Fred Thompson’s Congressional Support Grows for 08
The Draft Fred Thompson 2008 Committee announced today that U.S. Representative Steve Buyer, Ranking Member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, has joined the committee’s Leadership Team. Rep. Buyer is a Distinguished Military Graduate of the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina , a decorated veteran of Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, and a Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves.
CBSNews.com | Jonathan Martin.
State GOP Will Likely Put Newcomer On Ballot, Regardless Of What He Wants
Whether he wants to be or not, former Sen. Fred Thompson will probably be on the ballot when thousands of Iowa Republicans meet on Aug. 11 at the Ames straw poll.
Liberal Organizations:
Townhall | Robert D. Novak
Fred Thompson sat at the end of a long table in The Monocle restaurant on Capitol Hill Tuesday night for dinner with some 20 fellow conservatives, mostly journalists. He sent two signals. First, he sounded like a man who has decided to run for president. Second, his candidacy will be something different from other Republicans, in both substance and style.
Reuters | Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hollywood actor Fred Thompson said in an interview that he plans to run for U.S. president in 2008, joining a crowded field of Republican candidates.
"I can't remember exactly the point I said, 'I'm going to do this,'" Thompson said of his planned presidential run in Thursday's edition of USA Today.
"But when I did, the thing that occurred to me: 'I'm going to tell people that I am thinking about it and see what kind of reaction I get to it.'"
As we wrote earlier today, McCain could be the biggest loser with Fred Thompson establishing a "testing the waters" committee, because he will begin gobbling up GOP money that McCain needs for a strong 2nd quarter fundraising performance. But NBC/WSJ pollster Neil Newhouse (R) tells First Read that Thompson pulls more from Giuliani -- at least in the polls.
....Says Newhouse: "So, it appears Fred pulls more from Rudy ... whose support has been buttressed by GOP voters who are not all that satisfied with the GOP field."Rudy Giuliani says he'd welcome former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson into the presidential race.
But campaigning today in California, Giuliani argued that he's still the stronger candidate in terms of cutting taxes, fighting terrorism and bringing traditionally Democratic states -- like New York and California -- into play in a general election.
Still, Giuliani could be hindered if Thompson grabs the attention of Republicans who are looking for a candidate to beat Democrats, but are uneasy with Giuliani's support for gay rights and abortion rights.
By Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 30, 2007; 11:12 AM
Law and Order star Fred Thompson will make his flirtation with a White House bid official this week, forming a presidential committee and launching a fundraising effort that could culminate in a formal announcement over the July 4th weekend, the former senator's advisers said.
Thompson, who has been fueling speculation of a Republican presidential bid by traveling the country and making speeches, urged a group of donors in a conference call Tuesday to begin raising $46,000 from 10 couples each, starting on June 4, according to two participants in the call. Once the money begins flowing, Thompson will begin to hire a campaign staff and set up his headquarters in Washington and Nashville, his advisers said.
In addition, the nascent campaign is planning to launch a website in the next 10 days, according to one person familiar with campaign planning. Thompson will give a speech in Virginia this weekend and is scheduled to appear on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno next month.
The papers Thompson intends to file on Friday with the Federal Elections Committee will allow the former Tennessee senator to "test the waters" by raising money that could be used once he declares officially, several sources said. The committee will be called "Friends of Fred Thompson."
"It allows for testing the waters, to see if the financial resources are going to be there to mount a campaign, set up an operation and continue to get ready to announce his candidacy," said one source with knowledge of Thompson's immediate plans.
Thompson's advisers have discussed making that announcement over the July 4th weekend, using the red, white and blue hoopla of the national holiday as a backdrop for the official launch of the campaign. But those plans are in flux and could change, two sources said.
Thompson has been steadily assembling a close circle of advisers, including former FEC chairman Michael Toner, former Justice Department spokesman Mark Corallo and Tom Collamore, former executive at Altria, the corporate parent of Philip Morris USA.
The creation of a presidential committee will be Thompson's first official step toward entering the already crowded field of GOP contenders. National polls have consistently shown that he would be a significant force if he runs, with some surveys placing him in second or third place in the race.
Speculation over whether Fred Thompson is serious about running for president just went toes-up. Mr. Thompson's not-yet-a campaign has confirmed: He's dipping his toes in.
Specifically, a Thompson adviser told The New York Sun yesterday, he will announce the formation of a presidential "testing-the-waters" committee early next week — possibly as early as Sunday.
