Free Republic

McLean, VA -Senator Fred Thompson delivers remarks today at 12:30 pm ET to the 2007 Club For Growth Fall Economic Conference. Below is an excerpt from his remarks as prepared for delivery: "The tax code, with its length and hopeless complexity, is indicative of the entire federal government. In 2001, when I was Chairman of the Government Affairs Committee, I published a two-volume report on departments and agencies rife with overlap, duplication, waste, and lack of accountability. We found $20 billion in waste. It is not getting better. We have computers that do not talk to each other, and departments...

McLean, VA - The following are excerpts from remarks prepared for delivery today by Senator Fred Thompson to the Republican Jewish Coalition 2008 Presidential Candidate's Forum in Washington, D.C.: "The terror masters in Tehran and Damascus make only the most minor distinction between America and Israel. They say that America is the Great Satan, and Israel is the Little Satan, and both must be destroyed. They organized the assassination of Lebanese political leaders, and turned that aspiring democracy into a hostage state. "The US must make it clear that we will not allow Iran to become a nuclear threat. In...

Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson went to the heart of Rudolph W. Giuliani country yesterday and told New York conservatives to reject liberal candidates posing as Republicans. "Some think the way to beat the Democrats in November is to be more like them. I could not disagree more," Mr. Thompson, a former senator from Tennessee, told the Conservative Party of New York, in excerpts provided beforehand. "I believe that conservatives beat liberals only when we challenge their outdated positions, not embrace them."

CLC 07: The Talented -- And Troubling -- Dr. Keyes As I mentioned in my previous post, the dinner for the CLC tonight featured a speech by recent presidential aspirant Dr. Alan Keyes. Keyes has operated on the fringes of the Republican Party for years, although he took on Barack Obama in 2004 as the party's nominee in an ill-considered and mostly embarrassing carpetbagging run for the Senate in Illinois. Just a few weeks ago he declared his candidacy for the GOP nomination, but has garnered little interest, and was not invited to the Dearborn presidential debate this week. I...

One of the fun parts of being the host network of the debate is finding out first who the campaigns are lining up to spin for them post-debate. The campaign with the most interesting spinners on their team for tomorrow's CNBC/MSNBC/WSJ debate: Fred Thompson. His campaign has requested Spin Room credentials for one-time presidential hopeful/former Virginia Sen. George Allen as well as Liz Cheney, daughter of VP Cheney.

The state Conservative Party has invited Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson to be the featured speaker at its fall bash - a snub to local GOP favorite Rudy Giuliani. Conservative Mike Long said Giuliani is not his party's favorite son. "Is Thompson looked at by conservatives as someone they're comfortable with? That's a fair estimation," Long said of the ex-Tennessee senator and actor. "Thompson has a lion's share of support at the moment among New York Conservatives," Long said. "We're very honored and pleased he will speak."

The Hannah Report is covering news that the Ohio Republican Party released the results of its recent straw poll for the 2008 presidential primary showing the pro-gun former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson leading the anti-gun former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. In the poll, Thompson received 33 percent, Giuliani received 24 percent, former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney received 17 percent, U.S. Sen. John McCain received 11 percent, former Ark. Gov. Mike Huckabee seven percent, U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback four percent, followed by Duncan Hunter with two percent, Ron Paul one percent, and Tom Tancredo one percent. Nearly 2,300 Republicans...

GROUP HUG Earlier this week, former Sen. Fred Thompson met privately in Washington, D.C. with senior members of the Arlington Group, a coalition of social and religious conservatives. The meeting, according to Arlington Group members present, included members who had previously met with Thompson at a private meeting in the spring, prior to Thompson's speech before the Council on National Policy. At the meeting this week Thompson answered questions and discussed his views on social issues, as well as his own faith, for more than an hour.