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The Return of Fred Thompson

Submitted by Jon Henke on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 09:33
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Fred Thompson announces the launch of Fred PAC.   I'm very glad to see that.   What I really want to see in Republicans right now is framework-changing rhetoric - a politician who thinks and talks in fundamentally different ways.  Ideals like these are exactly right.

  • The role of the federal government is limited to the powers given to it in our Constitution, and the bigger the government gets, the less competent it is to run our lives, and we must have leaders who understand that the market works best when it regulated and legislated least.

  • A dollar belongs in the pocket of the person who earns it unless the government has a compelling reason why it can use it better

  • We don’t spend money we don’t have or borrow money that our children and grandchildren will have to pay back, and we must have leaders who understand this and will listen to the will of the people.

I supported (and worked for) Fred Thompson precisely because of the way he talked about and thought about government.  Not in the weak, vapid, play-the-Democrats-game manner that most Republicans do, but as somebody who would refocus public attention on the costs and problems of government.   e.g...

September, 2007:

"We've been spending increasing amounts of federal money for decades, with increasing rules, increasing mandates, increasing regulations," Thompson said. "It's not working." [...]  "It's your responsibility," he said. "If you don't like what's going on, don't get in your car and drive by your school board and maybe drive by the capitol and get on an airplane and fly to Washington and say, 'I don't like the way the school down the street is being run.'"

March, 2007:

"Washington overreaches, and by doing so ends up not doing well the basics people really care about." Think Katrina and Walter Reed.

Fred PAC appears to be focused on exactly that sort of thing.  Federalism, limited government, free markets.   It's going to take quite some time and a great deal of effort to build the coalition and popular energy for our story, but those are the unifying ideals that can revitalize the Republican Party.

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Comments

God I wish Thompson had won

Submitted by Gregoir on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 11:39.

God I wish Thompson had won the nomination

I agree

Submitted by Big Ben 4 liberty on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 12:28.

But if you listen to the conventional wisdom pundits then somehow he was "never a serious candidate" because he lacked "fire in the belly" and he was merely a foil for his good friend John McCain.

agreed

Submitted by dinafraioli on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 13:11.

It's a shame that we didn't get to see his really passionate side until the end of his campaign.

 

The "Passionate" side of Fred Thompson

Submitted by YankeeGator on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 19:46.

One of the most frustrating misperceptions thoughout the primaries was the supposed lack of "enthusiasm" and "fire in the belly" of Fred Thompson.  These distorted perceptions of Fred were sold by the mainstream media and bought by far too many Republicans.  Fred explicitly eschewed the inanity and the fluff surrounding Presidential campaigns, and for that, he was tagged with the "lazy" label, which was utterly ridiculous.  From the debates starting in September, he was the clear and away winner in most of the debates he participated in.  I saw him on the stump in person twice early on and his "enthusiasm" was sufficient for those in attendance.  Looking back, it was a shame that so many Republicans couldnt separate what was true and false about Fred's insurgent candidacy.  He was clear and away the most consistently conservative candidate who had no weaknessess in his platform and policy proposals from a conservative perspective- we conservatives missed out on having a great standard bearer.