I Remember
I remember when I was a kid; one thing was clear to me. The more I learned about the rest of the world, the luckier I felt just having been born in America. The more I learned about America, the more I appreciated what those who came before us built; and how exceptional they were.
Not that there aren't other great places to live, but America is unique. It's not just that we are the freest and most prosperous county the world has ever seen. America has also freed more people than any other nation in history.
He will play Ulysses S. Grant in an upcoming HBO (tv movie: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee) program. It premiers Sunday at 9pm ET.
Would-be candidate Fred Thompson has stolen his first major backer away from one of the already-announced contenders.
After endorsing Mitt Romney in January, third-term Rep. Marsha Blackburn (TN) said in a statement today that she will get behind Thompson if he gets in he race. Romney had dubbed Blackburn a "senior adviser" when he announced her support.
Human Events Online | John Gizzi
Stamford, Conn.-- If there were any lingering worries that it is too late for Fred Thompson to jump into the Republican presidential race, they appeared to be assuaged last night by Republican activists in a state widely considered to be a hopeless cause for the conservative Tennessean.
As the guest speaker at the Connecticut GOP’s Prescott Bush dinner here at the Stamford Sheraton Hotel, television actor and former Tennessee Sen. Thompson wowed the standing-room-only crowd with his calls for U.S. success in Iraq (“We’re not about surrender or retreat.”)
read more at>>> Kudlow's Money Politic$
An image from the city of Miami. creative commons attribution: tomalu; via flickr.com
You may remember the holographic Princess Leia in Star Wars who told Obi-Wan Kenobi that he was the Republic's only hope. For some in the GOP, that is the message to former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson.
Republican faithful seem almost giddy when they think about Thompson jumping into the Republican free-for-all for president. A group at the upcoming Georgia GOP convention plans to bear shirts saying "Draft Fred," according to a party official. A Web site is up asking "would-be-supporters" to line up to help. The media is following him reporting on his every word.
Fred Thompson has inked former Federal Elections Commission Chairman Michael Toner to serve as the lead lawyer for his increasingly likely campaign for the GOP presidential nomination.
Toner is the second major Thompson hire to become public in recent days. Yesterday The Fix reported that Tom Collamore, a former vice president of public affairs at Altria, will serve as Thompson's campaign manager.
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.washingtonpost.com
ROCHESTER, N.Y., May 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --
Fred Thompson, the former U.S. Senator from Tennessee and TV and movie star, is now tied with Senator John McCain for second place as the Republicans' first choice for President in the 2008 elections. However, they are both a long way behind former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is preferred by fully 38 percent of those who believe they will vote in the Republican primaries or caucuses. Thompson and McCain are each preferred by 18 percent, followed by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich with 9 percent and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney with 8 percent. The most dramatic change to occur in the last month is that Fred Thompson has moved up from 13 percent to 18 percent. However, the largest change is that Romney's support has slipped from 14 percent to 8 percent.
These are just some of the results of the latest Harris Poll of 2,523 U.S. adults, including 543 adults who expect to vote in a Republican primary or caucus, conducted online by Harris Interactive(R) between May 3 and 10, 2007. Like all polls conducted well before an election, it should not be read as a prediction. Rather, it is a snap shot of the presidential "horse race" at a very early stage in the race. A future column will assess the standing of the leading Democrats.
As the ten declared Republican presidential candidates traveled to Columbia, South Carolina, last Tuesday to participate in a nationally televised GOP debate, Fred Thompson stayed home. While the announced candidates put on suits, smiled, and fielded questions about Iraq, taxes, and terrorism, Thompson shot a homemade video to be posted on the Internet responding to a frivolous attack from lefty filmmaker Michael Moore.
CHICAGO — The immigration bill worked out late last week by Senate Republicans and Democrats probably will fail, former senator and possible presidential candidate Fred Thompson said Sunday.
read more at the Tennessean
I think that we, as Americans of today, have become slaves toward our own political division...A giant step backward, with one man's fight against another; often against the best interests of our great Nation...
Mr. Thompson,I am writing this letter to ask that you seek the Republican nomination for President of the United States. The party needs you. Those of us who identify with the principles of modern conservatism need you. Your country needs you. Ok, I'll stop with the melodrama, but I really do want you to run.
On the day of the first Southern-state Republican debate on the Fox News Channel, one undeclared GOP candidate performed a media leapfrog.
