Ladies. Gentleman. Fred Thompson 2008

[applesanity]

An interesting piece by Robert Novak that's hitting many newspapers. I took my copy from the Washington Post, but Novak's column appears elsewhere as well.

Notice that there is no mention of Ron Paul. Which is sad, because as great as Ron Paul is, or can be, who's Ron Paul? I didn't know who he was until I read about him on TFL. For all you Law & Order fans, or fans of Die Hard II, or any other of Thompson's movies,

Thompson Is for Real

By Robert D. Novak
Monday, April 2, 2007; A15


In just three weeks, Fred Thompson has transformed the contest for the Republican presidential nomination. It is not merely that he has come from nowhere to double digits in polls. He is the talk of GOP political circles because he is filling the conservative void in the field.

Republican activists have complained for months that none of the Big Three -- Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney-- fits the conservative model of a conservative leader for a conservative party. The party faithful have been waiting for another Ronald Reagan. But in conversations with them the past year, nobody mentioned Thompson as the messiah until he appeared March 11 on "Fox News Sunday."

Thompson was surprised by the reaction to his statement that he was "giving some thought" to running. In the first Gallup Poll that listed Thompson (conducted March 23-25), he scored 12 percent -- amazing for someone out of public life for more than four years who has not campaigned. More important is his backing within the political community. Buyer's remorse is expressed by several House members who endorsed Romney, the former Massachusetts governor.

Thompson's popularity reflects weakness among announced Republicans, as reflected in the Gallup survey. McCain, no longer an insurgent but still not accepted by conservatives, is stuck at 20 to 25 percent. Former New York mayor Giuliani has dropped precipitously, from 44 to 31 percent, amid attacks on his ideology and personal life. Most startling, despite a well-financed, well-organized campaign, Romney has fallen to 3 percent.

Sophisticated social conservative activists tell me they cannot vote for Giuliani under any conditions and have no rapport with McCain or Romney. They do not view Sen. Sam Brownback, representing the social right, as a viable candidate. They are coming to see Thompson as the only conservative who can be nominated. Their appreciation of him stems not from his eight years as a U.S. senator from Tennessee but from his role as Manhattan district attorney on the TV series " Law & Order." The part was molded to Thompson's specifications as a tough prosecutor, lending him political star power.

Thompson's political origins as a protege of Sen. Howard Baker, leader of the Tennessee GOP's more liberal wing, prompted hard-line Senate conservatives to consider him a little too liberal. But the American Conservative Union gave him a lifetime Senate voting rating of 86 percent. It would have been close to 100 percent but for his repeated votes supporting McCain's campaign finance reform. None of the Big Three has been as consistently conservative as Thompson on tax policy, national security and abortion.

The principal complaint about Thompson concerns not his ideology but his work ethic. The rap is that he does not burn the midnight oil -- the identical criticism of Reagan. That carping may betray resentment that Thompson has emerged as a full-blown contender without backbreaking campaign travel and tedious fundraising.

Thompson's critics assert that, bored with his lucrative career as an actor, he is enjoying the 15 minutes of fame created by a chance TV interview and will not run. But he privately assures friends that this is for real. His performance on "Fox News Sunday" was no accident; he went on the show for the purpose of unveiling his possible candidacy.

Thompson did not leave public policy when he left the Senate. He has served on the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. He hardly knew Scooter Libby, but he felt Libby was getting a raw deal, appeared in the courtroom and helped raise money for his defense.

Friends bet that Thompson will run. He clearly wants to try, and his wife, Jeri, is all for it. But he wants to avoid the pitfalls encountered by Democrat Barack Obama, who may have hurt himself by starting his campaign too quickly.

I met Fred Thompson in 1974 when he was Howard Baker's 31-year-old minority counsel on the Watergate investigation. I considered him cool, careful and conservative. He still is, and that is how he would run for president, which appears in the offing.

[madmag]

I like Fred Thompson. He has a long and valid credentials as a conservative. But I also like Tom Tancredo. Tancredo is not as well known, but he is not un-known. I could vote for either. The good thing about Bush is that anybody this side of brain dead could do a better job. So, anyone that gets the job will probably look good. OK, not just anyone because that might include Hillary.

