Off the Record With Fred
By Erick Posted in 2008 — Comments (51) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
I have not written about it because it was off the record, yet, Robert Novak sums up how I spent my evening last Tuesday. The meal was shrimp or chicken (I chose the chicken) with sorbet or chocolate cake (I chose the chocolate cake). The conversation was off the record. The man at the head of the table was Fred Thompson.
Perhaps the point that should be drawn, particularly for Dean Barnett, Hugh Hewitt, and others now trying to call Thompson a "Howard Baker Republican" is this one:
In his Senate voting record and his public utterances, Thompson is more conservative than Giuliani, McCain or Romney. He takes a hard line on the war against terror (referring in Connecticut to the danger of "suicidal maniacs" crossing open borders) and worries about immigration policy creating a permanent American underclass. His one deviation from the conservative line has been support for the McCain-Feingold campaign reform, much of which he now considers overtaken by current fundraising practices and perhaps irrelevant. Overall, his tone, in a soft Tennessee drawl, is less harsh than that of other Republican candidates -- a real-life version of the avuncular fictional D.A. he plays on TV.
Then, of course, there is this:
The National Taxpayers Union gives him the third highest marks of any candidate (trailing only Paul and Rep. Tom Tancredo).
Dinner was okay last Tuesday. The conversation was great. The company was fantastic. I've never felt so inferior in all my life, but to be surrounded by the people who surrounded me (and to have most of them know who I am), I was overwhelmed and very flattered to have been invited.
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Off the Record With Fred 51 Comments (0 topical, 51 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
Great blog Erick, thanks for letting us know.
Managing Editor
Erick
So did ya at least get his autograph or a picture with Fred? What's the fun of going to a shindig like this one at not.
_______________________________
Fred...Fred...Fred..!
I am getting more and more excited about this(I hope)candidate.
Reminds me of my listening to R.Reagan on the radio back before he ran for president, and the excitement I felt when he actually ran. I have tried, but haven't been inspired about any of the others.
More and more I am thinking that Fred Thompson is the man. I don't know if it's my dissatisfaction with the current crop of Republicans, my hope against hope for a solid Man to take the field, or that FT is the real thing or close to it. But more and more I am thinking... Fred's da Man.
Run, baby, run!
Jack
The World's Ruined
I just can't wait to vote for Fred! Do you think you can get him to sign my forehead?
Fred! Fred! Fred!
Fred can do that kind of thing over the phone.
Have you checked? Maybe he's already signed it. He doesn't have to be talking to you on the phone....
--
Gone 2500 years, still not PC.
Fred reminds me of GW Bush in 2000. Bush portrayed himself as a hard right conservative, visited Bob Jones Univeristy in South Carolina, etc. etc. I think Fred Thompson is a smart politician and knows enough to see there is no real conservative in the race, so he dons the suit and the hungry minions shoulder up to him. His record, as I understand is less than stellar conservative. I think he could wind up like GW2.
Besides he looks like an old geezer and will not get the ladies vote.
Newt Gingrich is the only hope for the GOP. Anything short of Newt and well... my vote goes like my username.
...as a "hard right conservative." He campaigned on "compassionate conservatism" from the beginning.
Yes, the campaign slogan in 2000 was (for a time) compassionate conservative, then reformer with results.
You are wrong on the image side in the South Carolina primary. The image was HARD right conservative. I know, I worked on the campaign.
Then the "compassionate" side came out in Michigan and he lost there to McCain.
A speech at Bob Jones University did not make the campaign "hard right." Remarks in one State do not do the same.
Look, GW Bush did not campaign as a Ronald Reagan conservative in the true sense: remember the "compassion." The national campaign was about that.
Fred Thompson is the only major candidate who can credibly run as a Reagan Republican. Gingrich cannot.
I don't claim to be a political expert, but this I do know: a candidate must be able to communicate. The Republicans haven't had a real communicator like Reagan since.....well, since Reagan.