With the help of one 38-second video clip and a great sense of humor, Fred Thompson, the former U.S. senator from Tennessee who is one sock away from dipping his toe into the race for the White House, remained just as relevant as the other GOP candidates.
As the state Republican convention de-camped, the sponsors of a presidential straw poll in which 429 delegates participated declared unannounced candidate Fred Thompson by 44 percent.
Consider it yet another sign — like fights over a budget veto and immigration — of restlessness among the base.
Having watched the second Republican debate the other night, it's clear to me the subject today is Fred Thompson, the man who wasn't there. While the other candidates bang away earnestly in a frozen format, Thompson continues to sneak up from the creek and steal their underwear--boxers, briefs and temple garments.
He is running a great campaign. It's just not a declared campaign. It's a guerrilla campaign whose informality is meant to obscure his intent. It has been going on for months and is aimed at the major pleasure zones of the Republican brain. In a series of pointed columns, commentaries and podcasts, Mr. Thompson has been talking about things conservatives actually talk about. Shouldn't homeowners have the right to own a gun? Isn't it bad that colleges don't teach military history? How about that Sarkozy--good news, isn't it? Did you see Tenet on Russert? His book sounds shallow, tell-all-y.
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com
I said earlier that this week that Fred Thompson may be the first political candidate to truly understand the revolutionary changes brought by the internet to politics. Apparently so. Here’s Fred in his own words:
"By empowering individuals and building communities, the Internet provides a way of going around the inside-the-beltway crowd to reach people in numbers unheard of not that long ago."
"I believe this direct communication and discussion is going to have an enormous impact on our political process."
Fred wrote that in a letter to Pajamas Media. Earlier, he answered Michael Moore’s stunt on Breitbart.tv. After the first GOP debate he gave an interview, not to any of the networks who would have jumped at the chance to have him, but to Breitbart. He’s been blogging on RedState.
To PJM and Friends
By Fred Thompson
So, I hear you all have been talking about me.
It seems that I ought to respond, at least briefly, to all those who have expressed confidence in me — both here and in other forums. I do not take that confidence lightly.
The Pajamas Media poll is certainly good news, especially when, for a lot of politicians, encouragement to run from three relatives and an unemployed campaign consultant is considered an unstoppable groundswell. When people are saying nice things about me, I try to remember the proverb that compares flattery to a net at your feet. To be sure, the Pajamas poll results are very flattering, so let me return the favor and throw a net at your feet.
Whether or not the Internet can elect any particular candidate in any particular race, it’s clear that all of you and our many friends across the blogosphere and the Web are part of a true information revolution. That’s why so much of my effort has been focused on talking to Americans through this medium. By empowering individuals and building communities, the Internet provides a way of going around the inside-the-beltway crowd to reach people in numbers unheard of not that long ago.
I believe this direct communication and discussion is going to have an enormous impact on our political process. Our nation is facing unprecedented threats, and the challenges of globalization. We have a 70-plus trillion dollar entitlement shortfall and a government that is not effective in important ways.
(Excerpt) Read more at pajamasmedia.com ...
By Fred Thompson
Most Americans know that we have an illegal immigration problem in this country, with perhaps as many as 20 million people residing here unlawfully. And I think most Americans have a pretty good idea about how to at least start solving the problem – secure our nation’s borders.
If you went to college in the sixties, like I did, you might not know how much higher education has changed since then. Universities today are different places. At Vanderbilt, where I got my law degree, I hear you can take courses in third wave feminism or colonial governmentality.
Your guess is as good as mine.
read>>The Fred Thompson Report
COLUMBIA -- Ex-Sen. Fred Thompson has told Republicans that if he decides to run for president, he would enter the race earlier than anticipated -- perhaps as early as the second week of June. A Tennessee Republican said that Thompson has been convinced that he will not win unless he recruits a good staff, and that he cannot recruit a good staff unless he gets in the race.
Several RNC state chairs said that representatives for Thompson had tentatively accepted invitations to candidate events scheduled for later in the fall, a sign they interpreted as evidence of his desire to run. Members of an unofficial Draft Thompson group slid pro-Thompson fliers under the doors of RNC members and journalists attending the state chairs' meeting here. Wednesday night, they held an information dinner that attracted more than 40 Republican officials, including the state chairs of Oklahoma and California.