I have good memories of Fred Thompson during the Watergate hearings. He is a very smart & cool operator. Gee, just think someone with brains in the White House...wow.

Don't know if I know enough about Thompson's views on illegal workers & border security. Tancredo gets a "A" in that respect.

[Playboypenguin]

What a load of crap. Bob Novak is not only a sleaze bag but he is so full of it that he wreaks. As if this adminstration, the one for which he has toted water for the last six years without waiver, is anywhere near being conservative or has any idea of what conservative values truely are in the first place. He is just a big fat talking head that does as he is told and is not worth a bag of spit.

This post has nothing to do with Thompson, it is purely about Novak. I consider the man a traitor, a windbag, and a self serving a_____ of the lowest order.

[rr4406pak]

I love Thompson, I sure hope he runs.

[applesanity]

I consider the man a traitor, a windbag, and a self serving a______ of the lowest order.

Well how do you feel about Thompson? One of the last politicians who still believe in the letter of the law, mostly, and one who has enough charisma to go all the way.

[Eghad]

Maybe we should establish the Reagen Zombie for President 2008 campaign. I would give my vote to that before any of the other candidates in the race from both parties.

[Playboypenguin]

Well how do you feel about Thompson? One of the last politicians who still believe in the letter of the law, mostly, and one who has enough charisma to go all the way.

Not that familiar with him. I am googling him as we speak and will hopefully have some time to read about him tonight.

I just got riled up hearing that lowlife traitor Bob Novak and his "holier-than-thou" attitude pretending like he knows anything about "values" at all...much less "conservative values."

[applesanity]

Found some interesting facts on Fred Thompson on some website. Totally, absolutely 100% credible. I swear.

• Fred Thompson has blasted more people in the face with a shotgun than even Dick Cheney.
  
  
• The masked executioner of Saddam Hussein: Fred Thompson.
  
  
• Every night before going to sleep, Osama bin Laden checks under his bed for Fred Thompson.
  
  
• Fred Thompson took over what was Al Gore's Senate seat, thereby dramatically reducing the Senate's carbon footprint. Fred Thompson then created carbon offset offsets by wastefully burning hippies.
  
  
• Fred Thompson reconsidered running for reelection after 9/11 but later decided to handle things on his own. He was soon seen entering the Middle East with a bottle of tequila in one hand an a handgun in the other. They're still counting the dead.
  
  
• Fred Thompson once ended a filibuster by ripping out a Senator's heart and showing it to him before he died.
  
  
• The actual cause of global warming: Fred Thompson's burning rage.
  
  
• Fred Thompson once stood on our south border and glared at Mexico. There was no illegal immigration for a month.
  
  
• Scientists predict that when Fred Thompson dies he'll explode taking out the five nearest planets before collapsing into a black hole.
  
  
• If you purchase a weather radio, it will wake you up with an alarm to warn you when Fred Thompson is ****** off.
  
  
• Webster's Dictionary defines "conservatism" as "how closely one's views resemble those of Fred Thompson."
  
  
• Fred Thompson's sense of strategy is so great that he can checkmate you using only a pawn and a knight.
  
  
• When terrorists get to the afterlife, they'll find that none of their seventy-two women are still virgins. Why? Because of Fred Thompson.
  
  
• Why does Iran want nuclear weapons? Out of fear of Fred Thompson.

This one time, I saw Chuck Norris try to fight Fred Thompson. But then Chuck Norris realized that he was in way over his head so ran home to his mama, with a trail of urine along the way.

But in all seriousness, +1 vote for FDT.

[obiwan1]

I'd vote for him!

[applesanity]

Okay now for some TFL relevancy. Excerpt from "Fox News Sunday:"

WALLACE: Gun control.

THOMPSON: Well, I'm against gun control generally. You know, you check my record. You'll find I'm pretty consistent on that issue.

WALLACE: So this federal court — appeals court ruling this last week, I guess Friday, in the case of D.C. — you'd be perfectly happy to have people have handguns in their homes?

