Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Who torpedoed Fred Thompson in Iowa?
Vanity | 27 August 2009 | Question

Posted on 08/27/2009 10:21:54 AM PDT by TexasGunRunner

Back during the 2008 Iowa Cacuses, a rumor was circulated the night before that Fred Thompson was going to pull out of the race.

During an interview the next day, Thompson said he knew who was behind it, but refused to discuss beyond saying it cost him "a couple of points".

I understand during the election, nobody was going to admit who did it, certainly not until after November. OK, November came, went, and now the socialist-in-chief has everybody distracted, so, I ask:

who did it?


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Government; Miscellaneous; Politics/Elections; US: Iowa
KEYWORDS: 2008rncconvention; chat; election; fredthompson; iowa; romney; romney4obama; romneyantigop; romneyantipalin; romneyantithompson; sniff19; trick
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100101-120121-140141-151 next last
To: Gene Eric

Was a Fredhead from the gitgo, but I have to agree, Fred didn’t seem inspired enough. My guess is that he was sucker punched behind the scenes and for some reason choose to not hit back or speak out. It would be difficult not to suspect Mclame, but the who, what and how we’ll never know.


101 posted on 08/27/2009 2:27:58 PM PDT by dusttoyou (libs are all wee wee'd up and no place to go)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Nuc1
So let me get this straight.

Fred Thompson pretended to run a campaign in order to draw votes from.... Hunter? Huckabee? Paul? (I've seen that claim from supporters of each.)

And then, once McCain won the nomination, Fred put "mission accomplished" on his own website in order to expose his own ruse and rub it in?

That's got to be the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
102 posted on 08/27/2009 2:29:36 PM PDT by MitchellC
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: MitchellC

It didn’t take long to stoop to name calling, did it?

Actually, other than the bought and paid for media, I lay much of Congressman Hunter’s problems to seriously unskilled campaign management. I think that staunch conservatives are getting pretty fed up being mooned by the left. And the left isn’t only in the Dinocratic party either.


103 posted on 08/27/2009 2:55:58 PM PDT by Paperdoll (DL Hunter/S Palin or S Palin/DL Hunter 2012)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 98 | View Replies]

To: Paperdoll

Just calling it like I see it, what with your conspiro-wacky slandering of Thompson.


104 posted on 08/27/2009 3:02:00 PM PDT by MitchellC
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 103 | View Replies]

To: CaspersGh0sts

Revisionist history from a Mittbot. How surprising...


105 posted on 08/27/2009 3:09:34 PM PDT by perfect_rovian_storm (The worst is behind us. Unfortunately it is really well endowed.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 84 | View Replies]

To: Fledermaus
Fred was only there to take votes away from Romney for McCain. But something happened...Huckabee started taking votes from both and even Fred.

So Fred did his job and at least took enough conservative votes to water down Mitt and Mike and let Juan McLame win the nomination and start losing the race.

I am constantly amazed at how many people on FR don't understand the concept that, in things like primary elections, you have a zero-sum game. When one guy gets a vote, the others guys lose that vote. Fred (ostensibly) wanted to win, and since he was conservative, would take away votes from other conservatives, as well as those like Romney who were pretending to be conservative. This isn't being a spoiler for McCain, it's called "running in a crowded primary field." Get over it.

And BTW, which is it? Was Fred in the race to steal votes from Huckabee, or was he in to steal votes from Romney, since you seem to be trying to advance both conspiracy theories, laughably, at the same time.

By your logic, how do we know that Romney and Huckabee weren't in the race to steal votes from Fred, hunh? How do we know Romney wasn't a spoiler who was in the race to keep Fred from getting anywhere and to give the nomination to McCain?

106 posted on 08/27/2009 3:19:27 PM PDT by Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus (We bury Democrats face down so that when they scratch, they get closer to home.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 93 | View Replies]

To: SaraJohnson
I think Fred was a spoiler for his good friend McCain.

How do we know that Romney wasn't the spoiler instead?

107 posted on 08/27/2009 3:20:21 PM PDT by Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus (We bury Democrats face down so that when they scratch, they get closer to home.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 100 | View Replies]

To: Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus

You are confusing the term spoiled with spoiler. ; )


108 posted on 08/27/2009 3:21:35 PM PDT by SaraJohnson
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 107 | View Replies]

To: Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus

I’m convinced he was in it for the money


109 posted on 08/27/2009 3:21:42 PM PDT by bert (K.E. N.P. +12 . fasl el-khitab)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 106 | View Replies]

To: Paperdoll
Actually, other than the bought and paid for media, I lay much of Congressman Hunter’s problems to seriously unskilled campaign management.

I lay a lot of the blame for DH's poor showing on his supporters. I liked DH, he was my number two choice, but his supporters here on Free Republic turned me off, bigtime. I hate to say it, but on the personal and grassroots level, unmitigated jerkwaddery can do a lot to drive people away from a campaign, and the completely unwarranted high horse attitude adopted by a lot of Duncanista FReepers gave their candidate a bad name.