Can Fred communicate? Oh yeah.....
http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=611
Run Fred, run.
this is silliness.
there was never a point when Bush ran as a doctrinaire conservative much less a "hard right" one and anyone who had the vaguest idea of his tenure in Texas hasn't been surprised thusfar. He used the term "compassionate conservatism" long before SC.
"A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition." -- Rudyard Kipling
I'm sure you can find your way back to dailykos. Joining a couple of hours ago to tell us about how awful our party is and how we should only nominate Gingrich is pretty funny.
By the way, Thompson will be a hit with women, given the strength he projects. Obviously he won't win the female vote (especially against Hillary) but he'll hold his own.
might or might not go to Fred but I think there are millions of American women who would rather not choose Hillary for many reasons. It's possible Fred might pull a Sarkozy with the women's vote.
But he was a horrible leader in the House and could not keep an agenda together for 10 minutes. I believe Tom Delay and I believe Delay made the difference in what got done not Newt. He's not running because he knows he'd never ever win and it's good because much as I admire Newt he's not Presidential.
Newt has too much negative personal baggage to truly have a shot at winning the Presidency. The MSM would be more than happy to have Newt as the final GOP candidate for President just so they could profoundly tear him apart for the next two months all the way through past November 4, 2008!
Conservatives wanted Bush to be a hard-right Conservative.
We deluded ourselves.
This is why there is so much focus on the current crop of candidates. We are not willing to make the same mistake again.
"Besides he looks like an old geezer and will not get the ladies vote.
Newt Gingrich is the only hope for the GOP."
I'm not a woman, but I never considered Newt to be a man-babe. Maybe I'm crazy...
"...and worries about immigration policy creating a permanent American underclass. "
It signals an actual understanding of the conservative position on immigration, and not just a tactical sop to "those yahoo restrictionists". It strenghtens my take on him as the best choice.
Erick, did you ask Fred Thompson any to all of my questions that I sent to you to ask of Fred Thompson a little while back? Also, do you think that the age difference between Fred Thompson and his present wife will be a problem for Fred Thompson?
If THAT is a problem for Fred, he'll carry all 50 states AND the District of Columbia.
____
CongressCritter™: Never have so few felt like they were owed so much by so many for so little.
will be infrastructure in the early states. National polls don't mean a whole lot in the primary process, except as somewhat of a gage. Other candidates have spent months in the early states like Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, while Fred hasn't. Other candidates have set up campaign staffs and have been doing the "retail politicking" thing.
I understand that Fred is planning on running a "different" kind of campaign relying heavily on the internet, youtube, bloggers, etc. I think that is great, and it should be a part of EVERY candidates campaign, but while politics have changed a good deal, they haven't changed so much that you can ashew the whole "shaking hands and kissing babies" scene.
If Fred is going to compete and win the GOP nomination, he his going to need to hit the pavement hard in those early states. Even with the front loaded primary schedule, if one is to win the nomination, they will need a good push of momentum from a win or two in IA, NH, and/or SC. This race is about to get real interesting.
My preferences are: Fred or Romney - I still haven't decided who will do better in the general election, and that will probably determine who I want.
“.....women and minorities hardest hit”
As far as infrastructure goes, FDT is clearly behind, but it seems like the latest indications are that he is going campaign similarly to how he did in TN. I assume if he is going to do the whole red pickup thing he will take the time and effort to build a grassroots organization.
I think he needs to skip NH and count on Iowa and SC carrying him to the nomination. There is just too much ground to make up in NH and he probably comes in 4th there no matter what.
If the projected voting order holds, (IA, NH SC, FL, the rest with NV and WY not being very important) I think the winner of two of the first three will have enough momentum to get a majority of he FL delgates and to sweep Super Tuesday.
As far as the general election goes, I agree though I would order it Romney or Fred. If I had to guess right now I would say Romney can better hold the base and reach out to independents. However, if I become convinced that FDT is the man who can beat Hillary then he will become my guy.
