Free Republic

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - Blaise Tishey lays bricks for a living, and for a long time he had more work than he could handle building the high-rise condos and hotels that line the beaches. Then, a few years ago, as the surging housing market sparked a major construction boom, his workload slackened. An influx of undocumented Hispanic immigrants willing to work for smaller paychecks made it harder for him to find jobs, he said. "I wasn't willing to work for wages that would have required me to move my family into a trailer with 15 other people," he said. Polls...

Former Senator from Tennessee, Fred Thompson keeps a focus on his personal efforts to increase the stability and performance of America’s national security. As terrorist attack threats increase from Middle Eastern countries such as Iraq, Iran and Pakistan, the thought of national security is heavy on our presidential candidates minds this election. Thompson has spoken of his desire to build our nations security through commitment and communication with the American people. He would focus on expanding our military as well as increase military funding. He wants to increase the use of more modern battle equipment with use in the air,...

Voters say they want a substantial debate of the issues and the candidate's proposed solutions. Yet, the minute a serious discussion commences, eyes glaze over and the subject is changed. Many people apply about as much thought to their vote for President as they do to selecting their favorite breakfast cereal. Fred Thompson, despite the fact that he is an accomplished actor, and could simply try to parlay that fact into a successful campaign in this star-struck culture, trusts the average American to engage his or her brain in tackling the issues facing our country. When Fred's frank, intelligent, common-sense...

I like Thompson. He often takes the high road, sticks to the issues and stays consistent…all things I have seen people beg for in a candidate, but now that someone is actually doing it, people aren’t paying attention or claiming that if he won’t fight nasty, he just “doesn’t really want it”. I for one am so glad to finally see someone that isn’t stinking of desperation. Look at how badly each candidate wants this, they will fight, bicker, lie, cheat, manipulate and go negative. There is only one that just moves on an talks about issues that matter and...

1. We expect promises of change from Democratic candidates, but it's disappointing to watch certain Republican candidates yield to that superficially seductive sound bite, too. It's like the global-warming freight train, which few politicians have displayed the guts and character not to board. 2. It's disappointing to watch candidates from both parties accept the premise that criticizing your opponents' records and pointing out their inconsistencies and lies is engaging in dirty politics. It is not dirty but obligatory to draw distinctions between you and your opponents. Dirty politics is distorting one's record or spreading lies about a candidate. Why do...

CLICK HERE to take a 25 question test to see which of the major party candidates most closely matches your political philosophy and preferences. Clicking the link will open to a new window.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Iraq war, once the key issue in the U.S. presidential election, is taking a back seat to the economy as voters fret over a possible recession and consider the improving security situation in Baghdad. Polls in Iowa, the state that kicked off the process for choosing a president on Thursday, showed people pushing the war lower on their list of concerns after the surge in U.S. troops helped calm conditions in the country and a deteriorating economic situation at home drew focus to domestic woes. "The entrance polls in Iowa certainly suggested that Iraq has receded...

When Instapundit is right, he’s right: [Fred] Thompson is running the kind of campaign — substantive, policy-laden, not based on gimmicks or sound-bites — that pundits and journalists say they want, but he’s getting no credit for it from the people who claim that’s what they want. Bingo.Thompson is a guy who has laid out detailed positions on all sorts of issues. He never gets dinged for misrepresenting facts in debates. And I like the fact that he’s not consumed by ambition. That’s exactly the sort of person we should want as president. But our moronic news media, which pretends...

In our daily business, good and bad seems to come our way and we definitely need a solution for all issues and to talk with someone about these issues.

If Fred Thompson is nothing else he’s honest, or at least as honest as politics will allow one man to be. Presidential candidates through necessity are forced to make promises they know they can’t keep. Occasionally a candidate will say something in an unguarded moment being totally frank with his or her audience they wish later they hadn’t. At a town hall meeting in Burlington Iowa Fred Thompson was explaining becoming president wasn’t an obsession of his. He had a life before he decided to run and he’ll have a life if he isn’t the voter’s choice. The media’s reporting...

