Fred Thompson Tucks His Tail

Pardon the inflammatory title. Sometimes in the quest for alliteration sacrifices must be made.

Fred Thompson bowed out of the race for the GOP nomination today.

From The AP:

NAPLES, Fla. (AP) - Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson quit the Republican presidential race on Tuesday, after a string of poor finishes in early primary and caucus states.

"Today, I have withdrawn my candidacy for president of the United States. I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort," Thompson said in a statement.

Thompson's fate was sealed last Saturday in the South Carolina primary, when he finished third in a state that he had said he needed to win.

In the statement, Thompson did not say whether he would endorse any of his former rivals. He was one of a handful of members of Congress who supported Arizona Sen. John McCain in 2000 in his unsuccessful race against George W. Bush for the party nomination.

Additionally the unofficial word is that Thompson is not planning on endorsing anyone. Fox News' Carl Cameron believes that he is not doing so in order potentially secure a VP slot. I have to admit that a Romney/Thompson ticket would definitely help Romney once Huckabee drops out after Tsunami Tuesday. However Thompson's decision to exit prior to Florida puts John McCain in a real bind as Thompson's supporters are much more likely to back Romney than him. Additionally this will be the first time McCain has faced Giuliani in a state that Rudy has been actively campaigning in. Since they will both be competing for similar voters Thompson bowing out seriously works in Romney's favor.

Personally I never saw Thompson's appeal. A long time political insider, lawyer, and former lobbyist seemed to me like the last thing we needed for president. While I could agree with half of his positions on the issues he wasn't really bringing anything new to the table. He is an old school conservative who appeals to core GOP supporters. I never saw him as anything but a promogulater of policies past at best or a candidate that people projected their own positions on (ala Wesley Clark) at worst. Ultimately his absence's effect may prove to be more interesting than his campaign.

Thompson Alleges Fox News is Biased Against Him

Fox News? Biased? Say it ain't so! But against a mainstream Republican? That's new.

From The Hill:

Thompson charges Fox News is biased against his campaign
Former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) suggested on Sunday that Fox News is biased against his campaign, charging that the network highlights commentators who have been critical of his run for the presidency.

In an interview on "Fox News Sunday," host Chris Wallace pressed Thompson on how some conservatives have lambasted Thompson's campaign and showed clips of Fox conservative commentators Charles Krauthammer and Fred Barnes criticizing the former senator.
Thompson said, "This has been a constant mantra of Fox, to tell you the truth." He noted that other conservatives have praised his bid for the GOP nomination and took issue with a Fox promo that focused on polling in New Hampshire, where Thompson is registering in the single digits.He said he is running second in national polls and has been leading or tied for the lead in South Carolina for "a long, long time."

Thompson, in a firm, but measured tone, scolded Wallace: "...for you to highlight nothing but the negatives in terms of the polls and then put on your own guys who have been predicting for four months, really, that I couldn't do it, kind of skew things a little bit. There's a lot of other opinion out there."

Frankly I think Thompson is just catching flack for not being the ultimate conservative candidate his pre-announcement supporters made him out to be. Combine that with the lack of energy his campaign has shown and his dropping poll numbers and disappointment turns into ire. Fox on the other hand has reported the facts if only the negative ones. I don't hold Fox to any journalistic standards of fairness but this represents a new low for them. Make no mistake if this type of slanted coverage continues Thompson is done for. It proof positive of how important some vaguely resembling in journalism is even if it is from a partisan point of view.

Fred Thompson On Immigration

Thompson finally came up with an immigration policy. Below are some of the highlights of his policy along with my reactions.

The Ones I Like:

1: Increased Border Security: Doubling Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents handling interior enforcement, increasing the Border Patrol to at least 25,000 agents, and increasing detention space to incarcerate illegal aliens we arrest rather than letting them go with a promise to show up later for legal proceedings against them.

Border security is inseparable from national security.

2: Maximize Legal Immigration Program Efficiency: Reduce the backlogs and streamline the process for immigrants and employers who seek to follow the law. Also, simplify and expedite the application processes for temporary visas. Caps for any category of temporary work visa would be increased as appropriate, if it could be demonstrated that there are no Americans capable and willing to do the jobs.

3: Modernize Immigration Law/Policy: Change the nature of our legal immigration system to welcome immigrants who can be economic contributors to our country and are willing to learn the English language and reduce the scope of chain migration by giving family preference in the allocation of lawful permanent resident status only to spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens, and no one else (no siblings, no parents, no adult children, etc.).

