Posted on 12/18/2007 10:46:23 AM PST by NormsRevenge
MANCHESTER, Iowa - Republican Fred Thompson says if he can be a presidential horse for conservatives to ride in the campaign, "All I've got to say is saddle me up."
Thompson was touring Iowa by bus rather than on horseback Tuesday, saying he's got the potential to come on fast in the final days before the state's Jan. 3 caucuses.
Thompson, who has occasionally been labeled a less-than-energetic campaigner, spoke with enthusiasm to about 30 people at a town hall in Manchester while his blue campaign bus, emblazoned with a huge picture of his head and shoulders, waited outside.
"We're taking it now to where it needs to be," Thompson told his audience. "This is where it starts. This is where we are. this is where we're going to be. ... We're going to make sure we meet everybody we can possibly meet."
Thompson is spending the final two weeks of the campaign in Iowa traveling the state with his wife, Jeri.
He referred to the GOP debate last week in Iowa, where he drew praise for refusing to comply when asked for a show of hands on a question about global warming.
"I said, `Nope,'" and everybody pulled their hand down and looked around," Thompson said. "I just said to my buddies up there, `How are you going to stand up to the leaders of Iran and North Korea if you can't stand up to an overbearing moderator?'"
He made his saddle-me-up comment after saying a newspaper had said he had given conservatives "a horse to ride" in the campaign.
On Tuesday, Thompson listed some of his main issues — the role of the federal government, judges, taxes, Social Security — and took questions about trade, the value of the dollar and how he would end the Iraq war and bring troops home.
"I think we have to stabilize that place so that people can get up and go to worship without fear of being blown up," he said.
He reiterated the case he made during the Iowa debate: "When our worst enemy is sitting down at the negotiating table thinking about what they can get away with, or thinking about what they might could do to the United States of America, who do you want representing us on our side of the table looking back at them?"
Thompson is battling for a third-place showing in Iowa, where former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee recently surged ahead of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in state polls. No candidate has gone on to become the nominee without placing in the top three in Iowa.
DRINK!!
Still not getting much sleep this busy delivery season I see...
I think he wins it. In a fair contest, he wins it.
Romney’s leaking all over the press (crying at every opportunity), and Guiliani is done.
Huckabee’s at the implode tipping point.
Two weeks is a long time.
Lack of originality is not a basis for embarassment if you’re accurate.
Hoping for the best regarding the candidate we like the most and doing nothing to change or influence change in such obvious weaknesses is embarrassing.
How can we or Fred turn this perception around?
If it can’t be changed he’ll lose. Like the 300 at Thermopylae we may put up the good fight but suffer a pyric loss.
You are the first I’ve seen or heard to assert this. I hope you’re correct but I fear you are not.
Well the only proof will be in the match up.
That’s all good news and a good begining towards changing attitudes!
Now how can we (Fred) begin to turn the common perception around?
How about finding a young energetic celebrity, perhaps a singer, to endorse him and tour with him?
How about having an young, inspiring kick-off speaker to introduce him at each stop?
You and I are Freepers. We DO hang around better people than that. I would be happy if the people I hung around were representative of the American voter base.
Unfortunately the average voter is far beneath the average Freeper or their friends.
so instead of bemoaning the fact and repeating the pablum of the MSM...enlighten those around you...push positively...
and make a diffence.
um that would be difference...spell check required ...
goes for more coffee.
“How is a tired, uninspiring, old, right on all the issues Fred going to win the hearts of the feel good, look good average American voter while competing agains the youthful, energetic, glib tongued, wrong on all the issues Obama?”
What was it that Reagan said during that debate? Something like,”I won’t use my opponent’s youth or experience against him.”
You should be asking DWar...
thats their quote not mine.
LOL!
You're a Duncan Hunter supporter.
Bzzzt. That's a lie. His position in the polls on Rasmussen has been steady for six weeks.
...He’s leveling out at the bottom...
Bzzzt. Another lie. LRon, Tancredo and Hunter are the bottom. Fred remains statistically tied for third with McCain and Slick Willard on Rasmussen.
The Romney Sleaze Machine never sleeps.
“You should be asking DWar...
thats their quote not mine.”
Sorry, just didn’t feel like scrolling all the way up the page and finding where he said it.
Fred's the only conservative who has a shot.
Let me know when Hunter Duncan polls higher than the margin of error.
The first step in making change is admiting one is needed.
Pushing positively is what I’m trying to do here.
See #48.
Too many Fredheads just want to deny the problem, say it is a fabrication of the MSM, or even the it’s an advantage.
That’s a recipe for losing.
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