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- With the three leading Republican candidates for president having inconsistent views on abortion and other pro-life issues, some pro-life voters may be looking for an alternative with a strong chance of capturing the GOP presidential nod. Pro-life advocates say Fred Thompson is that candidate and will announce a bid soon.
Thompson is an actor, attorney and former senator from the state of Tennessee who says he strongly opposes abortion.
Delivered in Orange County, California, Friday, May 4, 2007
So we meet again, and I'm honored, because I know we're here for the same reasons: Love of our country and concern for our future.
A lot of Americans have these concerns tonight. They are concerned about the way things are going in our country right now. Some fear we may be in the first stages of decline. We've heard this malaise talk before.
Of course Iraq is a large part of it. Not only is it tough going, but the effort is besieged on all sides. From those playing the most crass kind of politics with it at home to criticism from around the world.
Even at home, as we enjoy the benefits from one of the best economies we've ever had, people seem uncertain; they raise concerns about global competition or a growing economic disparity among our citizens.
These are challenges. But how we react to them is more important than the challenges themselves. Some want us, to the extent possible, to withdraw from the world that presents us with so many problems, in the hope they will go away. Some would push us towards protectionist trade policies. Others see a solution in raising taxes and redistributing the income among our citizens.
Wrong on all counts. These are defensive, defeatist policies that have consistently been proven wrong. They are not what America is all about.
Let's talk about the issues here at home, first. A lot of folks in Washington suffer from a big misconception about our economy. They confuse the well-being of our government with the wealth of our nation. Adam Smith pointed out the same problem in his day, when many governments mixed up how much money the king had with how well-off the country was.
Taxes are necessary. But they don't make the country any better off. At best they simply move money from the private sector to the government. But taxes are also a burden on production, because they discourage people from working, saving, investing, and taking risks. Some economists have calculated that today each additional dollar collected by the government, by raising income-tax rates, makes the private sector as much as two dollars worse off.
To me this means one simple thing: tax rates should be as low as possible. This isn't anything ideological, and it really isn't some great insight. It's common sense arithmetic.
That's why the economy booms when taxes are cut. When the Kennedy tax cuts were passed in the 1960s, the economy boomed. When Reagan cut taxes in 1981, we went from economic malaise to a new morning in America. And when George Bush cut taxes in 2001, he took a declining economy he inherited to an economic expansion -- despite 9-11, the NASDAQ bubble and corporate scandals.
The Democrats, of course, want to raise taxes. They only want to target the rich, they say. A word of advice to anyone in the middle class -- don't stand anywhere near that target. Wouldn't it be great if, instead of worrying so much about how to divide the pie, we could work together on how to make the pie bigger?
On globalization -- we're not afraid of it. It works to our benefit. We innovate more and invest in that innovation better than anywhere else in the world. Same thing goes for services, which are increasingly driving our economy. Free trade and market economies have done more for freedom and prosperity than a central planner could ever dream and we're the world's best example of that. So, why do we want to take investment dollars out of growth, and invest it in government?
I'd say cash flow to the government is already going quite well. Over the past year our current tax structure generated record levels of revenue for Washington. In fact it's time to seriously consider what we're getting for our "investment" in government.
For many years, several functions of the federal government have been descending into a sorry state of mismanagement and lack of accountability. I published a 68-page report on government's waste, duplication and inability to carry out some of its basic responsibilities. That was back in 2001 before 9-11, and it got little attention. Now the government's shortcomings are affecting our national security and are getting a lot of attention.
The growth of government is not solving these problems; it's causing a lot of them. Every level of new bureaucracy that is created develops a level of bureaucracy beneath it, which creates another one. Pretty soon there is no accountability in the system. A new head of a department or agency comes in from out of town and, after a protracted confirmation fight, wants to spend his or her few years in Washington making great policy and solving national problems, not fighting with their own bureaucrats. So they just let well enough alone. Then you start seeing the results. Departments that can't pass an audit, computer systems that don't work, intelligence breakdowns, people in over their heads.
Yet people in both parties continue to try to federalize and regulate at the national level more and more aspects of American society -- things that have traditionally been handled at the state and local level. We must remember that we have states to serve as policy laboratories for innovation and competition. That's how we got welfare reform. Our system also allows for the diversity of our large country. Our attitude should be, let the federal government do what it is supposed to be doing -- competently. Then maybe we will give it something else to do.