The system is long overdue for streamlining.

4: Preference for American Military Service: Place those foreign persons who are lawfully present in the country and who serve honorably in the Armed Forces of the United States on a faster, surer track to U.S. citizenship.

Anybody willing to die for this country is OK by me.

The ones I don't like:

1: English as Official Language: Make English the official language of the U.S. to promote assimilation and legal immigrants’ success, and require English proficiency in order for any foreign person to be granted lawful permanent resident status.

Haven't needed it before. Don't need it now. Children of immigrants are normally pretty well assimilated if they are born in this country or arrive here as a toddler.

2: No Amnesty: Amnesty undermines U.S. law and policy, rewards bad behavior, and is unfair to the millions of immigrants who follow the law and are awaiting legal entry into the United States.

Deporting twelve million people is almost impossible and extremely costly. Instead allow them to to apply for legal immigrant status (with a criminal background check) and pay a fine. Deport the remainder.

Existing laws that I'm iffy on:

End Sanctuary Cities by cutting off discretionary federal grant funds as appropriate to any community that, by law, ordinance, executive order, or other formal policy directs its public officials not to comply with the provisions of 8 USC 1373 and 8 USC 1644, which prohibit any state or local government from restricting in any way communications with the Department of Homeland Security “regarding the immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of an alien in the United States.”

B. Deny discretionary Federal education grants as appropriate to public universities that violate federal law by offering in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens without also offering identical benefits to United States citizens, regardless of whether or not they live in the state, as required by 8 USC 1623.

C. Deny discretionary Federal grants as appropriate to states and local governments that violate federal law by offering public benefits to illegal aliens, as prohibited by 8 USC 1621(a).

Denying federal grants also hurts legal citizens of the U.S. . However strongly enforcing this this after allowing those here to apply for citizenship (and pay a fine) would only hurt those cities and universities that chose to take a hard line stance on this issue.

What's important here is that Thompson started running for president prior to having a concrete stance on one the major issues facing America. Given the amount of time he had from the point that rumors of his announcement started and the point at which he actually declared he had ample time to come up with policy on this and other issues. However pleasing his immigration stance may be to GOP supporters it'll be hard not to notice that everyone else hit the ground running with policies in hand.

Thompson Ties Giulianni

From the AJC:

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — After officially declaring his candidacy, U.S. Senator Fred Thompson moves ahead of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani in the race for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. One-third (32%) of those who say they will vote in a Republican primary or caucus will vote for Thompson while 28 percent will vote for Giuliani. Much further back is John McCain, who continues his downward slide with 11 percent saying they would vote for the Arizona Senator, and 9 percent who say they would vote for former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

On the Democratic side, Senator Hillary Clinton continues to build on her large lead. Just under half (46%) of those who would vote in a Democratic primary or caucus would vote for the former First Lady while one-quarter (25%) would vote for Illinois Senator Barack Obama. Former vice president candidate and North Carolina Senator John Edwards is further back with 14 percent saying they would vote for him. No other candidate is in double digits.

These are some of the results of a Harris Poll of 2,372 U.S. adults surveyed online by Harris Interactive(R) between September 6 and 14, 2007. This survey included 769 adults who expect to vote in a Democratic primary or caucus and 504 adults who expect to vote in a Republican primary or caucus. Like all polls conducted well before an election, this should not be read as a prediction. Rather, it is a snap shot of the presidential "horse race", at an early stage in the race.

A pretty impressive start for Fred Thompson. However one has to wonder that given his lack of a stances on the issues of today how much of this initial burst of support will remain once his positions become clear. It seems to me that much of his support comes from the followers that believe he represents their point of view. I'm willing to bet that after the first two debate or two we see Giulliani eke out a ten percent lead. Any takers?

Thompson Finally Announces

From the NY Times

Thompson Declares His Candidacy for President

DES MOINES, Sept. 5 — After months of false starts, staff shake-ups, and questions about the seriousness of his intention to run for president, Fred Thompson rolled out his presidential candidacy this evening with a two-pronged, guerrilla-style entry into the race that sought to take the spotlight from his Republican opponents as they squared off in a debate.

Choosing “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” to declare “I’m running for president of the United States,” Mr. Thompson said, “I don’t think people are going to say, ‘That guy would make a very good president but he just didn’t get in soon enough.’ ”

Mr. Thompson’s announcement, which has been expected for months, was released to reporters about an hour before the other Republican candidates took part in a Fox News-sponsored debate in the early primary state of New Hampshire. But as if to poke fun at his opponents, he ran an ad, titled “Debate,” that appeared directly before the Republican candidates took their places to face live cameras in a much more traditional political ritual.