110 posted on 08/27/2009 3:23:37 PM PDT by Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus (We bury Democrats face down so that when they scratch, they get closer to home.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 103 | View Replies]

To: McGruff
If you want to fix something fix the way our candidate is selected. By the time you get to the Republican only primary states the MSM has already picked our candidate.

And that, my FRiend, is the crux of the matter. Here is what I would like to see, from a thread I posted right after the election:

Close all republican presidential primaries. Allowing non party members to choose the nominees of the party makes as much sense as allowing China to vote in our national elections.

Establish five set dates for presidential primary elections between May and July of the year of the election. Separate the 50 states into five groups of ten states each. Rotate the groups each election cycle. Americans are paying billions of dollars for ethanol subsidies that have no practical purpose other than to set the ground work for members of congress seeking the Iowa caucus vote in the next presidential cycle.

I think if FReepers want to make a real contribution to national politics this would be a good place to start.

111 posted on 08/27/2009 3:40:19 PM PDT by Pan_Yan (All grey areas are fabrications.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: MitchellC

>Just calling it like I see it.....

LOL! I was just calling him (FDT) the way I see him. :)

Allow me to acquaint you with a few facts. FDT voted for the RNC to trash it’s Contract with America. That’s when I took a good hard look at anyone who favored abortion. Defeating Roe vs Wade was part of that contract. FDT was also closely involved with McCain’s shenanigans, such as McCain-Feingold, which gave George Soro o the power he has today. etc. Also FDT is very soft on amnesty Flor illegals. At least he was when he was campaigning.


112 posted on 08/27/2009 3:46:32 PM PDT by Paperdoll (DL Hunter/S Palin or S Palin/DL Hunter 2012)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 104 | View Replies]

To: MitchellC

Might be the dumbest thing you ever heard but Fred’s own actions support it. The thought I believe was to prevent the conservative vote from coalescing around a conservative candidate so as to deny McCain the nomination. IMHO Fred Thompson would have won the nomination if he had campaigned for it. These folks are quite capable of formulating and executing simple plans such as this. Why do you they couldn’t or wouldn’t?


113 posted on 08/27/2009 4:15:32 PM PDT by Nuc1 (NUC1 Sub pusher SSN 668 (Liberals Aren't Patriots))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 102 | View Replies]

To: Pan_Yan
Establish five set dates for presidential primary elections between May and July of the year of the election. Separate the 50 states into five groups of ten states each. Rotate the groups each election cycle. Americans are paying billions of dollars for ethanol subsidies that have no practical purpose other than to set the ground work for members of congress seeking the Iowa caucus vote in the next presidential cycle.

You and I get it. Now if someone in the RNC can get their head out of their...

114 posted on 08/27/2009 4:19:05 PM PDT by McGruff
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 111 | View Replies]

To: TexasGunRunner
Fred only started a moderately strong campaign when it was all but certain McCain had the nomination. Remember the questions of the time? Why isn't Fred fighting? Where is his passion? Does he really want the office? Ad infinitum. How do you know that Fred didn't start the rumor? Do you know who did?
115 posted on 08/27/2009 4:34:05 PM PDT by Nuc1 (NUC1 Sub pusher SSN 668 (Liberals Aren't Patriots))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: Nuc1
to prevent the conservative vote from coalescing around a conservative candidate so as to deny McCain the nomination.

Absurd. Fred Thompson was the only real conservative among the five serious candidates: McCain, Romney, Rudy, Huckster, and Fred. There were no conservative candidates besides Fred who could have beaten McCain. That is why conservatives begged Fred to run.

116 posted on 08/27/2009 4:34:44 PM PDT by iowamark (certified by Michael Steele as "ugly and incendiary")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 113 | View Replies]

To: abb
That is precisely what took place.

Concur.

117 posted on 08/27/2009 4:35:35 PM PDT by Nuc1 (NUC1 Sub pusher SSN 668 (Liberals Aren't Patriots))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: US Navy Vet

No one ran a good campaign, or else they wouldn’t have lost to a boob like McCain.


118 posted on 08/27/2009 4:37:53 PM PDT by The Pack Knight (Duty, Honor, Country)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus

Yeah, some among us mistake facts for bashing. I guess knowing everything about a candidate before deciding to give him/her your vote is considred bad sense in some circles. Ah, well. So we all lost.


119 posted on 08/27/2009 4:42:04 PM PDT by Paperdoll (DL Hunter/S Palin or S Palin/DL Hunter 2012)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 110 | View Replies]

To: iowamark

None are so blind as those who refuse to see.


120 posted on 08/27/2009 4:44:09 PM PDT by Paperdoll (DL Hunter/S Palin or S Palin/DL Hunter 2012)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 116 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100101-120121-140141-151 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson