Redstate

By jforFRED Posted in Archived — Comments (2) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

I had an interesting dream last night. It was not too different from others I’ve had over the last few months. First, let me point out my obvious bias before posting this blog article. I am working on the Fred Thompson 08 campaign in Northern California, near San Francisco. Yes, “the belly of the beast” as our favorite conservative radio hosts will remind us.

I still struggle to remember exactly what attracted me to Senator Thompson initially. Confession… yes he kicked some tail as a Rear Admiral in “Hunt for Red October” and he made a heck of an air traffic controller in “Die Hard II.” One of my favorites was actually when he plays the role most likely to be the Commissioner of NASCAR in “Days of Thunder” and I hardly every hear anyone mention that.

I was an LA Law fan, and have been in complete withdrawal ever since that went off the air, and it has been nowhere to be found in syndicated TV. Therefore, I have not made it a point to get too attached to any of the more recent lawyer shows like “Law & Order” (dun, dun- yes I do at least know the tune.)

Some time last spring, I watched an interview with Senator Thompson, I can’t even remember which one. I found myself thinking… “hmm… not too bad.” Later, I heard a clip in which he discussed the “Fairness Doctrine” and that was probably when I first started to really listen to him. As a self-proclaimed creature of conservative talk radio, I was ready to put on my gloves and make sure nobody tried to mess with my Savage, Hannity, Limbaugh, Beck etc…

Finally, after following the foreplay to his announcement as a candidate, I found myself one night after a few glasses of medium bodied red wine and ravioli watching something on the news that agitated me, it was one of our esteemed elected officials calling our troops murderers or Nazis and I finally said “enough!” It was time to mobilize and get into action. It was time to help American find its next President. With my computer at hand and a belly full of good Italian food, I started anxiously scrolling the internet. “What can I do to help America find its next leader?”

I’ll confess… I had determined at that point that I would be completely supportive of some of the gentlemen in this race, whom though I may differ with, I think are fine and decent men. I will still support any of the Republican candidates should Fred Thompson not be the nominee.

After checking out some information about the frontrunners at that time, I found myself exploring the “hasn’t announced yet” candidate, Senator Fred Thompson. I’ve learned so much in this campaign, I consider it my own little graduate school and the only price I pay is simple volunteerism. Isn’t that what Tennessee is known for?

One of the terms I’ve had to learn and use and often find myself often discussing in meetings and get-togethers is “litmus test” and I find that it can be used in almost any conversation about presidential politics. Does he pass the litmus test on security, conservatism, right to life, immigration and on and on? I think I use that term 10 times a day now. But that night, after reading Fred’s positions on the most important issues to me, I found he was easily passing my own personal litmus test. He wasn’t just in the ball park… he was standing on home plate after hitting a grand salami!

So at about 4am this morning, after letting the dog out for dog reasons… I fell back to sleep and found myself giving the best speech I could give on behalf of Fred Thompson. I’ve had endless dreams about this campaign, sometimes even nightmares… but this was a good dream. In the audience was basically a group of conservatives I know from a local group that meets at an American Legion.

In the audience was my beautiful wife. Without saying as much she was reminding me “We need someone to protect the lives of our unborn children” not just the idea that we need someone who is pro-life, but someone who will take care of the future of this country, someone who will make protecting this country the #1 priority. Near my wife was my new friend the “Flag Lady.” She is the most patriotic person I know. She follows every support the troop cause in the area, wears Red, White and Blue every where she goes, her house and car are decorated as such, and she even has contact lenses designed like “Old Glory.”

I looked out into the audience and say my father-in-law… this brave man served not only his country in Vietnam, but his home town as a police officer. His telepathy was telling me, “We need someone who will never make our troops feel the way we were made to feel coming back from Vietnam.” My mother-in-law who raised my wife in perfect conservative fashion, reminded me that you raise your kids with the assurance that they will have to earn what they desire. There are no handouts in life.

