Posted on 11/06/2007 7:05:11 AM PST by Calpernia
U. S. Sen. John McCain, R-AZ, has spent the better part of the last decade running for president. He actively sought the office in 2000 and lost handily to George W. Bush. Since that time, he has done everything he could think of to antagonize the base of his own party.
Former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-TN, acts as if the thought of running for president just occurred to him five minutes ago. Some days he acts as though it still hasn't occurred to him.
For very different reasons, these two men, with their totally different approaches to politics, have probably slammed the door on their chances for winning the Republican presidential nomination.
In 2000, McCain was the darling of the mainstream media. Back in those days, he was the anti-Bush, which appealed to them. This year his worldview is anathema to theirs because he has unapologetically defended "Bush's war."
But McCain's unpopularity within his party stems from two other issues: illegal immigration and campaign finance reform.
On immigration, McCain seems to have learned his lesson. In what radio host and bestselling author Laura Ingraham would call a "Power to the People moment," McCain (along with a lot of other members of Congress), has gotten the message loud and clear: border enforcement first.
"I understand why you would call it a, quote, shift," McCain said to reporters after being grilled by voters in South Carolina. "I say it is a lesson learned about what the American people's priorities are. And their priority is to secure the borders."
Too bad it took a meltdown of the congressional phone lines last June to convince the senator of the common sense of the American people. Until he saw his poll numbers sink to single digits, McCain seemed absolutely oblivious to - nay, defiant of - the people's will. Nevertheless, those of us who have been incredulous to the deafness of the president and far too many members of Congress on this issue welcome Sen. McCain into the bright light of reason on this issue.
While "comprehensive immigration reform" (better known as "amnesty"), is dead, the legislation for which John McCain is best known is still alive and festering within our political system. The McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill passed by Congress and signed into law by the president will be haunting us for years, despite the fact that the Supreme Court has struck down certain provisions of the law. For that reason, it has left the base of the Republican Party with a permanent bad taste for McCain's brand of politics.
Fred Thompson's alienation from the GOP activists who comprise the nominating block of the party is much more recent. In fact, it unfolds like a wet blanket of sad disappointment day by day. Desperately seeking a candidate to rally around, social conservatives keep waiting for Fred Thompson to show them p something.
His recent underwhelming performance on "Meet the Press" did not help. Asked about his positions on abortion and same-sex marriage, Thompson, who has a respectable record on both issues, managed to flub his answer. He told host Tim Russert he opposes to an amendment to the U.S. Constitution on either issue, preferring to leave these two crucial social issues to the individual states. As Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family has pointed out, Thompson endorses the idea of fifty different definitions of marriage. The same is true, it seems, on the definition of life, since Thompson simply wants to see Roe v. Wade overturned and the issue returned to the states.
In addition, Thompson seemed muddled and indecisive about his opinion on water boarding as a technique for dealing with terrorist detainees.
With less than two months remaining until the Iowa caucuses, it is likely that Fred Thompson and John McCain will both continue to decline in the polls, while former Governors Mitt Romney (Massachusetts) and Mike Huckabee (Arkansas) will continue to gain on the current frontrunner, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. So be it.
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Doug Patton is a freelance columnist who has served as a political speechwriter and public policy advisor. His weekly columns are published in newspapers across the country and on selected Internet web sites, including Human Events Online, TheConservativeVoice.com and GOPUSA.com, where he is a senior writer and state editor.
LOL!!!!!!!!!
This is a stupid article.
A Romney Huckabee ticket sounds plausible.
Underwhelming my a$$. I thought it was among his best appearences yet. He gave well thought-out, lucid, Constitutionally sound responses and didn't let Russert get the best of him, yet kept his composure and treated Russert with respect.
LLS
No attacks against the poster.
However, I think Fred did very well on MTP.
People see what they want to see. If they want Fred to fail, they see him failing.
Another wrong ad hominem attack from the Thompson camp. Why am I not surprised?
At least you stick to the issues for the most part, as much as we disagree. I can’t say that for some of your comrades...
As a life-long Arkansas conservative, believe me when I say, you REALLY DON’T want Huckabee on any GOP ticket. He’s NOT the conservative he acts like.
> It’s becoming obvious that Fred really isn’t riding in to save the GOP day. If it comes down to Giuliani, Huckabee or Romney, then Romney all the way!
I’m not enthused about any of those 3. Rooty is a big lib, Huckabee is a stealth lib, and Romney has conveniently migrated to the non-lib side of the house just in time for primary season— let’s just say I doubt what he’ll do once he gets the reins. I will dutifully pull the lever against Her Thighness, but it will be a queasy election year, to be sure.
I don’t think any of the frontrunner GOP candidates are Free Republic Conservatives. I also think the “frontrunners” are down to Mitt and Rudy.
>>As Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family has pointed out, Thompson endorses the idea of fifty different definitions of marriage. The same is true, it seems, on the definition of life, since Thompson simply wants to see Roe v. Wade overturned and the issue returned to the states.
In addition, Thompson seemed muddled and indecisive about his opinion on water boarding as a technique for dealing with terrorist detainees. <<
Roe V. Wade should be overturned.
Waterboarding, like other mock executions, is a form of prohibited psychological torture.
Dobson impresses me less and less.
LLS
‘But McCain’s unpopularity within his party stems from two other issues: illegal immigration and campaign finance reform.’
This author doesn’t have a clue, as this statement shows clearly.
McCain was never ‘popular’ with the GOP base at ANY POINT. Thats a result of his loving MSNBC’s gang of leftwingers and the attention they have given him over the past decade or so. He was only popular with the MSM types, who knew he would implode in a national election he entered at the top of the ticket.
At this point in the 2004 race, John Kerry was at the same leve Thompson is at today, folks. Doesn’t mean Thompson will win, but it does show the author’s research for this hit piece was shoddy at best, intentionally false at worst.
McCain is dead meat. Keating 5, against conservatism, questionable on immigration, too old, a loose cannon, not in touch with mainstream America, media darling, etc.
Then why is Fred doing BETTER than Romney in most polls?
Giuliani fluff.
No Giuliani, NO PROBLEM.
>>>>McCain was never ‘popular’ with the GOP base at ANY POINT.
The writer may have mentioned McCain and Thompson together since Thompson co chair McCain’s 2000 run.
LLS
‘The writer may have mentioned McCain and Thompson together since Thompson co chair McCain’s 2000 run.’
The writer will be voting a straight Democratic ticket come November of 08.
The more I hear about Romney the less I like him, and I didn’t like him to start with. The game-show-host polish is not what I’m looking for in a president. And yet, slickness in a candidate seems to coincide with slickness in his campaign, and Fred could use a little slick in that department.
Nevertheless, I watched the MTP interview with Fred, and he strikes me as a mature, sensible, wise man; a statesman. While I’m not completely satisfied with his comments on a certain issue, he is clearly the best of the batch.
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