Posted on 08/26/2007 11:48:33 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Indianapolis — “I’m with Fred” enticed the placards set up here at the Midwest Republican Leadership Conference at a table touting the noncampaign of actor, ex-senator and possible presidential candidate Fred Thompson.
In exchange for a $250 check, the faithful and the curious could enter a private room to meet Thompson, a political insider playing the outsider who might be the nation’s next Ronald Reagan — or might not even run.
Some walked away from the closed-door fundraiser on Saturday afternoon convinced.
“He looks presidential,” said Jeff Cardwell, 47, a conservative Christian lumber and hardware retailer. “He talks about going back to the basics. Putting God first in our country. I think he’s the person everybody looks to as being the true conservative of our party.”
But many of the party activists attending the conference from a dozen heartland states said they were seriously turned off by what they saw as Thompson’s ambivalence about whether to run months after other presidential hopefuls have been hard at it.
Thompson’s testing-the-waters bit is about to come to an end — supporters expect an announcement early next month — but here in the Midwest some said he’s waited too long.
“You can’t wait to get a mandate from the people,” said Elizabeth Morris, a community publisher and councilwoman in Dearborn County, Ind. “Either a person has a fire in the belly or they don’t.”
Either singular or plural, damn it.
I’ve heard the expression “fire in the belly” more times in the last eight weeks than in the rest of my life put together.
Why not, are others supposed to wonder what this guy up to is he a Prima Donna or something?
Others are paying their dues and he does not have to pay admission fee like the rest.
I hope he announces on the 5th gets is bump and see what this horse race is all about!
Fred makes me wonder, too. Is he in or out or there to take steam out of conservative candidates so a Rudy or Romney can win.
All the attention paid to him just like Obama in the Dem party takes steam out of any challenge to the leading candidate.
I’m convinced the Clintons are using Obama to keep the left and Edwards off balance.
Is Thompson a GOP foil to keep conservative candidates from picking up steam?
I think he almost has to run now. If he doesn’t run now, incensed, will not begin to describe his supporters.
I don’t think he is a foil, at least not directly or intentionally. In the end, he may be just that, but for now, none of us can be sure.
I like the guy and I wish he had never let things get this far and for this long. His body of work has mainly been CFR and nearly symbolic overtures to Federalism. A lawyer, actor and lobbyist that seems out of place and out of gas before he has begun.
That said, I certainly don’t think there are any ulterior, sinister motives behind what he is doing. He is not a stupid man and I think he realizes he will have his hat handed to him in short order in any debate of depth and substance.
He is taking time to hone his skills, dotting the “i’s” and crossing his “t’s”, he is building the machine and hoping that will carry the day, because at the end of the day, the Emperor has no clothes. I just hope he doesn’t embarrass himself and become fodder for late-night talk shows. He deserves better than that.
How is your declared candidate, with months and months of running, doing? Has he broken through to 2% in any poll yet?
I don't recall ever hearing the saying until Thompson formed his testing the waters committee.
I read this and I re-read it and frankly, I can't find a germ of sense in it anywhere.
It assumes:
1. Fred Thompson would let himself be used as a 'foil'-
2. There is a 'GOP' conspiracy against its own slate of candidates-
3. That the 'GOP' is capable of setting such a conspiracy into motion-
4. That there is a MOTIVE within the 'GOP' to set such a conspiracy into motion-
5. That the Thompson candidacy works against 'conservative' candidates, in view of the fact that Fred is out there every day espousing conservative principles sunrise-sunset and beyond-
Fred Thompson doesn't owe the other candidates any duty to run a campaign as dumb and ineffective as theirs have often been. He owes himself and those of us who hope for his victory to run his campaignd in the most effectve way he can. So far, I have no problem with a single strategy or tactic he has used.
I fully expect that come November 2008 Fred Thompson will be elected our next President by a comfortable margin. At that point, I hope all this 'foil' talk will be shipped.
As far as I know, Duncan Hunter is comfortably sharing that 2% with Ron Paul, Tom Tancredo, Sam Brownback and John Cox.
It’s the new “gravitas”
LOL...Thank you for that. I am sooo tired of these people telling me that any day their "guy" is gonna take off. Please, it isn't gonna happen. We NEED to focus on viable canidates. Like Fred.