Shifting to the right was my mother and father. Over the last few years I’ve realized my mother was a remarkably strong woman, and my father remains my #1 role model. He was always there for me to give advice, be a shoulder to cry on, or as only my Dad will remember; be a belly to beat on when I needed to learn how to punch. I wonder if this is what Fred had in mind when he mentioned in the last debate that we need to remind America about the value of having a father.

Next to them was my kid sister, a conservative working in the media, constantly reminding me that no matter what the MSM thinks, we need to follow our beliefs, stick to our conservative roots and come out on top.

Then of course, the brilliant professor who passed away too young. My favorite political science teacher from college who recently died of a brain tumor, who to this day, 11 years later, I still do not know what political party he belonged to. I’m so thankful for the opportunity to learn for myself, without the professor’s bias included.

And last, my grandfather sitting on his chair. Somehow, that chair from his family room made its way to the banquet hall where I was speaking. He was the only person not sitting on one of those terribly uncomfortable conference chairs, but rightfully so. He deserves the comfy seat! He earned three Purple Hearts in WWII most notably fighting in the battle for Guadalcanal. After dying a couple of years ago, I’ve been on a mission to figure out a way to serve this amazing country. I’ve always said, our family was Italian-American, Catholic, and Marine, and of course the order all depended on what mood he was in.

Somehow, I felt as though I was speaking for all of them, when speaking for Fred. As is usually the case in such an environment, I was trying to convince likely voters that Fred Thompson would be the best President of the United States.

My speech started as it normally would, my “stump” speech. I thanked everyone for the invite, pointed out the distinguished guests and then went into Fred’s platform. I argued that he will protect our country better than any of the candidates, increasing our military might as Reagan did, improving the economy by putting our tax dollars back in the pockets of the citizens, another Reagan hallmark. I promoted his pro-life record, because a conservative first, Republican second I will always be. I reminded the audience of our country’s federalist founding, the need to solve problems at the state level, and to stop driving right to DC for answers. I detailed Fred’s strong illegal immigration plan, his ideas on healthcare, social security and so on.

I digressed and went into personal mode. Any voter can pop open www.fred08.com and learn about Fred Thompson’s platform, but only the volunteers, the workers of the party can truly express why they believe in a particular candidate. So here is what I had to say, I thought it was pretty good.

“Just months ago, I was hard at work as your everyday average American. I decided that I would love the opportunity to work on behalf of Fred Thompson, it might be fun, I might learn something and help America find its next President. I found a website, a grassroots organization promoting Fred Thompson for President. As the founders of the group often say, it was just two guys with a computer that thought Fred would be a great President. I was brought on as a volunteer, and quickly worked my way up. I had a fancy title, but that didn’t matter to me. I was doing everything I possibly could to get the word out either inside or outside my job description, as were all the other volunteers. The big announcement came; I flew to Burbank to see Fred announce his candidacy on the Leno Show. In the ensuing months, I went to every meeting and gathering I possibly could to promote Fred Thompson. The merge came and we became part of Fred 08. The title changed, but the mission did not. I found myself thinking, Why am I involved in this? I’m just some average guy, I’m nobody special. Then I realized, hmm... we have a lot of average guys in this campaign and maybe there is a reason. So is Fred Thompson."

"I look at Fred and I see a friend who wants to talk to us about what kind of country this is and what kind of country this can be. I know, the critics will remind us that he is not an ‘Average Joe’. I beg to differ… I’m looking for someone who is going to talk to us, the regular, average Americans who just want to live a good life in a safe environment where our values are protected. I don’t need MBAs on the Oval Office wall, nor do I need to listen to people tell me that a candidate is not a good one because he lacks 'fire in the belly' or is not polished enough. I don’t need polish; I need real, true and honest."

"Since the last debate, there have been more Fred opportunities on TV, stump speeches and such in which I think we are seeing who he really is, just a regular guy who wants to make a difference. A father, a husband and a friend. I believe this is the type of person we need in office and will work as hard as I can to convince all Americans. In the end, successful or not, let’s all come together and elect a great President to lead our nation through good and bad times.”

Today is National Giving Day for Fred Thompson for President. I made another donation this morning, and I hope you will too. www.fredsgivingday.com Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.