Free Republic

Honey, the Bible says ‘Vote Thompson’ … sort of By Ben Smith David Shafer says there’s been some discord in his marriage of late. The spat’s over the Republican presidential primary. For a state senator and his wife, that might not be a small dispute. Shafer supports Fred Thompson for president. He’s backed the government-lawyer-turned-actor-turned-politician-turned-actor-again-turned-politician-again from the start. However, Shafer’s wife, Lee, is a recent convert to Mike Huckabee. “She was impressed, among other things, with how he is able to communicate his conservatism in an optimistic and nonjudgmental tone,” the Duluth Republican wrote in his blog last week....

Fred Thompson's Christmas 'ad' to savor ---snip--- But Thompson's effort stands out in its simple eloquence and contrast from the other candidates' obvious Christmas ad wars that desperately -- but, oh, so politely -- want to plug the candidates and their families (except in Hillary Clinton's case she's all alone packaging the numerous government programs she's putting under the tree to give away) without really seeming to do so at a holiday time usually reserved for family focus. Watch Thompson's short Thompson-free video about other families, and judge for yourself. --Andrew Malcolm Thompson's 'Christmas Message to the Troops' a...

Bias? More Doubts Raised About The Politico's Thompson Article In this long election cycle, we may be learning as much about media bias as about the candidates. PJM’s Bob Owens has more on the questionable characterization of Fred Thompson by The Politico’s Roger Simon. by Bob Owens Fire Chief Dan McKenzie cast more doubts on The Politico’s chief political correspondent Roger Simon’s version of events at McKenzie’s Waverly, Iowa fire station in Simon’s article “Fred Thompson: Lazy as charged.” Questions had been raised about Simon’s article based on a video of Thompson’s appearance, which seemed to show the candidate...

Tancredo's Iowa director backs Thompson By BILL THEOBALD Link only allowed due to copyright complaints. Thompson picks up Iowa endorsement By Charlotte Eby DES MOINES — Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson earned the endorsement of Iowa conservative Bill Salier today. Salier, a farmer from Nora Springs who ran for the U.S. Senate in 2002, had been serving as the state chairman for Tom Tancredo’s campaign. Tancredo dropped out of the presidential race Thursday. “I am honored to endorse Sen. Fred Thompson for president,” Salier said in a statement. “Sen. Thompson has been a consistently strong advocate in securing our...

Two very long pieces today. I hope you'll take time to read them both. The Impending Thompson Surge By JB Williams Seven major pollsters issued new national numbers for mid-December, after the last Republican debate in Iowa, which was hosted by the hostile Des Moines Register which is for the record, endorsing the Hillary Clinton campaign. An overall average of these seven polls Giuliani – 23% Huckabee – 19.1% Romney – 16% McCain – 13.3% Thompson – 11.3% Undecided – 10.4% Paul – 4.6% Hunter – 1.3% Tancredo - .6% Keyes - .4% Running 5th with only 11.3% support...

Jeri Thompson: Media Criticism has been “Stunningly Unfair” David Brody Jeri Thompson gave it to me straight Tuesday night when I interviewed her at a hotel on the campaign trail in Waterloo, Iowa. There’s been a lot of criticism of her husband since he’s gotten in the race. As you might imagine, she believes it is unfounded. Watch her explain it above. (Video at link) Read the transcription below: David Brody: Has the criticism been unfair and if so why? Jeri Thompson: It has been stunningly unfair. The one thing that anyone that’s been close to Fred, again over...

Fred Thompson gets down to business on Iowa blitz By BILL THEOBALD Tennessean Washington Bureau Link only allowed due to copyright complaints. Fred Thompson Interview with Laura Ingraham 12-18-07 Click on the link. The Envelope Please . . . Posted by Pejman Yousefzadeh (Red State) [I'm going to skip his comments on the other candidates (you can read them at the link) and jump right to what he says about Fred.]---snip--- So I have taken my time in deciding which candidate I will endorse for President of the United States, but with the Iowa Caucuses coming up, it is...

Fred Thompson quiet, 'in touch with the real people' Link only allowed due to copyright complaints Surprise for Romney, Congressman Steve King Endorses Fred Thompson Looks like MSNBC jumped the gun when they announced that Rep. Steve King was endorsing Mitt Romney, then as an update showed that the endorsement went to Fred Thompson. *** UPDATE *** King just announced that he's supporting Thompson. Team Romney is in the back of the room looking bewildered. They were all here, leading all the press to conclude that it was an endorsement for Romney. Stand by for more. From Blogs for...

The Experts vs. The Voters By JB Williams on Dec 16, 07 A Different Analysis of the 2008 Campaign - Modern political analysts are a breed all their own, a mixed cross between statistician, newshound, political junky and covert campaign operative. There is no such thing as an “unbiased” political analyst or political reporter. They all have personal views and personal preferences and none of them can separate those personal thoughts from how they perceive or report political events. In recent years, the news room has become more about shaping public perceptions than about reporting current events in a...

Look Out Mike -- Fred's Finally Awake By John Brummett THE MORNING NEWS Fred Thompson woke up the other day, and it turns out he's feisty and funny. If this had happened a few weeks ago, Fred would be where Mike Huckabee is now and Huckabee would be looking to open that bait shop he talks about. In fact, the book on Huckabee's surge ought to be entitled "While Fred Was Sleeping." You see, there always was a giant gaping opening for a Southern conservative in this odd, flawed Republican field. Rudy Giuliani was too liberal. John McCain was...

