out of the GOP race after his poor showing in the Iowa straw poll. Alexander said his showing hurt his ability to raise money. Thompson said he had told McCain that he would help him if Alexander left the race, and they both said they regretted Alexander's decision to drop out.
"I regretted the circumstances because it seemed to be about money rather than ideas," McCain said.
At the press conference and in an earlier speech before the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention, McCain criticized the Clinton Administration for its foreign policy, saying it lacked coherence.
Thompson's endorsement went to McCain after Lamar Alexander dropped out of the race |
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"This administration has conducted a feckless, photo-op foreign policy which is always surprised, which always reacts and reacts on an ad-hoc basis," he said.
Thompson said that during the war in Kosovo, McCain became the only credible voice in Washington on the subject. Once the U.S. began bombing, McCain was forthright that the U.S. must win the war at all costs once it committed.
"During this last encounter, John McCain became the leading voice on this issue in Washington, D.C., including the White House," Thompson said, adding "the fact of the matter is that he took a strong position early on because he was able to analyze it and he had the courage to go forward with it, and he turned out to be right, which always helps."
McCain did not spare his fellow members of Congress, saying that pork-barrel spending continues to dominate the appropriations process, especially defense spending, which is the largest appropriations bill.
"Congress looks at the defense appropriations bill the way Willie Sutton used to look at banks," he said, referring to the bank robber who said he robbed banks because "that's where the money is."
In his VFW speech, he pounded Congress for not closing unneeded military bases and military depots while armed service personnel qualify for food stamps and veterans' needs go unfunded. "I'm ashamed that Congress finds billions for pork-barrel subsidies but fails to find money for veterans' health care," McCain said.
He also said that both Congress and the Clinton Administration have failed to fund defense spending properly and military readiness has suffered.
"For nearly a decade now, government has failed to meet its most important responsibility -- to provide for the common defense," he said in his speech to the VFW.
Questioned about gun control, McCain said existing laws should be enforced, noting that the Clinton Administration has been "derelict" in doing that. But he also said that he supported the recent gun control legislation passed by the Senate and he also said that in light of the recent spate of shootings, new proposals by the Clinton Administration should be looked at by Congress and not dismissed out of hand.
My vote is something he has to earn.
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