Erick, I hope you made sure to tell him how real the support is out there for him.
He can only win if he believes in himself and knows he's really got support outside the beltway. I don't doubt that he does, but he's got to know that there's a good percentage of the party more enthusiastic about his candidacy than any of the other candidates.
Nothing too harsh but I thought his statements about Fred being "cash-strapped from the git-go" & Fred not being good at retail politics were laughable. I said so here. Dean Barnett would have an easier time convincing me that Ted Kennedy would vote for Republican tax cuts than he'd have convincing me that Fred Thompson wouldn't raise enough cash for the campaign.
Forgive me if I find the campaign cash quote laughable.
... I think he does have some ground to stand on. I totally think there is enough money out there for FDT to run a solid campaign. He is however, in the same situation that Romney was/is in as far as name recognition, although slightly less so.
Campaign organizations and name recognition both cost a bunch of money and most, not all by any means, but most of the prolific fundraisers in the GOP have already picked a side.
Fred surely has a good chance at the nomination, but he will have to work very very hard to raise money because raising equal amounts of money from here on out won't be enough. He is going to have to significantly outraise the other three in order to invest in grassroots and still have money left over for advertising. The other three have already spent money on grassroots, so in reality raising equal amounts would put him behind by the time he sets up grassroots.
I'm glad the national pundits are beginning to figure this out... I posted on the similarity waaay back on March 2nd...
http://draftfredthompson.com/index.php/topic,55.0.html
Jeff Mitchell
www.draftfredthompson.com
(our new slogan is, "Mission Almost Accomplished")
Aw come on! What do you mean Fred won't get the ladies? You must not know women very well. Fred will get the ladies over Mitt (with his too perfect hair) and McCain (with his...well, you know, just being McCain) and Guiliani (because of that whole pro choice nonsense.) Please!
Fred will get the ladies because he is A MAN! Oh yeah, a tough, masculine, no BS kind of guy. He is what a real man truly should be. And that voice; deep, baritone, southern with just a hint of whiskey-drawl. (Have you seen women freak out at a Trace Adkins concert?)
And Fred is TALL - and Women Love Tall Men!!!
And Fred is smart - and trust me, women LOVE smart men. Men who take charge. Men who are decisive and direct.
Women will love Fred.
I am a woman and I will vote for Fred!
- Love, Max
Max Power and Mark Smann
The Laughing Elephant
http://thelaughingelephant.blogspot.com
if women everywhere else love tall and (reasonably) smart men. Then again, Athens, Georgia is not the real world any more than Washington, DC is.
Your problem with Athens is that its a college town full of aging hippies and kids. (Decent micro-brew beer on occasion...)
Try 30 minutes west to Atlanta and further north to Alpharetta and Forsyth.
Trust me - we love tall men!
Fred will get the women! I already know plenty in my circles who are just waiting for him to give the "All In" signal.
Max Power and Mark Smann
The Laughing Elephant
http://thelaughingelephant.blogspot.com
all the best women I know are secure with a good partner, like you. I think it must be a security thing - the more secure a woman is with a man, the more she can see other people for who they really are.
Athens has a good quality of life overall and I get along fine here in most other ways, and belonging to the music and arts community is what makes me so patient with certain political tendencies, but sometimes I have to wonder where the smart single women are.
-Try a Church (that's where I met mine), but don't go for the ladies. Go to meet the Lord and ask his help, I've found he will provide exactly who you need to meet to challenge and complement you. Prepare to be humbled.
Other ideas:
-Take up running and go to road races (10K and less)
-Take group dance lessons
You'd be surprised...
