Posts with the tag 'Fred Thompson'
Expected this before too long:
Fred Thompson, the one-time Republican presidential candidate, endorsed Sen. John McCain Friday, calling on the party to “close ranks” behind the presumed nominee.
“This is no longer about past preferences or differences. It is about what is best for our country and for me that means that Republican should close ranks behind John McCain,” Thompson said in a statement reported by the Associated Press.
Thompson’s endorsement was expected. The two men were colleagues for years in the Senate and shared what associates called a friendship. But while he was in the race, Thompson had bristled at the idea that he was going to drop out and endorse McCain.
The endorsement now may help McCain to coalesce the factions of the party around him. Thompson, who represented Tennessee in the Senate for eight years, is thought of well in the South, an area that McCain has not done well in.
Tags: Fred Thompson, GOP Nomination, John McCain
February 10th, 2008
Gary Gross has a great post on the unfortunate defeat of Fred Thompson during the primary process, and there isn’t one sentence of his screed with which I do not agree. Gary, also citing Andrew Ferguson’s piece in the Weekly Standard, suggests that a low-key candidate of Fred’s calibre, while possibly a whirlygig in years gone by, is unfortunately unelectable in today’s American-Idol brand of politics. While I agree in part, I think the bigger problem lies with the current Primary system in general. The following is the comment I left on his post:
IMO, the whole primary system is a sham, and needs to be re-worked on a national basis.
With the ability of both parties to gerry-rig the others’ primary elections, the outcomes have absolutely nothing to do with the will of the rank and file of the respective parties.
I heard yesterday that McCain was counting on the support of democrats and independents. He knows he can’t win via the rank and file of the Republican party.
The rank and file, via the primary process, is effectively disenfranchised.
IMO, we need to go back to state nominating conventions, with the Party faithful made up of locally-elected delegates determining who they will support. The result will be an election untainted by agents provacateurs on both sides, and will be a move toward more ideologically pure candidates.
Tags: Fred Thompson, Primaries
January 30th, 2008
Inevitable for sure… but still shocking, considering all the hype leading up to his entering the race.
Republican Fred Thompson, the actor-politician who attracted more attention as a potential presidential candidate than as a real one, quit the race for the White House on Tuesday after a string of poor finishes in early primary and caucus states.
“Today, I have withdrawn my candidacy for president of the United States. I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort,” the former Tennessee senator said in a brief statement.
Thompson’s fate was sealed last Saturday in the South Carolina primary, when he finished third in a state that he had said he needed to win.
In the statement, Thompson did not say whether he would endorse any of his former rivals. He was one of a handful of members of Congress who supported Arizona Sen. John McCain in 2000 in his unsuccessful race against George W. Bush for the party nomination.
Reaction later.
UPDATE: So, what’s my reaction? I’m not sure what to think. I never understood the Fred Fever that boiled in the months leading up to his officially throwing his hat in. But he dominated in our online straw poll, and most bloggers I knew were all for him. I said some months ago that Fred Thompson’s best day happened before he got in the race, and that appears to be the case. While his message may have resonated, his performance otherwise was lacking. The big question now is whom will his supporters turn to now? There’s no simple answer. Thompson came into the race as an alternative to the original slate of candidates… I’m not sure if Thompson’s support was really about Thompson himself or if it was about a desperate desire to find anoint someone as the next Reagan.
Who will this help? Some are saying it will help Huckabee, but I’m not so sure. If it does, than that should be a concern for Rudy Giuliani, who is banking his entire candidacy on Florida and is in 3rd place with 19%, according to the latest Rasmussen poll, with Huckabee at 13%.
The fact is, it is a different race now than it was last fall. Thompson supporters may be more open to the original top tier candidates than they were. I guess we’ll find out soon who is really helped by Thompson’s departure.
Tags: Florida, Fred Thompson, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Rudy Giuliani, South Carolina
January 22nd, 2008
“The American Republic will endure until politicians realize they can bribe the people with their own money.” -Alexis De Tocqueville
Politicians, especially since FDR, have long known that they can bribe the people with their own money. But since FDR, a healthy majority of the American people couldn’t be bought. They loved freedom, less government, and a secure nation more than the baubles and breadcumbs that may have flowed from Washington, D.C.
The nation, on the whole, was a conservative nation.
Nothing illustrated this more than the wholesale acceptance of Ronald Wilson Reagan in the 1980s, and of his legacy as borne in the Contract with America that launched the Republican Congressional revolution of 1994.
And nothing spelled out the repudiation of the conservative principles on which this nation was founded than the third place finish of Fred Thompson in South Carolina.
On point after point, from immigration, to national security, to taxes and to life itself, Fred Thompson mirrored the conservative ideals that, when put to practice, have been proven to be so effective in governing our nation since the penning of the Federalist Papers.
If there was anywhere in this nation where it couldn’t have been more clear, it would have been in South Carolina; traditionally a bastion of clear thinking, small government conservatives.
Yet John McCain, in every sense an opportunistic political populist with a liberal voting record as long as the Mississippi, ran the table.
Newt Gingrich caught a lot of flack when he proclaimed that Reaganesque conservatism was in its death throes, and that politicians needed to embrace a more “centrist” approach.
He was right in the sense that South Carolina is current living proof that Reaganesque conservatism is, if anything, on life support.
Maybe Rush Limbaugh was right last week when he said that it took a Jimmy Carter to give us Ronaldus Magnus.
Perhaps 2012 will be the year of Fred… if the liberals haven’t run us into the ground by then.
