Free Republic

The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution April 25, 1997 Moderate senators taking on stalled budget as bipartisan force Centrist Coalition plans alternative to Clinton proposal. Author: Ken Foskett WASHINGTON BUREAU Washington - The stalemate between the White House and Congress over a balanced budget deal has prompted some moderate Republicans and Democrats in the Senate to begin crafting a bipartisan budget plan. The group of senators, known as the Centrist Coalition, is headed by Sens. John Chafee (R-R.I) and John Breaux (D-La.). Sen. Max Cleland (D- Ga.), replacing former Sen. Sam Nunn, is the newest Democratic member of the...

The Republicans have decided that Fred Thompson is their man. I'm not sure how they arrived at this decision. Maybe they held a meeting at some secret mountaintop castle. Or perhaps there's some kind of GOP pheromone wafting through the air that most of us can't detect. (The latter theory might explain Chris Matthews's otherwise baffling on-air musing about Thompson: "Can you smell the English leather on this guy, the Aqua Velva, the sort of mature man's shaving cream, or whatever, you know, after he shaved? Do you smell that sort of--a little bit of cigar smoke?") Whatever it is,...

Here’s an endorsement that few Republicans ever get: Trial lawyers strongly supported Fred Thompson when he was in the Senate. "We viewed him as someone we could work with, particularly given he had been an advocate in court for individuals and corporations, and had an innate understanding of what went on in a civil jury," Linda Lipsen, the chief lobbyist for the American trial lawyers lobby group, told the Washington Post. That’s the same group that most Republicans love to hate. Thompson’s background as an attorney made him more understanding of the concerns of trial lawyers and less willing to...

That didn't take long. Apparently all one needs to do to earn the ire of your political allies is to place second in a few national polls. Indeed, after an initial wave of glowing reviews and softball interviews, Fred Thompson has been getting thumped a bit in the conservative chorus. George Will, writing in Newsweek the other day, asked: "If he did not look like a basset hound who had just read a sad story - say, 'Old Yeller' - and if he did not talk like central casting's idea of the god Sincerity, would anyone think he ought to...