In a dark suit with the backdrop of an American flag, Mr. Thompson said in the advertisement: “On the next president’s watch, our country will make decisions that will affect our lives and our families far into the future. We can’t allow ourselves to become a weaker, less prosperous and more divided nation.”

He then directed viewers to his Web site, Fred08.com, where he will give details of a platform and his reasons for entering the race.

In choosing to announce his candidacy on the couch next to the jovial Jay Leno during the taping of “The Tonight Show” this evening, Mr. Thompson was following the example of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, who chose that venue to declare his candidacy for governor of California.

And so Thompson's hat is finally in the ring. Now all he has to do is come up with a platform and prove that he has what it really takes to lead the country despite having less legislative experience than Barack Obama.

Great White Hope To Finally Announce Candidacy

From The Politico:

Fred Thompson's campaign-in-waiting will hold a 4 p.m. conference call today with supporters to brief them on plans for the former Tennessee senator's presidential announcement next week, according to an e-mail obtained by Politico.com.

Randy Enwright, Thompson's political director, said in the message that they will "discuss the next steps as we move forward as an organization." A Thompson aide confirms that they'll share the news about the long-awaited formal launch. "By the end of the day, we'll have more clarity," the aide said, declining to reveal which day the announcement would take place.
(snip)
UPDATE II: Fred Thompson will formally announce his candidacy for president next Thursday night, September 6th via a webcast, political director, Randy Enwright just told supporters on a conference call. The Tennessean will then head out on a "grass-roots tour" of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Apparently Thompson had been delaying so that the creators, cast, and crew of Law and Order wouldn't be screwed over by the Equal Time law. This is good news to me because If I had to read one more speculative headline on when Thompson was going to announce I was going to hurl.

Fred Thompson defends his lobbying past

By ERIK SCHELZIG, Associated Press WriterTue Jun 26, 5:41 PM ET

Fred Thompson, a likely Republican presidential candidate, on Tuesday defended his work as a Washington lobbyist, telling The Associated Press that lobbying is an important part of life because "government's got their hands in everything."

The actor and former U.S. senator from Tennessee added, "Nobody yet has pointed out any of my clients that didn't deserve representation."

Thompson, who likes to cast himself as a political outsider, earned more than $1 million lobbying the federal government for more than 20 years. He lobbied for a savings-and-loan deregulation bill that helped hasten the industry's collapse and a failed nuclear energy project that cost taxpayers more than a billion dollars.

He also was a lobbyist for deposed Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was widely criticized for endorsing "necklacing," the gruesome practice of execution where gasoline-soaked tires are thrown over a person's neck and set ablaze.

In September 1991, Aristide said: "The burning tire, what a beautiful tool! ... It smells good. And wherever you go, you want to smell it."

Aristide became president in Haiti's first democratic elections in 1990, but he was deposed in a military coup a few months later in 1991.

Lobbying records show that in 1991 Thompson called then-White House Chief of Staff John Sununu on Aristide's behalf. Thompson was working "in connection with efforts to obtain the restoration of the democratically elected government" of Haiti, the records say. more

As if his three main jobs of politician, lawyer, and lobbyist didn't win him some sort of bottom feeding triple crown already.

Fred Thompson Ready to Run?

WSMV-TV: Thompson Announcement Set For Nashville
Fred Thompson is set to announce that Nashville will be the home of his national campaign headquarters, WSMV is reporting.

A source close to the campaign planning tells WSMV that that Thompson planned to announce his candidacy on the steps of the historic Fall School Building Tuesday, but Thompson campaign officials deny that Tuesday's announcement is an official run for the White House.The source tells WSMV report says that the Thompson campaign has obtained the lease for that building to turn it into a national campaign office."Everything's in place for tuesday," the source told WSMV. "There are three major events built around his announcement." But Bob Davis, the Tennessee Republican Party Chairman, and Thompson's former Chief of Staff says "There will not be an annoucement Tuesday." more

This is the most concrete speculation to date folks. Frankly I'm hoping he won't run. I don't like him and I have no good reason why. What I do know is that anytime I've ever gone against that initial reaction and given the person any amount of trust I've come to regret it. I had the same reaction to W and he proved to be a far worse president than I could have ever imagined.

One thing is for certain, whoever I end up voting for in 08 it won't be Fred.