Posted on 08/21/2007 9:04:24 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Former Senator Fred D. Thompson of Tennessee, who has not officially declared his presidential ambitions, took a not-very-veiled swipe yesterday at the leading Republican candidate, former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York, for supporting gun control.
Mr. Thompson, who starred in “Law & Order,” wrote on his Web site: “When I was working in television, I spent quite a bit of time in New York City. There are lots of things about the place I like, but New York gun laws don’t fall in that category.”
Then he decried a recent court ruling on a gun case, writing that “the same activist federal judge from Brooklyn who provided Mayor Giuliani’s administration with the legal ruling it sought to sue gun makers, has done it again.”
The critique amounted to an unusual dive into presidential politicking for a man who is barred under federal rules from acting like a candidate. Mr. Thompson is officially only “testing the waters” of a presidential bid, a status that limits his ability to raise money and engage in active campaigning. But his comments suggest that he is ready to come out against the other contenders in the Republican field.
In his comments, Mr. Thompson went on to suggest that high gun ownership rates may be related to the nation’s low violent crime rates.
The Giuliani campaign responded. “Those who live in New York in the real world — not on TV — know that Rudy Giuliani’s record of making the city safe for families speaks for itself,” said Katie Levinson, the Giuliani campaign’s communications director. “No amount of political theater will change that.”
Mr. Giuliani has been leading consistently in national polls of the Republican field. But his status has also opened him up to increasing scrutiny.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I’m not sure who Salzberger fears more, Rudy or Fred.
Sounds like a hit piece on both.
JulieAnnie’s ‘gun grabbing’ and pro-litigation bent makes this issue a sure loser for him with the base. Let’s hope liberal Rudy keeps responding anytimg anyone brings up the Second Amendment.
Rooty is a liberal gun grabber and nothing he says can change that fact. He's always supported more gun control and a ban on assault weapons.
While I generally like Rudy...due to his position on the jihad.
However, Fred just won the south, mountain west and much of of the mid-west with that comment. Still, Rudy has a lock on the Northeast and the west coast in the primary and these guys could be slugging it out on the floor of the convention.
It's be WONDERFUL and HEALTHY theatre. Good for the party and good for the country.
I'm certain they'll both stick to the issues and avoid ALL personal attacks.
You never graduated the 7th grade? What causes you to be a shut-in?
That is a good article. John Wayne plus Ronald Reagan. Doesn’t get any better than that. I see similarities, but with those two men there will never be anyone like them. [My hero worship disclaimer.] But I’m glad that author said what he did.
I'm just not impressed, and figured most everyone knew that.
Apparently not.
The article does a good job of portraying him as the constitutionalist and conservative hero that many conservatives want him to be. I'm just not sure whether he's really that man. Sometimes, "conservative hero" just seems to be another of his acting roles.
Regardless of what he'll really do in office, the article is encouraging. If nothing else, I'm glad to see him taking shots at Giuliani. If the race becomes Thompson versus Romney, I'll feel better about the outcome regardless of the nominee. Of course, I'd still rather see Duncan Hunter win the nomination.
Bill
Fred Thompson has had some rather spotty gun votes in his tenure. To name a few...
Lautenberg Domestic Confiscation gun ban
On September 12, 1996, the Senate passed the Lautenberg gun ban as an amendment to the Treasury-Postal appropriations bill (H.R. 3756). The Lautenberg Domestic Confiscation Gun Ban disarms gun owners for small (misdemeanor) offenses in the home — “offenses” as slight as spanking a child or grabbing a spouse. This lifetime ban, in certain cases, can even be imposed without a trial by jury. It is also retroactive, so it does not matter if the offense occurred 20 years ago. Thompson voted in favor of the amendment.
. Smith “Anti-Brady” Amendment
On July 21, 1998, pro-gun Senator Bob Smith (R-NH) introduced an “Anti-Brady” amendment that passed by a vote of 69-31. The Smith amendment would prohibit the FBI from using Brady background checks to tax or register gun owners. Further, the amendment requires the “immediate destruction of all [gun buyer] information, in any form whatsoever.” Finally, if the FBI disregards this latter provision, the Smith language will allow private citizens to sue the agency and collect monetary damages, including attorney’s fees. Thompson voted against this limitation of FBI registration of gun owners.
Not a major issue for me, but for others...
I've said it before and I'll say it again... I will never vote for Rudy Giuliani. Not ever.
Lots of folks in Kalifornicate, thought they were getting the Terminator — instead they got a wimpy Kennedy sperminator.
He outlawed the purchase of .50 cal BMG single shot rifles!
Who would have known he was a girly boy?
Nah. Nobody took Schwartzenneger for a Conservative. California wanted to elect a celebrity with a tough-guy image and that is what they got. They would have elected Clint Eastwood just as fast and all they would have gotten the liberal Mayor of Carmel.
Never underestimate the California electorate. They are really, really stupid. Who else would vote AGAINST a proposition requiring the State to only pass balance budgets. Only stupid people.
The “end of the Rudy campaign” has been predicted on this forum for months. Yet he remains the frontrunner. Thompson has not yet announced. I hope he does. I look forward to the contest.
Sure he has. No matter how many times they repeat this garbage, it won't come true: it ain't gonna be Julie vs. Hilly (the match-up that works best for them).
The second ammendment was written to help us identify America's traitors. Some think it has to do with individuals or state militias keeping and bearing arms. Not so.
Our founders were smart and tricky. They wrote it so that their descendants could, without any doubt, indentify the enemies of this great nation. I'm not a Mason, but I could have been a brick mason. My garden is plentiful, but I usually eat it all and have little use for Mason Jars. Masonry is pretty boring unless you're traveling on a cobblestone street, then it's bone-jarringly boring. But, let's face it, good streets are a foundation and our nation's foundation is no less so.
Each and every Judge, Politician, Bureaucrat, or Legislator that has ever gone against "the right of the people to keep and bear arms" is unAmerican and we owe it to ourselves and our posterity to rid the landscape of such vermin.
"Suprise, b*tch!" /Dave Chapell
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