Who torpedoed Fred Thompson in Iowa?

Vanity | 27 August 2009 | Question

[publana]

So let me get this straight. Fred Thompson pretended to run a campaign in order to draw votes from.... Hunter? Huckabee? Paul? (I've seen that claim from supporters of each.) And then, once McCain won the nomination, Fred put "mission accomplished" on his own website in order to expose his own ruse and rub it in? That's got to be the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

I agree. There are some certified geniuses posting on this thread.

[andy58-in-nh]

I ran into some of the Romney people way back in ‘94 when he was running for Senate against Fat Ted. All ambition, no principle.

[rvoitier]

Bugger off, oneamercanvoice.

You sure talk an American game until until someone uses the 1st Amendment to your unliking.

[NathanR]

LOL True.

Paperdoll was one of those people under the delusion that Duncan Hunter actually had a chance.

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

Yeah, some among us mistake facts for bashing. I guess knowing everything about a candidate before deciding to give him/her your vote is considred bad sense in some circles.

No, it's called a bunch of you DH people riding around on your high horses, pretending like you were so much "more conservative" than anybody else who didn't cast their lot with your little 0.5%, no-traction candidate, all the while sounding like you had no clue what any of you were talking about with respect to the actual issues. It was while watching the Duncanistas back in mid-2008 that I learned that there really were a lot of know-nothing blowhards on Free Republic.

[Califreak]

Was that the one where Mitt’s people were bussed in or something?

[TexasGunRunner]

You know, its funny, but it is also very sad.

I put up front why I asked the question, in plain English, in a very concise post.

Still, easily 80% of FReepers who replied NEVER bothered to read any of it. They just hit reply based on the title, assuming I wanted to know why Fred lost.

I was NOT seeking political analysis on why Fred lost.

I was asking about a very specific event, a rumor that damaged him in Iowa. Personally, I doubt the rumor made a difference, although I'm sure it hurt.

This thread is NOT about Fred Thompson...or at least it wasn't when I started it.

It was about who was playing dirty tricks (Mike Murphy?) because I was curious if the same scum was playing dirty tricks on Sarah Palin.

I think highly of Fred Thompson. I really like Sarah Palin. I think Bobby Jindal is a great conservative, and that Rick Perry (my own governor) is really surprising me lately with his move to the right. I can even come up with some nice things to say about Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, and John McCain...if I have to.

On the other hand, I am very dismayed, my FR post with the most responses by far, was misunderstood, mis-construed, and in a sense hijacked. I think it says a lot that only ~20% of the people responding bothered to stop long enough to read a post to which they were responding. That is sad.

[Nuc1]

Post an image, or prove yourself to be a liar.

First, I don,t known how to post pictures. Second, all comments made were based upon information provided at Free Republic. Feel free to look it up. Third, thake your insulting cr@p and pound sand.

[Paperdoll]

Oh my! Things do get ugly again at F.R. Bye bye, kids.

[Diogenesis]

Poor sport spoiler Romney doing what he does best:

Novak: "Fred Thompson drop-out rumors traced to Romney campaign"

Said Novak: "The rumors were traced in part to Mitt Romney's campaign,
trying to stir up strife between McCain and Thompson."

"Despite outspending his rivals by huge margins throughout the primaries,
(Mitt Romney, Carpetbagger UT,CA,MA,NH,Mexico) lost Iowa, South Carolina, Florida and California.
The only primaries he won were in Michigan, where Dad was governor; LDS states;
and a few states on Super Tuesday in which his California-obsessed rivals
couldn't spare the cash to advertise.
Only John Connolly in 1968 had a worse cash-to-delegates ratio.
And John McCain rightly did not like Romney's tactics during the primaries.
(W)hen (Romney's early leads) started slipping away, he resorted to unfair,
distorted, scorched-earth negative ads, betting that his opponents couldn't
afford to spend enough for the truth to catch up to his charges."
[Romney: A Mistake for McCain, 7/23/2008, Dick Morris]

[Fledermaus]

Since your reading skills are subpar I’ll explain again.
Romney (after Guliani sank after he, at first, was touted as the lock to win the nomination in the press) was who McCain wanted to thwart. He was considered the threat to his chances and that was starting to happen.

They didn’t care about Huckabee - another southerner from Arkansas. Fred never wanted to win. Anyone that knows his history (and I like the man and voted for him every time) knows he and McCain are great buddies.

This is why Fred announced and then didn’t really campaign. He was waiting for super Tuesday. But with Huckabee on the rise Fred jumped in and campaigned in Florida. It wasn’t well planned and this is where the “he seems lazy” line came from.

And primaries are only zero-sum games if every eligible voter goes to the polls which never happens. So one person can get more votes by getting out those that might not have gone to the polls.

And since you also don’t seem to understand this forum, it’s for opinions. Those are mine. I personally don’t give a crap how it came out since I knew McCain would probably lose and I did’t like him anyway. I’m just looking at what happened and offered some analysis as I see it.

Now you can unwad your panties.