Fredipedia: The Definitive Fred Thompson Quick Reference
Posted on 10/15/2007 10:11:34 AM PDT by Josh Painter
This is the first in a series of posts in which I will show that the most common arguments made against Fred Thompson's candidacy, mostly by supporters of his GOP opponents, are baseless and without merit. - Ruger
On the political discussion forums, I frequently find Mitt Romney supporters making this challenge: "Fred Thompson has no leadership qualifications for the presidency."
This false charge is easily debunked. Let's begin with this from the Conservative Voice:
“When H 400 passed the House of Representatives on a voice vote, with no member demanding a recorded vote, we knew we were in trouble. S 507 was set to be reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee by unanimous consent the following week. We needed one member of the United States Senate with the courage to stand before the Committee and object to the bill.”John Washburn has some more examples:“We decided to approach Senator Fred Thompson, and when S 507 came up in committee, he objected on the basis of national security. He had the courage to defy the President and Vice President, the Japanese government, the Chinese government, the Lippo Group of Indonesia, and eighty or ninety of America’s largest multinational corporations. America dodged a bullet in 1997, and Fred Thompson was the man who made it happen.”
· As Chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, Thompson enacted a law that required federal agencies to calculate and report the cost of regulations on taxpayers and businesses.This example from Race 4 2008 shows Thompson's leadership on reducing federal spending:· Press reports stated: “He put heat on federal agencies by holding hearings on mismanagement and by asking them to tote up the improper payments they made each year.” That added up to about $20 billion in taxpayer dollars. His efforts saved taxpayers more than $2 billion in 2005-06 alone at the Department of Health and Human Services.
· He published a two volume report, “Government on the Brink,” detailing the waste, fraud, and abuse of federal agencies as well as the management challenges facing the incoming Bush Administration. Paul Light, a New York University professor and leading expert on government, said, “I consider him to be one of the most dedicated overseers of the executive branch of the last 25 years.”
“On the Republican side, Fred Thompson’s record on spending puts the rest of the field to shame, and is even more conservative than that of Newt Gingrich. Perhaps Thompson’s supposed lack of accomplishments in the Senate are the result of a legislator who erred on the side of ensuring that government didn’t grow, didn’t spend more, didn’t meddle more in people’s lives, and generally left Americans alone. In an age of two big-governnment parties, it isn’t surprising that such a candidate is garnering interest.”Federalist leader Mark Alexander considers Fred Thompson to be not just a leader, but a charismatic one:
...if conservatives and the rest of the Republican electorate want to line up behind the most capable, qualified and electable candidate in the ‘08 presidential race, a man who can carry the Reagan mantle and draw an enormous crossover vote (as President Reagan did in 1980 and 1984), then call out Fred Thompson...Even the libertarian Cato Institute has acknowledged Thopson's leadership on fiscal and federalist matters:How about a plain-speaking and plain-dealing American—a charismatic leader right out of the Reagan mold, whose character, integrity and experience are head and shoulders above the rest of the field?
Fred Thompson is the right man at the right time.
During his eight years in the Senate, Thompson had a solid record as a fiscal conservative. The National Taxpayers Union gives him the third highest marks of any candidate (trailing only Paul and Rep. Tom Tancredo)...Condi Rice appointed Fred Thompson to be one of her trusted advisors in this leadership position:He has been a consistent supporter of entitlement reform, voting to means-test Medicare and supporting personal accounts for Social Security.
His record on free trade is solid. In the past he has been supportive of comprehensive immigration reform, but has been critical of the current bill, shifting toward a “control the borders first” position...
On federalism, there may be no better candidate. His Senate record is replete with examples of his being the lone opponent of legislation that he thought undercut federalist principles. He took this position even on legislation that was otherwise supported by conservatives...
Given the fact that McCain?, Romney, and Giuliani are clearly big-government conservatives, Thompson has an opportunity to seize the small-government mantle.
Fred Thompson is currently the Chairman of the International Security Advisory Board, a high-level panel charged with evaluating long-term threats to U. S. security. He was appointed to the board by Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.Save The GOP looked at Thompson's resume and saw a leader whose record eclipses any of the Democrat candidates:
One thing that lefties seem to be continually arguing is that conservatives who want to see Fred Thompson as the GOP nominee for President are hypocrites because he lacks experience even more so then any of the Democratic frontrunners - Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards.And finally, President Bush clearly recognized Fred Thompson's leadership qualitites when he picked Fred to lead the effort to secure John Roberts' Supreme Court nomination by the Senate:Well, they’re all attorneys, right? So it should be easy to compare their resumes. Lets take a look:
Barack Obama: Two years as a US Senator. No leadership positions in the Senate. Eight years as a state senator. Ran unsuccessfully for congress in 2000. Private practice attorney, law professor. Top quality education (Harvard)
Hillary Clinton: Six years as a US Senator. No leadership positions in the Senate. Eight years as First Lady of the US. Twelve years as First Lady of Arkansas. House Judiciary committee staffer, private practice attorney, law professor. Top quality education (Yale)
John Edwards: Six years as a US Senator. No leadership positions in the Senate. Democratic nominee for Vice-President in 2004. Private practice attorney. Top quality education (North Carolina)
Fred Thompson: Eight years as a US Senator. Four years as Chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee. Assistant US Attorney. Co-Chief Senate Watergate Council. Special counsel to the Governor of Tennessee (1980), Special Counsel to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (1980-81), Special Counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee (1982), Private practice attorney. Actor, Radio show personality, research fellow with the American Enterprise Institute. Top quality education (Vanderbilt).