The government could start by securing our nation's borders. A sovereign nation that can't do that is not a sovereign nation. This is secondarily an immigration issue. It's primarily a national security issue. We were told twenty years ago if we produced a comprehensive solution, we'd solve the illegal immigration problem. Twelve million illegals later, we're being told that same thing again. I don't believe most Americans are as concerned about the 12 million that are here as they are about the next 12 million and the next 12 million after that. I think they're thinking: "Prove you can secure the border and then people of good will can sit down and work out the rest of it, while protecting those folks who play by the rules."
Speaking of reforms and our economy, there is nothing more urgent than the fate that is awaiting our Social Security and Medicare programs. The good news is that we are living longer. However, we don't have enough young working people to finance these programs from their taxes.
People say the programs are going bankrupt. They won't go bankrupt. Even as these programs sap every dime of the government's revenue, the folks in Washington will raise the taxes necessary to cover the problem. At this rate the federal government is going to wind up as nothing more than a transfer agent -- transferring wealth from one generation to another. It will devastate our economy.
Sometimes I think that I'm the last guy around who still thinks term limits is a good idea. The professionalization of politics saps people's courage. Their desire to keep their job and not upset anybody overrides all else -- even if it hurts the country.
So the entitlement problem gets kicked a little further down the road. This action is based on the premise that our generation is too greedy to help the next generation. I believe just the opposite is true. If grandmom and granddad think that a little sacrifice will help their grandchildren when they get married, try to buy a home or have children, they will respond to a credible call to make that sacrifice -- if they don't think that the sacrifice is going down some government black hole.
I am going to quote my friend, Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. I don't think he'll mind, even though it was a private conversation. He said, "People talk a lot about moral issues, but the greatest moral issue facing our generation is the fact that we are bankrupting the next generation. People talk about wanting to make a difference. Here we could make a difference for generations to come."
It's clear with close numbers in the House and the Senate we need bipartisanship to have any chance at real reform in any of these areas. And there are many responsible people who are willing to try to make it happen. But the level of bipartisanship needed for real progress can only be achieved when politicians perceive that the American people are demanding it. That's why leaders of reform and hopefully our next President, will have a mandate to go directly to the American people with truth and clarity.
These days in Washington, there's an awful lot of talk about the need for conversation -- that we should talk more to our nation's enemies; that we should speak "truth to power." However the speakers are usually turned in the wrong direction. Instead of talking to each other, leaders need to be speaking more to the American people.
The message would be simple: "My friends we have entered a new era. We are going to be tested in many ways, possibly under attack and for a long time. It's time to take stock and be honest with ourselves. We're going to have to do a lot of things better. Here's what we need to do and here's why. I know that, now that you're being called upon, you will do whatever is necessary for the sake of our country and for future generations. You always have."
When the American people respond to that, as I know they will, you will have your bipartisanship.The inside the beltway political horse race broadcasters are abuzz about the possible (I think likely) entrance into the GOP Presidential race of former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson. In his email report to subscribers, Charles Cook summarizes two polls that show Thompson hurting current frontrunner Rudy Giuliani more than any of the other candidates, with Thompson moving into 3rd or 4th place, and the race tightened from top to bottom:
"The NBC/Journal poll showed Giuliani leading the pack with 32 percent without Thompson and with 28 percent when Thompson was added to the mix. The Cook poll had Giuliani on top with 39 percent without Thompson, and with 33 percent with a Thompson entry.
Posted by Mark Silva at 6:10 am CDT
Fred Thompson, the former Republican senator from Tennessee who plays a prosecutor on television’s Law and Order and is watching his own popularity grow from his seat on the sidelines of a presidential campaign that he hasn’t even joined yet, is making it clear what he makes of Democrats in the great Iraq war debate.
“As far as the Democrats, they are adhering to the extent they can to the most left wing element of their base,’’ Thompson said in an interview shown on the Fox News Channel’s Hannity and Colmes last night. “You know, Moveon.org and those folks are running the Democratic party.
You might have read the stories about filmmaker Michael Moore taking ailing workers from Ground Zero in Manhattan to Cuba for free medical treatments. According to reports, he filmed the trip for a new movie that bashes America for not having government-provided health care.
Now, I have no expectation that Moore is going to tell the truth about Cuba or health care. I defend his right to do what he does, but Moore's talent for clever falsehoods has been too well documented. Simply calling his movies documentaries rather than works of fiction, I think, may be the biggest fiction of all.