Polls don’t matter to me, nor are they my guide. The only polling that counts are the results that are announced after the citizens have voted. Even that is not always entirely accurate, but it’s what we have.
I have only been here 5 months, and you wouldn’t believe how many times your comment, nearly verbatim, was posted to me by the Rudy supporters. All this time I thought polls were unimportant to conservatives.
What’s NOT important about polls is who’s up 0.03% and who’s down by .04%. Or what percentage of people think about some issue that’s presented in a way that is patently designed to get a certain response.
But there is something to be taken from vanishingly small poll numbers week after week for months and months on end, and that is this: this is a candidacy that is going exactly nowhere, despite the fact that the candidate himself may be likable, spot on with the issues, and photogenic.
Now we don't, we NEED to choose the best candidate we can find and vote for him. Who told you which candidate is viable and which is not? Let me guess, was it the polls? If so, perhaps Fred should just stay home since Rudy is ahead in the polls. If polls make one viable, then Rudy is the most viable, so why even have an election? Polls are an arm of the anti-American fifth column, the media, and are used to guide the sheep along, ever so gently to the place they have already been so many times before.
My only interest is that my country "takes off" and in the best direction, and that is done by my choosing who is the best to lead us in that direction.
The press has been bitching all Summer that Thompson has not announced, because they have nothing to write about during the dog days of August.
Well, it is not Fred Thompson’s to fill their column inches. It is Fred Thompson’s job to run for President, and he does not do that job well if he wastes his announcement by making it in August when nobody, and I mean nobody, is paying attention.
Fred will announce just after Labor Day, as every sensible person has been predicting since May. Frankly, the fact that Fred has not allowed himself to be buffaloed by the MSM and all the political whiners makes me like him even more.
I saw Fred’s speech to the VFW last week. It was so “low energy” it brought me great concern. However, if you compare Hillary’s screeching to Fred’s folksy style, Fred’s the winner.
You take what you want from polls. I don’t want anything from them so I won’t be taking anything from them.
If you must take something, take the fact that they run a list of names past some people they happen to find at home and are willing to participate. The list of name goes by, they hear one they recognize, they choose it, and are pleased with themselves. The media publishes the poll and the poll then becomes self-fulfilling prophecy because the electorate is all too eager to jump on the winning bandwagon.
You made a good point but missed a much larger one.
We need a conservative who has a chance to win to run. Of all the candidates I like Duncan Hunter the best, but he’s not going to get the nomination and we all know that. I like Tom Tancredo, and he has even less chance than Hunter has of getting the nomination. There are some things I like about Giuliani, but his position on gun control is more than troublesome; that, coupled with his position on abortion is a likely deal-breaker for many voters. Romney? He doesn’t know who he is, so neither do we; and we can’t have that in a viable candidate. McCain? He’s finished. I won’t comment on the rest of the field because neither of them has a chance to get out of the low single-digits. That leaves Thompson. I like him, but I, too, think he may have waited too long, and teased too many people with his flirtation with running.
I’ve never counted Howard Baker, for whom Mr. Thompson first worked (Watergate committee), as a bona fide member of the “conservative movement.”
Thompson also worked on other projects for the Tennessee GOP establishment with Lamar Alexander, again not a member of the “conservative movement.”
I analyze this honestly and don’t see Thompson being as conservative as a Newt Gingrich for instance.
Fred was making millions in DC as a lobbyist, then came back to Tennessee in 1994 campaigning in a pickup truck to create an image.
Its honest analysis from this Jesse Helms, Ronald Reagan, Phyllis Schlafly, Ann Coulter type of conservative.
I’d vote for Fred if he were the nominee and am still considering him as a choice among half a dozen or so candidates.
But when I consider him I have to think about it honestly and truthfully without any hype and image making to push me towards him or any other candidate.
A lot of time is spent here on FR with propaganda posts promoting the various candidates as “conservative.”
“Conservative” should be a verb instead of a noun.
Lets get past the polls and use them with great caution and skepticism.
We need to focus our energy on a real conservative challenge to the big boys out there who have seduced many of us.
Thompson has gone from the Exploratory Committee to announcing (presumably next week) in three Summer months. I would wager that no other candidate has made that transition in less time.