If Fred Thompson ends up coming across as being "too lazy" of a Presidential candidate, then he will be finished as a serious Presidential candidate. Fred Thompson has truly got to hit the road running hard during his entire Presidential run. Fred Thompson is still a big "unknown" to a majority of people, so anything can happen at this point in time. Also, the MSM will be doing all that they can truly do to elect Hillary Clinton as the next POTUS, and if they truly can't find any dirt on Fred Thompson, then they will just make stuff up to attack Fred with if he does end up as the final GOP choice for President. The MSM will attack the age differences between himself and his present wife, and the MSM will also attack Fred for being a cigar smoker. The MSM is going to be religiously vicious against the final GOP candidate for President no matter who that person ends up being.
Never mind that Bill Clinton is America's most famous cigar connoisseur; they'll take all the traction they can get from
the anti-tobacco crowd.
Personally, I think there's a limit to how hard anyone should work or worry about work, even at the presidential level. The job description for president includes delegating the desired work and a confident president should have faith in those he assigns the work to. Still, even if I'm right about this, convincing the electorate is another story.
On the other hand, if he runs a "tell it like it is" campaign rather than trying to be politically correct all the time, I think that will come across as very refreshing to a great majority of voters.
Any coward can fight a battle when he's winning, but give me a man who has pluck to fight when he is losing.
From what I've seen, i.e. Fred's response to Michael Moore, I think Mr. Thompson is clever enough and more than capable of taking care of any assertion made by the MSM that he is lazy.
Don C.
It appears he understands the internet better than most MSM. I think he has the ability to get inside the news cycle and keep them off balance through viral marketing.
the power of plain speaking. Bush may not be Churchill but he was understood by the people in both elections.
I am a Thompson supporter and I can't wait until the first week of July when he will enter the race. One question I want to see asked of Fred Thompson is whether he believes it was the right thing for him to do when he voted in favor of NCLB. In my opinion, this (along with supporting McCain-Feingold) is a black mark on his record. You won't find many candidates critical towards Sen. Thompson about this because virtually all of the candidates supported NCLB. I'm hoping Sen. Thompson regrets voting for this. I want someone in office who would veto legislation like that, not someone who would sign it into law. That said, I do think Senator Thompson most closely matches my own political philosophy on the vast majority of issues and that's why I support him.
Any coward can fight a battle when he's winning, but give me a man who has pluck to fight when he is losing.
Newt can't make it as the candidate, but what about as VP? Then he can work to reform the government from behind the scenes, which is really what he wants to do anyway, and just as he is doing now. Anybody have any thoughts on this?
Also, with regard to a Thompson "short campaign," this scenario reminds me of the campaign by Jesse V. in Minnesota a number of years back, when he beat HHH's kid as the Dem. candidate, and also the Republican candidate for governor. I think Fred can come off as REALLY cleaning up D.C. I figure he can energize the 50% of the population that doesn't even vote, just as Jesse V. did. They won't need to register as Republicans for the primary, just register, as we'll take care of the nomination, but they will vote for him in the General. Would appreciate feedback on this one too!
Don C.
As an after thought to my post above, with the the uncovering of the plot against JFK airport, and if the immigration bill DOES pass, 75% of the people in the Country will vote for Thompson!
Don C.
Newt as VP would have the same problem as Newt for President--the news would rack up all of his negative point and dissuade independents from voting Republican. This goes double for a Thompson-Newt campaign--the media would have a field day typecasting Thompson as a right-wing nut, and Thompson's campaign will have to stay on the defensive up until Jan. 2008. Newt needs to pair with a moderate (such as Guilani) if he wants to have a chance.
As for the grassroots movement, I'm not sure if Thompson is the kind of candidate that would elicit that kind of public reaction.
All of Newt's negative personal baggage is truly enough to help make the Republican Party lose big at every political level on November 4, 2008! The MSM would love to have Newt be somewhere on the final Republican Presidential ticket so that they can assiduously attack Newt hard on all of his past negative personal baggage all the way to November 4, 2008 and beyond. The MSM will truly do all that they can do to help Hillary Clinton become the next POTUS, and that's all that really matters to them. All of the "New Media" need to continue to stay ahead of the curve to the best of abilities on everything that the MSM does when it comes to world politics.