Malone report - Download MP3 (956k) Listen to Malone report The assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto appears to have shifted the focus of the U.S. presidential race to national security and foreign policy issues. VOA National Correspondent Jim Malone reports from Washington.Presidential contenders from both parties were trying to shore up their foreign policy credentials in the wake of the Bhutto assassination.

OSKALOOSA, Iowa - Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson often schedules walking tours during stops in small Iowa towns, and he didn't let deep snow change his plans Friday. Wearing a cowboy hat and leather jacket, Thompson trudged through ankle-deep snow as he made his way around Oskaloosa's town square, chatting with people at a coffee shop and the county courthouse. "It looks like business goes on even in the snow," he told two people working at computers in the courthouse. "An inch of snow back home and we go to the house." Earlier at a stop in Pella, Thompson said...

FRED THOMPSON'S disappointed fans have something to cheer about at last. After sinking to single digits in the polls, the former "Law & Order" actor is making a comeback. Over the past month, Thompson has walked away from several very strong performances in GOP debates. In the latest one, he held command over the entire field and won the day by refusing to play "hand shows" on stage at the direction of the moderator. "I said, 'Nope,' and everybody pulled their hand down and looked around," Thompson later recalled. "I just said to my buddies up there, 'How are you...

Like the bread in the bakery he visited, Fred Thompson insists his numbers are on the rise. He blanched at suggestions Friday that he's among a pack of candidates hovering at around 10 percent and fighting for third-place support in Iowa. Since the numbers were collected, Thompson has taken on an ambitious bus tour, including Friday's stop in Spencer. A tough on illegal immigration candidate has dropped out of the race and he's secured the endorsement of U.S. Rep. Steve King, the congressman serving the conservative-leaning western third of Iowa. King accompanied Thompson on his campaign stop. "I looked at...

Waterloo, Iowa Forty-five minutes before Fred Thompson spoke here last Tuesday night, young volunteers greeted reporters and potential Iowa voters just inside the front door of the Waterloo Center for the Arts. A thermometer down the street reported the temperature as 22 degrees, and the wind made it colder. Even inside, the frigid air gave those manning the registration table an icy blast every time anyone opened the door. A young man with a "Fred Thompson" button stood by a table with coffee and hot tea. He introduced himself to another volunteer, and they chatted about their reasons for supporting...

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DUBUQUE, Iowa – Fred D. Thompson kicked off his bus tour of Iowa on Monday night in this town on the bank of the Mississippi River, and he seemed to have taken to heart the wide criticism of his low-key efforts at campaigning. His voice booming and words wry and fiery, Mr. Thompson’s appearance on this night – the first of this 15-day tour that will take a brief break for Christmas – was suggestive of, dare we say, someone who actually wants to win the nomination and the presidency. “I don’t take myself too seriously, but I take what...

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 indeed time for me to put up or shut up. Before I get to the candidate of my choice, it behooves me to discuss briefly a few of the other contenders. There's a lot more below. A whole lot more. Read on . . . First, there is Rudy Giuliani. His attractions are many. He is very smart, very serious and a significantly more disciplined as a candidate for President than he...

Those who watched the Republican presidential "debate" in Iowa Wednesday now understand why The Des Moines Register is such a lousy newspaper. "That was not just the worst debate of 2007, that was the worst debate in Western history, and that includes the ancient Greeks," said columnist Charles Krauthammer. "There is no record in any major European record of a debate this transcendingly and crushingly dull." Mr. Krauthammer arguably wasn't engaging in hyperbole. Imagine a boxing match in which the boxers aren't allowed to lay a glove on each other, and you have an idea of what this "debate" was...

Memo to readers: With his superb performance in Wednesday's debate in Iowa, Fred Thompson_has made a monkey out of me. By early afternoon on Tuesday, the column that appears below, one which posits that Thompson's presidential campaign might still find a way to win, was ready in exactly the form it appears here. But I thought the column would still remain exactly on target throughout the week, so (for various reasons) I aimed for a Friday release. At the time, I thought that until Thompson began his Iowa bus tour on Monday the 17th, my_contention that he "ain't dead" yet...