Posted on 11/25/2007 5:20:01 PM PST by Josh Painter
Former Tennessee Senator and presidential candidate Fred Thompson has been accused of lacking fire to run for the presidency.
Seeking to alter that image, Thompson fired away at Chris Wallace of Fox News this morning, accusing the network of being biased against his campaign:
Thompson said, "This has been a constant mantra of Fox, to tell you the truth." He noted that other conservatives have praised his bid for the GOP nomination and took issue with a Fox promo that focused on polling in New Hampshire, where Thompson is registering in the single digits.Thompson has a point. While his campaign has been universally criticized for gaffes and missteps early on, it is equally clear Thompson has righted the ship in recent weeks and is starting to generate some momentum.He said he is running second in national polls and has been leading or tied for the lead in South Carolina for "a long, long time." Thompson, in a firm, but measured tone, scolded Wallace: "...for you to highlight nothing but the negatives in terms of the polls and then put on your own guys who have been predicting for four months, really, that I couldn't do it, kind of skew things a little bit. There's a lot of other opinion out there."
His policy papers on social security and immigration have been widely praised on the right as being well rounded, thoughtful, and meaty. His tone on the stump has changed as well as he as begun to criticize both Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney for what he calls their "fake" conservatism.
The media, including Fox, have focused largely on the inside the beltway criticism of the campaign and the candidate himself while ignoring the fact that despite the bad start he is still polling in second place nationally among Republicans.
At the very least, this criticism of Fox shows Thompson to have some fire in the belly - something the media has criticized him for lacking. It also shows an independent streak that not too many candidates have demonstrated.
I call it fighting back. I know that's a novel idea with republicans lately.
Maybe you thought it was whining, Chris Wallace thought it sounded like a Tony Lama up tween his ears.
Pray for W and Our Victory Troops
For an answer to post 188, read post 200, mimaw’s time is divided between subtle Fred digs and subtle Rudy boosting.
Lou Dobbs is an independent who despises the establishment of both political parties.
He understands important issues like the need to have border security and not to allow illegal aliens to invade the country, not to have corrupt trade policies, to diminish the outsourcing, etc.
His vision of restoring state’s rights is a cave-in to liberals on social issues. You notice that Fred does not talk states rights when it comes to education policy, commerce, NASA or air traffic control.
You may not but so many of these diehard Fredbots have been. They are ready to start the decorating. And if what I believe turns out to be true, as the major point of these ‘frontrunners’ is their so-called ‘electability’ rather than who is actually the best the GOP and conservatives who have been pushing these candidates can take accountability for giving us such bad selections. I’m stating right now that Fred is not going to go over well from the get go if he gets the nomination and he will not only continually be behind in the polls against the Demonrat nominee but he is going to assure the GOP of severe losses in youth, women and independent voters. I think Fredheads are really overestimating his appeal outside the GOP and equating his actor status as giving him appeal when it won’t. But I don’t deny Hunter has a tough time but I will fight for him because he is the only solid man to put up against the Demonrat nominee and provides the best opportunity for bold and strong leadership and yet if people chose to abandon Hunter for these polls and put up a dud like Fred all in the name of ‘electability’ and an assurance he ‘will win’, ‘destroy Hillary’, their names need to be remembered for their smugness and a devastating election.
The comment ‘not electable’ doesn’t apply when people have not said what a bad leader Hunter is with what his record is and how he gives interviews, speeches, what he says. There are the comments from people who watch him ‘I like this guy’, ‘impressive’. Sorry, but you really don’t hear that about Fred from most people. It’s more that the candidates are largely lib-’moderates’ and they only flock to Fred in desperation to keep them from the nomination rather than thinking he’s the best.
Saying Hunter is ‘not electable’ you could call an attack. Hey, I know it’s politics and I really am not bothered with the back and forth but it’s nice to turn it on you people who are so quick to go ballistic for anyone having the audacity to question Fred as the best candidate and a so-called ‘electable’ candidate, ‘sure thing’ as many of your fellow Fredheads have said in past threads. So, yes, let’s call that an attack. It implies that Hunter is ill-informed, comes across bad in interviews, debates, speeches and has a horrible record that he could not stand up for in an election. That’s really the crux of it. But then you’d have to admit you are really basing it on ‘name recognition’ which really is moot in a general election as the GOP candidate would have his time against the Demonrat. And you better make sure the GOP candidate has more than a ‘name’.
Obviously Fred and you cannot handle being ‘in the arena’. Everyone has a right to their opinion in this country as to who we want, who we think is best for the job and every damn right to compare and contrast the candidates and what we are getting. I’m sick of you Fredheads having the audacity to attempt to silence voices of dissent and other opinions.
We’ll see how your ‘facts’ are by Nov. ‘08. I’ll remember you.
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You'd do well to stop with the threatening approach. You're not winning any hearts here, and it reflects badly on your candidate.
Yep, I’m serious. Fred & Hunter & Tancredo & (maybe) Huckabee60% are the conservatives in this race. Hunter & Tancredo are getting zero traction.
That leaves 2.
It’s funny because now he’s attempting to talk tough. Really, I see him attempting to play Duncan Hunter LOL. His record is not all that deserving of him being the top choice for conservatives and yet he’s playing it to the hilt now. Can’t say I’m buying into this sudden tough talk as he liked to be all ‘bipartisan’, ‘centrist’ in the past. And he was from a conservative state like Tennessee so he had no excuse for some of his behavior.
I’m going to ask you to simply write “I greyfoxx39 swear on all I hold holy that I sincerely believe that Duncan Hunter is not ready for primetime and it is more than name recognition on his part”. Write it. And those posts about how impressive Hunter is BUT are all over this forum.
Get off your high horse. I’m not ‘threatening’ you. I guess you just can’t take being held accountable and you Fredheads screennames being a reminder to us who questioned whether Fred was the ‘electable’ candidate. You believe in your candidate, stand by him. By election time, if you get your ‘sure thing’ and he doesn’t happen to be that ‘sure thing’ the other posters who had the nerve to question it and called ‘attackers’ can take that into account for how you want to see politics go and what the GOP should do.
I’m not sure what your goal is here, but if it’s to win support for your candidate, it’s a complete failure. Carry on!
At least I have a point. You just whine about your poor Fred being ‘attacked’. This is political discussion. You Fredheads seem to think there should only be one view and try to silence and personally attack those who dare voice a different opinion on his ‘electability’. After all, it is only opinion at this point as there are elections to come.
Keep it up, honey. Remember, the bottom line for you seems to be to antagonize everyone. So far, you’re ahead of the pack.
My objective is a CONSERVATIVE nominee for the Republican Party.
With about 37 days to go, that will not be Duncan, given the reality of his current standing.
You're smart: you tell me how Hunter's going to break out of the pack, go into the lead, and turn back the Giuliani wave that will overtake us on Feb 5.
I don't want fairy tales, friend. I want a real plan that will work, and it needs to become apparent in the next few days, so that the tidal wave change to Hunter is going to happen.
Tell me the plan. (And then tell it to Hunter, whom I'd love to have as the candidate.)
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