THOMPSON: Yes. Absolutely. The court basically said the Constitution means what it says, and I agree with that.

He was also a great fleet admiral, in addition to being a tough NYC D.A., no-nonsense senator, and air traffic controller. What credentials.

[Playboypenguin]

Well, he has lost me. I would not vote for him at all. The only position we share is our opinions on gun control. With what little I have read so far it appears he is anti-choice, anti-equal rights, pro sending more troops to Iraq, pro pardoning Scooter Libby, and so on. I also see nothing new in his statements about education, imigration, and other issues. I am afraid a cannot vote for someone just because they talk tough and are pro gun when they disagree with most every other thing in which I believe.

[michibilly]

I agree with you 100 % playboy. Im not a single issue voter.

[madmag]

I like Thompson's pro-gun stance, but he is too weak on immigration reform to suit me. IMO, Tancredo looks better. He is also pro-gun rights.

[Haterade]

If it comes down to McCain, Guiliani or Romney I won't even cast a vote for president. Not in good conscience.

I hope Thompson runs. I'm glad Tancredo is in it. The current Republican leaders aren't even worth considering as far as I'm concerned. There must be a big gap in the party if a middle-of-the-roader like myself is feeling alienated. Our current choices SUCK... and I've emailed the GOP telling them this many times, lol!

[madmag]

The current Republican leaders aren't even worth considering as far as I'm concerned. There must be a big gap in the party if a middle-of-the-reader like myself is feeling alienated.

Same here. I thought I was a average middle of the road Republican. I have been around for a long time. My first presidential vote was for JFK...wasn't Republican then. Never felt this way before. If I think our present Republican president is lousy, and candidates like McCain & company are horrible, then what does someone think that is not a Republican?

I woke up in a cold sweat the other night. I dreamed the choices were so bad I voted for Hillary.

[rcupka]

I am not sure we gun owners can afford to not be single issue voters. So many of the other issues have enough people on each side that nothing changes whether it is Choice, taxes, living wage, or immigration.

But these anti gun people are out to take our guns. Either all at once like HR1022 or a little at a time like anti hunting / shooting sports legislation that we have experienced here in Michigan. There may be a candidate out there that exactly meets my individual positions on issues, but if they are barely known and don't stand a chance of winning then we may as well vote for the gun grabbers.

[madmag]

How is this for scary.

Just a few weeks ago a Nashville TN neighborhood HOA committee ruled that guns were not allowed in residents homes. The HOA backed down after initial outrage of the residents. Now they say you can have guns in your home but it is illegal to discharge them.

Here is the story: http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/r...=180822&Disp=2

[applesanity]

I wasn't trying to make it a single-issue issue. I was just posting a fact relevant to the purposes of TFL. "On the issues" has a pretty comprehensive rundown of Fred Thompson's political stances.

Although the site, plus that little political spectrum map at the bottom is really, really libertarian biased. I mean, I'm a libertarian myself (I took that test and scored a 90%/90%), but biased websites suffer on credibility.

As for his position on equal rights and stuff, he separates his personal opinions from government powers. He opposes RoevWade mostly because it was a case of judges overstepping their boundaries. He is personally not too cool with gay marriage, but admits it's a states rights' issue.

I'm not totally, absolutely knowledgeable about Scooter Libby, but I always felt that he was a fall guy given what Armitage was doing, or supposedly doing.

He did vote against restricting violent video games to minors - which means he thinks that it's a parental issue. Unlike Hillary and Joe Lieberman. (Methinks he's a fan of Grand Theft Auto)

And his bit on illegal immigration, which I think is sensible and realistic:

Well, that's true, as a general statement. We woke up one day after years of neglect and apparently discovered that we have somewhere between 12 million and 20 million illegal aliens in this country. So it became an impossible situation to deal with.

I mean, there's really no good solution. So what do you do? You have to start over. Well, I'm concerned about the next 12 million or 20 million. So that's why enforcement, and enforcement at the border, has to be primary.

