Posted on 01/11/2008 10:56:24 PM PST by Fred
REPUBLICAN presidential hopeful Fred Thompson has cast aside his southern gentleman demeanour with an attack-dog performance in a South Carolina TV debate, accusing rival Mike Huckabee of being soft on illegal immigration and of promoting a "blame America" foreign policy.
In a calculated attempt to deal himself back into the presidential race by showing more toughness, the former Tennessee senator-turned Hollywood actor also accused Mr Huckabee of being a liberal on economic issues and an opponent of the individual and states' rights espoused by former president Ronald Reagan.
The tirade from the once "sleeping bear" of the Republican race came in a 90-minute Fox News Channel debate that produced more sniping between New Hampshire primary first and second place-getters John McCain and Mitt Romney and no disagreement from the six candidates that the US was facing a recession.
The debate, part of the lead-up to South Carolina's crucial Republican primary on January 19, was also noteworthy for the love-in between Senator McCain and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.
They praised each other's policy positions on the war on terror, raising the prospect of a McCain-Giuliani or Giuliani-McCain ticket emerging from the Republican race as the nomination process unfolds.
The South Carolina primary is regarded as much more significant than the Michigan primary on Tuesday, next on the calendar. No Republican has ever won the presidency without first winning the "first-in-the-south" primary.
Mr Thompson, who played US president Ulysses S. Grant in last year's telemovie Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, launched his censure of Mr Huckabee during discussion of the Reagan legacy.
"On the one hand you have the Reagan revolution, you have the Reagan coalition of limited government and strong national security," Mr Thompson said.
"On the other hand you have the direction Governor Huckabee would take us.
(Excerpt) Read more at theaustralian.news.com.au ...
Thanks for the post. I was thinking about looking that up myself since it was mentioned in one of the SC videos. :-)
this campaing is becoming very interesting indeed. Finally, an alternative to the droning dweebs and “all Hillary all the time.”
As the power of The Fred reverberates around the globe......
They praised each other's policy positions on the war on terror, raising the prospect of a McCain-Giuliani or Giuliani-McCain ticket emerging from the Republican race as the nomination process unfolds.This is the scariest prospect if McCain and Giuliani can remain competitive throughout the race to a brokered convention. Much worse than my current prediction of a McCain-Huckabee alliance, because Huckabee would certainly throw his delegates to McCain-Giuliani rather than Thompson-Romney, since he has particular animosity towards Romney, and after last night, Fred Thompson now too.
Stating the facts of an opponent’s record is a “TIRADE”? OZ journalism is as bad as its US counterpart.
“Sleeping bear returns to ‘maul’ Huckabee”
“Maul”, thats about how I would describe Fred’s Bronx style beatdown on Huckafraud this week!
I absolutely adore the Australian! Honestly, if you’re looking for a conservative viewpoint with good international coverage, it fits the bill pretty well.
I’d frequently go to read their site when the Jihadis were going on a rampage and our papers in the US were calling them “Asian youths” and “protestors.”
I find the Australian people in general refreshing though they didn’t do well by Howard the last go round.
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