Republican presidential hopeful, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, speaks to local residents during a gathering, Sunday, Nov. 11, 2007, in Burlington, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Posted on 11/11/2007 7:05:02 PM PST by FocusNexus
BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson said Sunday "the political pendulum is swinging" against his party, and Republicans needs to work harder to win over independent voters.
"Everybody knows what's at stake next year, but I wonder if we've come to terms with the difficulty we've got as Republicans, and the fact that we're going to have to do a lot of things very well to prevail," the former Tennessee senator said.
What the Republican Party needs, Thompson said, is to nominate a candidate like himself who can "go before the American people and ask for the vote of a cross-section of Americans."
He warned that there are a growing number of independents who are in danger of being swept up by the Democratic Party, and urged his party to "take our commonsense conservative principles and make them applicable to today's circumstances."
"For a lot of reasons, (independents) don't like the ways things are going ... but they also don't particularly like the other side, but they are willing to give us a chance, willing to listen to us," he said.
Thompson noted that only once in the past 50 years has a party been able to elect a president of its party three terms in a row.
"The political pendulum is swinging against us. Everybody knows that the president's numbers are down," he said. He also pointed to the greater number of Republican seats up in Congress as opposed to Democratic seats, and said experts are predicting Republicans will lose even more control.
"And what they're predicting essentially is Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid will be running this country, with larger numbers," he said. If Republicans lose more power in Washington, he warned, "we are going to go down the road of a welfare state, which is weaker on national defense."
"They are going to be selecting judges who will change the social policy in this country for the worse for a generation to come," he said.
Like many of the candidates on the campaign trail on Veterans Day, Thompson gave a nod to American troops past and present.
"Today ... I am reminded that we are a nation that has spilled more blood for the liberty of other people in all of the other countries put together, and, it has made us, because we understand that freedom is based on that, our freedom is ultimately involved," he said.
urged his party to "take our commonsense conservative principles and make them applicable to today's circumstances."?
Is he saying that conservative principles need to be "updated" because they are not applicable to today's circumstances as they are?
I thought conservatives principles are timeless.
Republican presidential hopeful, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, speaks to local residents during a gathering, Sunday, Nov. 11, 2007, in Burlington, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
FDT rambles so much it is very difficult to understand what he is talking about, and people tend to become very sleepy listening to him.
There is one man, Duncan Hunter, whose appeal transcends party. I’ve brought conservative Democrats on board. There is little difference between conservatives of any party - they all love their country and want to preserve our way of life, our sovereignty and our freedoms.
God bless Duncan Hunter, and God bless America.
Huck had a great line ripping FDT today. Something like ‘The hollywood writers strike has Fred hurting for good lines lately.’
Just once I would like to see you uphold your candidate without the vitriol imposed on others.
Did anyone ever tell you that to sell a candidate especially one with the class of Hunter, that one should do as he would do...use class?
Yeah, too bad Fred doesn’t have Mitt Romney’s legal team.
Surely, Slick Willard’s lawyers would have advised him against being shot at that angle.
Heh, wouldn’t we all... :)
“There is one man, Duncan Hunter, whose appeal transcends party.”
I like Hunter too, but I think that people don’t view his experience of being a representative sufficient — not that realistically being a Senator provides more experience, I am talking about perception.
I would like to see him run for the US Senate — take on Boxer and if he could beat her, he would have a real springboard for next time.
Here’s another shot of the screen actor: http://www.16bit.com/toypics/universalmonsters/16blacklagoon/creature-review.jpg
My opinions are mine alone, and Rep. Hunter is in no way responsible for my opinions. I was agreeing with post #1, so what’s your problem? Defend your candidate, but do not attack me.
There are very conservative independents who see the republican party as too liberal.
Want Independents on board? Read my tagline. It’s a guaranteed winning ticket.
Did he say that?
No, he did not.
He said we need to "take our commonsense conservative principles and make them applicable to today's circumstances."
APPLYING commonsense conservative principles is a very different thing to CHANGING them. I suspect you know that, and are are shilling for some other candidate. I wonder which one?
Hence your dragging the red herring.
Michael Savage is an independent
Some people confuse “independents” with “moderates”
I’m glad you like Hunter. In my opinion, Duncan Hunter possesses more experience and has had success in his position, giving him an enormous boost in credentials and expertise over any of the other candidates. I know that with Duncan Hunter in the White House we could all sleep better.
That aint gonna happen
No. What he said was quite clear. No compromises.
If Thompson wants to woo independents he should focus on cracking down hard on illegal immigration and massive voter fraud. Of course that strategy would also have the added benefit of wooing conservatives...
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