So, basically here we have four politicians, all attorneys, all with law degrees from top institutions, all with eight years or fewer in the Senate, all without long careers in public office. But from a legal perspective, Fred Thompson’s resume is clearly far more impressive.
If we were sitting and examining each of these resumes for, say, an appellate court appointment none would dispute that Thompson’s is superior to the other three.
Now granted, we’re looking for a President here, not a judge. One could argue that Hillary’s experience as first lady was very valuable. Perhaps. But Fred Thompson - despite only serving a few years longer then the others in the Senate, held a tremendously important Committee Chairmanship while there. Combined with his work in a US Attorneys office, leading the Watergate investigation, and as an attorney advising Senate committees, he has enormous experience dealing with government reform issues and an understanding of the workings of the highest levels of government. Experience that the three Democrats simply don’t have. Each of them came to the US Senate already hungry for the Presidency, and have spent most of their time as Senators working toward that goal.
Fred Thompson’s resume is far superior. Arguing otherwise is ludicrous.
As John Roberts (search) wends his way through the Supreme Court confirmation process, a shepherd is guiding him behind the scenes, trying to keep the nominee from going to slaughter.Examples of Fred Thompson's leadership qualities aren't that difficult to find. It only took me a few minutes of my time and the use of an internet search engine. Bookmark this post and use it to throw the bogus "no leadership" meme back in the faces of the anti-Freds.Former Tennessee Republican Sen. Fred Thompson, who now plays District Attorney Arthur Branch on the hit series, “Law and Order,” is the public face of President Bush and the nominee as he pushes the president’s pick to replace Sandra Day O’Connor on the highest court of the land...
As a former senator, Thompson is familiar with the ins-and-outs of Capitol Hill, is close with many senators who may be part of the firing squad set to pepper Roberts with questions, and he knows how to use political finesse when needed.
Thompson “absolutely” makes sense as an adviser, said Don Stewart, spokesman for Sen. John Cornyn (search), R-Texas, who is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “You wouldn’t put a baseball player into the football game — it wouldn’t make sense.”
Thompson’s high profile while he was in the Senate doesn’t hurt, either, particularly when trying to sell the nominee not only to Republican senators like Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who represented Tennessee alongside Thompson, but also to the committee’s ranking Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
Observers say that status gives Thompson, and therefore Roberts, more access to the “must-meets” in Washington and lends more credibility to the public as a true representative of the White House.
You know you’re just going to get the Mittwits crawling over here to redefine (their favorite activity, it seems) “leadership” in terms that are favorable only to Romney and no one else.
Great post, you posted this information on another thread as well IIRC.
Thanks for putting together this information.
IB4TG, or maybe the flies, or the rats
Ping ‘em, Mom!
Fredipedia: The Definitive Fred Thompson Reference
WARNING: If you wish to join, be aware that this ping list is EXTREMELY active.
Thank you for a great post.
For Fred supporters or those who want to hear more from Fred before you make up your mind,I think I heard that Fred is scheduled to appear on Cavuro’s show on Fox news which starts now.
The Stripper pole post today changed the balance IMHO. They are desperate...
Excellent work. Those are good points.
But I should note that this isn’t quite the “leadership” most people are talking about when they mention lack of executive leadership.
It isn’t that this is not an important aspect of “leadership”, it’s just that one job of the President is to actually LEAD in the sense that he is in charge and has to be able to manage hundreds of thousands of people doing the work of government.
Many Senators have “taken the lead” on some piece of legislation or another. Many have stood up to powerful people. That’s courage, that’s self-confidence, to the degree they can get others to go along that persuasion.
But it’s not executive leadership. Maybe executive leadership isn’t important. But it is different from “taking the lead”.
Still, as I said, these are great points in Thompson’s favor.
I don’t know how good he would be at getting cabinet members to do his bidding, or steering the ship of state in the right direction. I don’t know if he’s a hands-on leader or more of a “big-picture” leader. I don’t know if he will excel at making government work the way it should.
But I’m certain he’d be much better at it than any democrat that has a chance of winning.
Be careful what you ask for. Jimmy Carter had demonstrated “executive leadership” as the gov. of Georgia, and he was the worst president in American history.
Harry Truman had no “executive leadership” creds to speak of, and he led the nation well through perilous times.
Excellent point.
Please elaborate and provide a link so I can go flame somebody.
You're right. Who else but Fred had the talent and "leadership" to shepherd McCain-Feingold-Thompson all the way through the legislative process to passage?
It was zotted.
I missed it, too.
I think I’m grateful. :)
There was a lull there for a couple weeks, but the trolls seem to be back out in force now.
Who else but Alan Keyes had the talent and “leadership” to call for reparations for Black Americans?
Answer: Left-wing Dems.
Next...
You really should try to think past media-filtered third-grade reading level soundbites. I know it's tough in the current political environment, but if you try, I know you're intelligent enough to do it.
Most distasteful thing I have seen in awhile, figures coming from the team that has given us fake badges and Fake Fred websites as well as constant cuts about his health and Jeri around on these boards. They are past desperation.
Please tell me Mr. Filthy was banned. His posts are nasty pieces of work.
I don’t know, but he is a typical Mittwitt...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.