I think most people feel disillusioned after 1986 when we had this deal offered to them before, and now we're insisting that, you know, we solve the security problem first, and then we'll talk about what to do with regard to other things — certainly no amnesty or nothing blanket like that.

But figure out some way to make some differentiation between the kind of people that we have here.

You know, if you have the right kind of policies, and you're not encouraging people to come here and encouraging them to stay once they're here, they'll go back, many of them, of their own volition, instead of having to, you know, load up moving vans and rounding people up. That's not going to happen.

[madmag]

Like I said, I like Fred Thompson. But I would not give him outstanding marks on his immigration views. Nothing wrong with his stance for security, but Tancredo (I feel) has a much more compressive understanding of the illegal immigration issue. Maybe Thompson will define himself better on immigration as time goes by.

[L_Killkenny]

I have always liked Fred Thompson, as a Senator, an orator and an actor. Now that Playboy doesn't like him it he got my vote for sure!

LK

[Monkeyleg]

Playboypenguin, if you look at Bob Novak's columns over the past several years, you'll find that he does not toe the party line.

He was one of the first conservative columnists to object to Bush's invasion of Iraq.

Novak is an old-school conservative.

But I'm not posting here to defend Robert Novak. I believe that Fred Thompson represents our best chance to keep the White House in 2008.

But he faces very tough obstacles. Hillary has already raised $26 million in the first quarter of this year alone. Every other contender has raised only $4 million or so.

If Thompson's going to run, he'd better announce soon, and get a fund-raising machine in place.

I'll keep repeating this mantra on every gun board until the members ask me to leave: the candidate with the most money wins, 95% of the time.

[Waitone]

IF Thompson is successful in appealing to Reagan conservative the money will appear.

IF Thompson is perceived to be a Reagan conservative except for . . . .no amount of money will help him.

The conservative side of US politics is in no mood for semi-Kestered "conservative" politicians. Far too much of that has been going for for 6 years.

[Kelly J]

Fred Thompson is one of the, if not the best chances we will have in 08, the talk about Hillary having all that money is sickening to me, and for this reason she is not trying to be elected to the Presidency, she is trying to BUY it, I personally feel, and have stated before many times if this race to 08 comes down to McCain, and Clinton there is for sure one of then going to win, but equally for sure, the Country will loose.

I think that with Thompson we at least stand a good chance of getting a good president, at least he wont be Apologizing, for every thing he says, or might do, and the democrats are sure not going to intimidate him.

I get the feeling that Thompson will be clear and concise in his approach and delivery, and will be able to articulate to the people what his agenda is.

That has been Bush's biggest downfall, in the fact that he has not been able to get his message to the People, for trying to get along with the Dems.

He still thinks he can befriend them, and get them to come over to his way of thinking, but they have only one feeling about him; HATE.

[SecDef]

the talk about Hillary having all that money is sickening to me, and for this reason she is not trying to be elected to the Presidency, she is trying to BUY it,

That's a weird attitude. In this age, it certainly takes a lot of money to win the presidency. Anyone that can't raise the funds absolutely cannot win it. BLAMING someone for raising funds is odd.

Be against Clinton for her policies, her voting record, or her ability to forgive her husband (or acting skills to fake it), but blaming her for being good at raising funds which is a political prerequisite isn't quite right.

Wish it weren't the fact that candidate with the most money wins, but due to limitations on campaign contributions, it has become the de facto "vote before the votes even start". I'd love to see a Richardson v Thompson presidential election, but at the current rate, that ain't likely.

[Playboypenguin]

That has been Bush's biggest downfall, in the fact that he has not been able to get his message to the People, for trying to get along with the Dems

Really? That is his biggestdownfall? Really? This president Bush? Really?
Wow, that is a different perspective than most I have seen. It's not his closed door policies? His spying on American citizens? His constant tactical blunders? His inability to hold a coherent thought or form a proper sentence? His disregard for the poor (like in Katrina)? His poor treatment of vets? His massive deficit spending? His betrayal of fiscally conservative values? It is his "trying to get along with the dems?" Really?

BLAMING someone for raising funds is odd.

Especially a republican trying to balme someone else for raising money.