Tags: , 2008 Election, Conservatism, Fred Thompson, John McCain, South Carolina, taxes
January 20th, 2008
As Patrick Ruffini points out over at Town Hall - Romney, of course, won in Michigan; the “must win” State for him…but it was how he won over McCain which really shows the mountain McCain has to climb:
Romney won conservatives 41-23%, with 20% for Huckabee.
Romney won Republicans 41-27%.
Romney won Evangelicals 34-29% for Huckabee. McCain took just 23%.
Romney won with those satisfied with President Bush 45-24%. Yes, Republicans are split 50-50 on this, but it’s easier to message around support for the party’s leader rather than opposition to him. McCain always has to tread gingerly on this to avoid angering what institutional support he has.
This is an exact replay of McCain’s weakness in 2000 - he does well with everyone but core Republicans and as the primary process is a party nominating process, it stands to reason that party stalwarts will tend to rule the roost. McCain isn’t out of the running - not by a long shot - but in order for him to close the deal and be able to compete in the upcoming primaries (which tend to be more GOP-base in orientation), McCain is going to have to offer stalwart Republicans assurances that a President McCain won’t go have a love-fest with the Democrats at the expense of core GOP ideals.
Meanwhile, Romney showed he could win a primary - he had to run as if he were running for governor of Michigan, but a win is a win…the problem for Romney is to translate this Michigan victory into a national victory; a task hard enough on its own, made harder by the fact that Michigan’s GOP isn’t exaclty South Carolina’s GOP.
It could be that after the South Carolina primary we’re faced with this oddity: Huckabee won Iowa, McCain won New Hampshire, Romney won Michigan…and we could see Giuliani winning Nevada, and then Thompson winning South Carolina. Five contests, five different winners, each with a plausible path to the nomination in front of him…and I’ll get to pat myself on the back about how prescient I was about a brokered GOP convention…
Tags: Fred Thompson, John McCain, Michigan Primary, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Nevada Caucuses, Rudy Giuliani, South Carolina
January 16th, 2008
Interesting:
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — John and Ann Berenberk dutifully watched the umpteenth Republican presidential debate on television on Thursday night and had an epiphany. It was about the candidate they had previously referred to as the tall, silent one. Fred D. Thompson.
The last of the candidates to enter the race, Mr. Thompson, 65, a former Tennessee senator, has so far seemed to distinguish himself mainly by a laconic style that has made him almost invisible beside the others on the stage in past debates, the Berenberks said.
“But then last night — we hadn’t even been thinking about him — all of a sudden it was clear he was the one,” said Mr. Berenberk, a retired teacher. “The bluntness, the forcefulness. He was really impressive.”
Whether this was a new Fred Thompson, or just a sign of mirage-inducing campaign fatigue among voters, many people attending Mr. Thompson’s campaign rallies here on the day after the debate reported having similar revelations.
We’ll soon know if this is real, or just an impression. My dad will be voting for Thompson in the Nevada caucuses, so there’s something to the man (dad was a Democrat for 60 years before switching to the GOP for the express purpose of voting for Thompson). A very interesting election year, to be sure…
Tags: Fred Thompson
January 13th, 2008
One of America’s oldset conservative publications endorses Fred Thompson:
We make this endorsement on the basis of much research, having interviewed Sen. Thompson and some of his opponents, as well as examining what they have all said and done. We conclude that Thompson is a solid conservative whose judgment is grounded in our principles.
In his Senate years, Mr. Thompson compiled an American Conservative Union lifetime rating of 86.1, which is higher than both Sen. John McCain (82.3) and Rep. Ron Paul (82.3). The Club for Growth has praised Thompson as someone who has a strong commitment to limited government, free enterprise and federalist principles.
On the issues that matter most to conservatives, Sen. Thompson’s positions benefit from their clarity. He is solidly pro-life. He said that he was in favor overturning Roe v. Wade because it was “bad law and bad medical science.” As the National Right to Life Committee said in its endorsement of him Nov. 13, 2007, “The majority of this country is opposed to the vast majority of abortions, and Fred Thompson has shown in his consistent pro-life voting record in the U.S. Senate that he is part of the pro-life majority.”
Thompson’s record is solid on voting to preserve gun owners’ rights, cut taxes, reduce government spending and drill for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He has voted consistently against gay marriage. Thompson is by no means perfect. He strongly supported the McCain-Feingold bill, did not support the impeachment of Bill Clinton on perjury and more than once voted with the trial lawyers against limitations on liability in defective product and medical malpractice cases.
We like the way Thompson unhesitatingly attacks the liberal ideologues and their activists such as MoveOn.org and the ACLU, and the way he reaches out to those we knew as the Reagan Democrats.
Rather glowing - and the conventional wisdom is that Thompson did quite well in the GOP debate. Thus far, Thompson has had no effect on the actual votes - but given that we’re only at the start of what may be a long process ending in a brokered GOP convention (something I’ve felt possible for a while now), there’s still plenty of time for Thompson to make his case to the GOP electorate.
One thing to keep in mind - other than the kooks at the bottom of the GOP and Democratic pile, none of he major candidates has any reason to back out of this race. Edwards said he is taking is fight all the way to the convention - and some thought that was just a bit of bravado from a man who had just lost his second contest…but it made complete sense to me. With Hillary and Obama set to clobber each other over the next month, Edwards might be well-positioned to pick up the pieces, especially if the Democratic convention winds up brokered (something I think far more likely than any time in the past 40 years, but still less likely than the GOP). Thompson, too, could benefit from such a thing - McCain, Romney, Huckabee and Giuliani pummel each other, and Thompson steps in to pick up the big prize.
Once again - keep buckled in for a long, wild political ride in 2008…
Tags: Fred Thompson, GOP Nomination, Human Events
January 12th, 2008
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