Fred Thompson: The Comeback Kid? I mentioned below the commentary from David Brody, but I’m finding several others coming to similar conclusions. I thought I would do a little roundup. [1] David Brody I think it’s pretty clear by now that Thompson is running his campaign the way he said he would. He’s not worried about the media, pundits or the traditional political game as we know it. He’s going to do things his way and talk about substantive issues. Look, he’s a serious guy and these are serious times. Thompson seems to be hitting his stride pretty well...

Fred Thompson: The Stand-Up Guy Who Stood Up Too Late? In Iowa, the former senator gives us a highlight of the campaign. By Byron York Johnston, Iowa — Fred Thompson’s performance at the Des Moines Register Republican debate here in Iowa Wednesday left some supporters — the kind who were enthusiastic early on but who have grown skeptical as his campaign has stumbled — wondering to themselves: Could he still be the best guy, after all that’s happened? As the debate unfolded, there were moments when some of those loyalists began to think the answer might be yes —...

RCP debate primer I have a good feeling about tonight's debate. Fred knows he needs to do well, and he's been on his A-game lately. I think tonight could be brutal for Huckabee. This will be the first debate since his ascension to the top of the polls, and he's going to pay. The truth is going to come out about his liberal record, his lack of national security credentials, and his all-around flip-floppiness! Here's an excerpt from RealClearPolitics debate primer: Keep an eye on Fred Thompson. Thompson has said he needs to finish at least third in Iowa,...

Flat Chance Garry Kasparov's struggle against Putin and the GOP candidates' tax plans. ---snip--- Gigot: Well, Fred Thompson has his flat tax, and Mike Huckabee has his fair tax. But who's got the better idea, and what are the other GOP presidential hopefuls proposing? Here with a closer look at the candidates' tax plans, Wall Street Journal columnist and deputy editor Dan Henninger, assistant editor James Freeman, Washington columnist Kim Strassel and senior economics writer Steve Moore. So, Steve, Fred Thompson has embraced this so-called voluntary flat tax plan. You like it, I kind of like it. Tell our...

Thompson Goes to Church From CBS News' John Bentley: MIAMI – Fred Thompson will be speaking at the Iglesia El Rey Jesus Sunday service tomorrow morning at 10 a.m., the campaign recently announced. This is Thompson's first public campaign stop at a church since he jumped into the race in September. One of the largest Hispanic churches in Florida, making the stop serves three purposes for Thompson: reaching out to a Spanish-speaking audience, shoring up his religious credentials (which had been called into question after he said he didn’t regularly attend church), and appealing to religious conservatives who might...

An Interview With Fred Thompson's Campaign Manager, Bill Lacy John HawkinsOn Tuesday of this week, I got together with Fred Thompson's campaign manager, Bill Lacy, for a phone interview. What follows is the transcript of our conversation, which has been edited for grammar, clarity, and brevity.Fred has been accused, fairly or unfairly, of being lazy. With that in mind, how does the level of activity in Fred's campaign match up to that of his opponents? In other words, is he working as hard as Mitt, Rudy, McCain and company? I think that characterization of Fred is probably one of...

CNN Tries a Gotcha: 'Thompson Has No Hunting License'...So What? By Warner Todd Huston | December 6, 2007 - 04:39 ET CNN has posted a Political Ticker entry trying to create a "gotcha" on 2nd Amendment supporter, Fred Thompson. CNN's South Carolina Producer Peter Hamby has breathlessly announced that "Thompson does not have hunting license," but the question is... so what? Do you HAVE to own a hunting license to be for/i> the 2nd Amendment? Does Fred not owning a hunting license disqualify him as a gun rights advocate? Well, it appears that CNN imagines that you are illegitimate...

What Is Right About Fred Thompson, The Series As I noted here, Fred Thompson’s supporters and campaign are missing golden opportunity after golden opportunity while they focus on tearing down other candidates instead of building Fred up. Fred continues to put forth a very conservative agenda and no one is hearing about it because Fredheads aren’t telling them. I’ll try to help them again, gratis. Take, for instance, Fred’s skepticism of the latest National Intelligence Estimate, the one that contradicts the idea that Iran is working on nuclear weapons. Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson said Tuesday he’s skeptical of...

Fred is Dead? Reports are Premature by Martha Zoller Posted: 12/04/2007 It seems that we are still waiting for the central casting candidate. Republicans are unsure and Democrats are beginning to disbelieve the “inevitability” argument around Hillary Clinton. We are a society that loves to build them up to tear them down. First, Fred Thompson was a buzz, and then we were waiting and waiting and waiting for him to get into the race. When he got in, we started thinking that he looked tired or was slow. We said he had a great website, but where was the...

Thompson tours 'conservative hot spots' By Jason Spencer Published: Monday, December 3, 2007 Two words you're likely to hear Tuesday: "consistent conservative" - the mantra of Republican Fred Thompson's campaign. But you might also hear these two words: "Mitt Romney." Or maybe "Rudy Giuliani." Or "Mike Huckabee." Looking at Thompson's schedule for South Carolina this week, you could call it a tour of the state's socially conservative hot spots: Tuesday, he's stopping at Wade's in Spartanburg, a gun shop in Greer and a deli in Greenville. Wednesday, he starts the day in Pickens, has two stops in Anderson and...