The difference is that everybody else got buffaloed into starting their campaigns about nine months too early. McCain, Romney and Giuliani have been spending money for nothing as they try to woo voters who are just not paying attention. There is plenty of time between now and the first primaries (which are now in late October, I think...). Starting earlier than Labor Day is just a waste of time and money.
The ridiculously early primary season is a tactic by Hillary!, because she has all the money in the World and opinions about her are pretty much set in stone. By going in early, and getting the rest of the field to commit early, she is giving the voters plenty of time to get as tired of the rest of the field as they are of her. It is a good strategy, and every Democrat and Republican, except for Thompson, is playing along.
If you want a Republican Nominee who can be stampeded by Hillary! into doing something stupid, you have a lot of choices. If you want a Republican Nominee who take an intelligent course and not be pressured by group-think, your only choice is Fred Thompson.
Or perhaps Newt Gingrich, if he hops into the race. But given the choice between Newt and Fred, I'm with Fred.
I find it easy to ignore Fred at this time as he isn’t in the mellee. When or if he does jump into the fray, I’ll then think about his campaign.
Right now there is only one true Conservative in the running, and that cannot be ignored.
Hey, Fred's a SOUTHERNER. Southerners are more laid back and low key. They don't get up and "pound the pulpit" for hours on end like Castro (or Hillary).
The problem with Tancredo is that, even though he is the most consistent conservative across the board, he is perceived as a single issue candidate and odes not have the ability to convince the American public to buy into a conservative message. I’ll wait for Fred.
Mom? Is that you?
Style over substance. There's a lot worse choices than Thompson, but sometimes I get the impression that a lot of the pro-Fred impulse is based on appearances, emotions and rather shallow political reasoning. It's almost like teenage girls' reactions to their favorite boy band.
The same guy goes on to say:
"I think he’s the person everybody looks to as being the true conservative of our party.”
Not for everybody, not for me. To me he's speaking for the people who would rather look at Thompson than listen to Duncan Hunter.
2%? Breaking 1% would be tripling his support!
He loses a third of his support when one of them gets up to go to the bathroom.
There is nobody else I like, but I will admit that I am tired of waiting.
I am impatient with Fred, although still a supporter....unless he drags this out a whole lot longer.
My favorite is Hunter, but unfortunately he’s financially broke.
I’m a Southerner, and Fred’s VFW speech was REALLY low energy. I’ve seen him much better, and it was actually pretty shocking (too many ‘uhs’).
Laid back is one thing. But the overall lack of passion in the VFW speech was disconcerting, considering Fred’s better performances.
“Fire in the belly” is usually a precursor to explosive diarrhea.
If your candidate was accomplishing things, you’d be way too busy to come around and gripe about Fred. If you want your candidate to take off, perhaps you should be griping to him about what he is doing or not doing. People who don’t have anything to do have more time to complain.
“...Tancredo...”
ROFLMAO...OK, Two then. I forgot about him.
But tell me, does he have "gravitas"
I get the feeling that the only people impatient for Fred are those already supporting other candidates and see thier candidates hopes floating down the drain because Fred has a lot of support without yet announcing.
You posted that to my comment #19. What was my gripe, what was my complaint? I was excoriating polls and didn’t even mention Fred.
In my original comment, I was somewhat defending Fred, and I don’t recall “complaining” about Hunter not doing well. Did you just see my tagline and decide to chide me? Given your profession, I can only hope the ability to discern the meaning of the written word is not completely lost on you.
The post was at 5:19 am, just before work and I have been home less than an hour. So not having anything to do is not something with which I am acquainted. I think you saw my tagline and decided to call down the Hunter supporter.
Oh, and since you brought it up, my candidate is accomplishing a great deal. How about being the leader in the fight for our sovereignty? How about writing a bill and getting it passed into law for 854 miles of double-fence along our Southern border? How about working tirelessly to make sure our brave soldiers have what they need when they engage our enemies? What about fighting for his country as a Ranger in Vietnam? There is so much more, but I’ve a feeling you meant “accomplishment” in terms of poll numbers, which I abhor.
Perhaps what Fred needs is some jalapenos! ;^)
go away troll.
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