Fred Comes To Life

We'll see, wish it had been sooner.

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 I’m doing very very seriously,” Mr. Thompson said, attempting to head off more doubts about his candidacy. “That’s why we’ll be going around the state, talking about our country.”

Comments

[chris]

Whoa, looks like someone took their Centrum Silver!!!

[seekeronos]

I hope that this wasn't too late... but I think fred might be able to make some progress in Iowa, if he pulls Iowans away from the idiotic Huck vs. Mitt controversies and focuses on bringing true conservative thinking into the race.

No more religious flim-flamming and liberal fiscal thinking and nanny-statism... (Huckabee)

No more thumping of the 9-11 buttons and waffling on fetus-killing and special, extraordinary rights for LGBTs and gun grabbing (Rudy)

No more moral flip-flopping and lukewarm, triangulated approaches to everything else (Mitt)

The clear choice is a 6'5" Tennessean named Fred Thompson, who hopefully, has run out of bubblegum, and is about to proceed to appeal to the hearts of Iowans and Americans everywhere.

[Fred Beloit]

Hey, Mr Christamfordmum, what happnin. You should try some Centrum Silver too. Here's what you do. Go get a thermometer, not a digital but the kind with the silvery liquid inside. Break off the top end and suck that good silver juice down. There ya go.

[TheSpartan]

Wait Seek, didn't Fred flip-flop on taxes and abortion? The more I learn about each republican candidate the more I don't care which one gets nominated.

[IslamoLlama]

"Wait Seek, didn't Fred flip-flop on taxes and abortion? The more I learn about each republican candidate the more I don't care which one gets nominated."

I don't know about that. If you're looking for someone with "Reagan-esque" policy, Thompson is probably still your man. Here we've got a guy who will follow the corporate-con agenda to the letter while giving tons of lip service to the social cons in a manner they have always appreciated. He's the type of President who will shake hands with Iran under the table while he pounds the top demanding action and innovation.

Thompson is the type of President you can use to declare "Victory" on the War on Terror while ducking out of Iraq and rolling back all the other incredibly foolish and pitifully ineffectual Republican programs.

Unfortunately, Thompson makes Bob Dole look lively. And against a Clinton, he wouldn't fair much better. Expect Fred to be doing viagra commercials this time in '09.

[chris]

Sorry to have offended tired oldsters like yourself. Perhaps a nap and a Matlock rerun might make you happy.

[seekeronos]

"--- ...didn't Fred flip-flop on taxes and abortion? ---"

Now there's an old canard that I thought was thoroughly beat down. Fred did some couple-three billable hours of phonework for a pro-choice lobbying group some fifteen years ago, and that makes him pro-choice? Not hardly. Look at his Senate record and you'll find someone who is very much pro-family and pro-life.

As for taxes, do enlighten me - where has he flip-flopped on reducing taxes (and don't twist my words: I want to see his votes to increase taxes or rescind back tax cuts).

And even if he DID vote for a take hike, I think you'd be hard pressed to show that he was a more egregious tax-hiker than "Tax-Hike Mike" Huckabee.

[jj]

Islamo, your preferred candidate has run up against a wall. What happened?

[Fred Beloit]

"He's the type of President who will shake hands with Iran under the table while he pounds the top demanding action and innovation.

Thompson is the type of President you can use to declare "Victory" on the War on Terror while ducking out of Iraq and rolling back all the other incredibly foolish and pitifully ineffectual Republican programs."

Gee, Moe knows Fred on a personal level. Tell us, Moe, did Fred work for you at GE or something?

[TheSpartan]

http://vote-smart.org/npat.php?can_id=22003#408

Abortions should be legal in all circumstances as long as the procedure is completed within the first trimester of the pregnancy.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3428541

[seekeronos]

"We're sorry, your comment has not been published because TypePad's antispam filter has flagged it as potential comment spam."

ACK!

WHy does this thing keep jamming me...? I'm not even using links or words like "v1agra".

[seekeronos]

That PVS page lacks data. Which bills did Fred vote for legal, first-trimester abortions?

The wording and the way you've presented this could be a bit misleading.

That page does not tell us what specific pieces of legislation on which he actually voted to support first trimester abortion (and I spent some time cross referencing available congressional records from C106 and C107).

When did he vote to uphold these sorts of abortions? Do you have bills and Senate resolutions suggesting that his record is in question?

[seekeronos]

It seems that the PVS report was based upon data from 1994, at the start of Fred's tenure as US Senator from Tennessee in the same year... it seems that his pro-choice choice had not filtered into his later well-established 100% pro-life record.

A man's earlier OPINION does not translate into a flip-flop on policy; unlike Mitt and Rudy, he has not made policy and then later attempted to claim that he is of opposite opinion.