I love Fred but we are in trouble if a guy who hasn’t announced yet with very little political experience can explode to the front like this.

Very little what? Excuse me, but Fred!’s been in politics for a very long time, in an impressive variety of roles.

– He’s the man who, in his capacity as co-chief counsel to the Senate investigating committee, coined the question, “What did he know, and when did he know it?”, while interrogating John Dean about Richard Nixon’s involvement in the Watergate coverup. That’s 1973.

– He was a politically appointed U.S. attorney from 1968-1972.

– He worked as a registered lobbyist on behalf of Westinghouse and General Electric for nearly two decades, mostly pushing for deregulation.

– In 1977, he led the investigation against TN Governor Ray Blanton for selling prison pardons, the story of which became a movie. Fred played himself, which launched his acting career.

– In 1991 he was registered with the U.S. government as an official foreign agent for a D.C. law firm representing overseas U.S. business interests.

– In 1994 he ran and was elected to fill Al Gore’s uncompleted senate term. He was reelected in 1996, both elections by landslides of note in Tennessee history. That’s 8 years of RECENT senate service.

– His voting record is public information, and his views when spoken are never shaded by legalese, in spite of his training as an attorney.

Senator Fred Dalton Thompson has more political experience than the vast majority of members serving in elected office today. Rethink your statement.

I find it interesting that New Gingrich is losing to a social liberal. Hmm.

amerpundit on March 27, 2007 at 12:44 PM

I bet you all the lint in my pocket that it’s because a lot of Newt votes shifted to Thompson

- The Cat

P.S. This is why I want run off elections for everything. If we had them in ’92 and ’96 Bill Clinton would be just like any other rapist.

Senator Thompson has been making public comments that he was weighing the possibility of running for more than four months now.

So have I. In fact, I’ve announced, but nobody’s taking me seriously. And I have a warchest that has $12.84 and a twofer coupon at Wendy’s!

My point is that he hasn’t announced diddly. I like the support, and I’d certainly support him, if he runs. In the meantime, I’m going to be spending my energy on candidates who have announced because they’re the real deal, not figments of a wishful imagination.

It’s also ludicrous to have these polls so early. I’d say 90% of those voting in the straw polls don’t know anything about most of the candidates in the field. They like Rudi- they vote Rudi. They like Thompson– they vote Thompson. We’re still in the infancy of a 2008 — 2008 — political campaign, and we’re already selecting our guy and his Veep.

What’s worse is that a such an early season has the capability of stripping the relevance of a later campaign. Suppose Thompson declares, gets so much support that the other candidates suspend or drop out, and then some huge skeleton walks out of the closet in November. What then? By that time we’ve already discarded 7-8 worthy candidates who dropped out before a primary even rolled around in February.

I find it amazing that Thompson’s not-running has had the biggest impact on Newt, somebody else not-running. I think that illustrates the absurdity of so much focus on the campaign so early.

It also distracts from issues in Congress we should be concentrating on.

Hunter has a long hill to climb to lead the ticket. He’d be great as VP for 4-8 years then have a good chance to step up to President. I like Steele for VP too.

Senator Thompson has been making public comments that he was weighing the possibility of running for more than four months now.

He has done numerous interviews, makes his views fairly plain during his substitute gigs on Paul Harvey’s News and Commentary (which he is currently doing through this week), and his voting record as Senator from Tennesseee is both available and telling regarding his positions.

Add his multi-layered celebrity status, the fact that he has proven bona-fides as a non-partisan Watergate investigator, and an almost perfect plain-spoken downhome persona, and there’s no mystery to his “instant” popularity.

It would, at this point, be ridiculous NOT to include him in the straw polls, as the results prove quite convincingly.

Thompson/Tancredo

- The Cat

Fred/Condi or Fred/JEB or Condi/JEB or Fred/Steele or Fred/Mitt or Mitt/Condi or GunneyErmey/Condi or JoeArpio/Condi or …

ANYBODY but Hillary!

How about we do straw polls with people actually running, or are we to the point that we have to assemble a fantasy candidate then try to draft them?

Let’s not be Deaniacs, folks. Let them decide to run, then we’ll pick & choose.

Just because Fred hasn’t made any official announcements yet doesn’t mean he isn’t running… there is plenty of reason to believe that he might make such an announcement at some point, so I don’t see what the hell is so unreasonable about people wanting to show him some support, especially considering the general crappiness of the “official” candidates we’ve seen so far.

How about we do straw polls with people actually running, or are we to the point that we have to assemble a fantasy candidate then try to draft them?

Let’s not be Deaniacs, folks. Let them decide to run, then we’ll pick & choose.

we are in trouble if a guy who hasn’t announced yet with very little political experience can explode to the front like this

You’re right about that, Valiant.

Kind of tells you something about the condition of our party when an anti-gun, pro-choice candidate is leading the pack.

I think that alot of GOPer’s are just looking for a real conservative to inspire them. Get the juices flowing again after realizing one disappointment after another the last few years. To me, “very little political experience” is a positive attribute right now.

So, until the wheels come off – GO Fred! Thompson/Steele in 08′

Watcher on March 27, 2007 at 12:54 PM

Exactly. If Condi were an effective conservative, Bush would have thrown her under the bus loke John Bolton and Porter Goss.

The preferred scientific term is “Extra-Chromosome Right Wing.”