Fred Thompson to skip Florida debate (?)
- Posted by Beth on January 21st, 2008 filed in 2008 election, Candidates, Fred Thompson, General, John McCain, Politics Florida · primaries
So says Carl Cameron (via Ace), reporting from the campaign trail:
Fred Thompson sources say the actor and former Tenn senator may withdraw from the race. There are no plans to attend Thursday’s Florida debate.
Staffers have been on partial pay since the NH primary. The Senators plans are very fluid. As of 8:45 this evening, there are no plans for any announcement about whether he will stay in the race or not. The team is wrestling with very few options. The Senator is in Nashville visiting his mother (in her 90’s) who has been ill.
From THE FIRST DAY Fox News broke the story last March of his candidacy, Thompson has always had a vice presidential bid in mind. Today a top aide even mentioned the idea on Brian and the Judge on Fox News Radio.
Well, I can’t say I’m surprised. If that’s true, at least there’s one man who doesn’t insist on disrupting the debate despite having no chance of being elected. (*troll* RonPaul *troll*)
Cameron goes on:
Mike Huckabee, has also kept vice presidential options open by NOT strongly criticizing Giuliani or McCain. Huckabee is retooling his campaign to cherrypick some Super Tuesday states on Feb 5th (notably Ga and Alabama).
Oh, but some of y’all will be pissed that I’m voting for McCain. I suppose Huckabee is your choice? Have you seen the polling data? Didn’t think so.
And for the record: I’m not just supporting McCain just because of Huckabee–Fred’s disappointing South Carolina results just bumped McCain up. I have a lot of reasons for supporting him, which I will outline later. And yes, I fully expect I will get arguments. Just so you know, beating the same tired old negative drums only strengthens my resolve, so it would be wise not to bother attacking. (Negativity is one reason I’m not voting for Romney.)
I’m sorry that things didn’t work out for Fred Thompson. I’m also pretty bitter about it, because basically, conservatives on the internet never put their money where their mouth is. I donated, and ONE other person donated through the donation button I had on my site for months. ONE. How anyone expects a campaign to run without money, I don’t know.
I hate to say it, but I can’t help but wonder about the leadership ability of a man who has so much potential support, but fails to get his campaign off the ground. I’ve been on Fred’s bandwagon for a year now, waiting…waiting…waiting. It’s as if the only people working were the ones on the internet (Jon Henke and Sean Hackbarth), and nobody else. You can’t just announce and expect people to flock to you. Now think about how a Fred Thompson presidency would be. You think the Bush Administration has failed to “sell” the rightness of the war to the American people? How would Fred Thompson do it, if he can’t even sell his own candidacy? He may be the “perfect” conservative, but how does that matter if he can’t or won’t sell conservative issues to the American people? You tell me.
I’ve got a lot more to say along those lines with regard to John McCain, but it’ll have to wait until tomorrow. I wrote this at Red State last week, basically because there’s more discussion there and it’s civilized, respectful discussion. You can comment on it here if you don’t have a Red State account, but remember–you won’t win me over with disrespectful nonsense or hysteria.
I only ask that you listen with an open mind, because I was once anyone-but-McCain myself. No more–I am fully on board with John McCain now after doing a lot of analysis of all the candidates. He is the right man to lead us in these times.
PaulW says:
On the bright side of things, if Fred does drop out he does become the prohibitive Veep candidate for the Republicans. Both Romney and McCain, the current leaders in the race, will need Thompson’s role as a Southern senator and stalwart conservative. He may not have had the passion for the top job, but his laid-back demeanor is just right for the Vice President’s office. He’s also starred in more movies than Al Gore, so he can effectively take on the duties of the VP (cast the tie-breaking vote in the Senate, and protect the spacetime continuum).
Aaron's cc: says:
McCain, who wanted to be Kerry’s “silky pony”?
I recommend George Will’s column this week on McCain: John McCain — Faux straight talker.
I’m veering for Mitt but am still open to debate as long as we both agree that Huckabee would be the Republican Jimmy Carter on foreign policy and that he’s willing to say ANYTHING. I do not see the appeal.
Woe unto us and our Dubya-decimated GOP.
Beth says:
Aaron, he didn’t want to be Jon Carry’s silky pony. Kerry (you know, the liar?) said that, and McCain has always said that’s untrue. They are friends, but so are most Senators with one another. Don’t you remember him campaigning for Bush?
Also I have no use for George Will. Never have. I don’t trust grown men in bow ties. ;-) (That’s not the real reason I have no use for him, of course.)
Totally agree about Huckabee being Jimmuh. Blech. He is epic FAIL.
Stix says:
Well if Fred is out, Guiliani is my second choice and McCain is probably my 3rd choice.
I hope that Fred’s Mom is alright, I think that might be why he is not going to be in the debate, but I am not sure.
An I think that any of the candidates left will have to look at Fred as a VP
Anonymous,Somewhere,MI says:
Some deal-making is going to be needed to sew together the party. There’s going to be some rifts after this one. Thompson could be a very valueable running-mate in that capacity. As McCain might just be the front-runner (and by God, he’s leading in most polls in New York and New Jersey!), these two as former Senate collegues at least have some semblence of a working relationship. I have to admit, these is a certain appeal to the notion of Lieberman going from being the Dems ‘00 VP candidate, to the Republicans ‘08 VP candidate, party unity takes precedence.
That said, I know a number of Republicans have had reservations about McCain. To be honest, I wrote John a lot about that after 2000. He wouldn’t say, but I know he was bitter about how the chips went down in 2000. A lot of what he did WAS backlash against Bush. But, you know what, in 8 years he learned to do something that our party seems to have forgotten how to do, work across party lines. Reagan had to do that to get anything done, and if the legislative indicators are right, if by some miracle we pull it off in 2008 our next president will have to do the same. We cannot continue to govern with the “we’re going to do it our way and you stuff it if you don’t like it” attitude. That’s led to gridlock. Just look at the judicial nominations fight. Bush didn’t back down, and as a result prolonged a fight to little or no effect. It took a compromise group, the Gang of 14, to get Janice Rogers Brown, William Myers, and Priscilla Owen on the bench. Hard-headedness loses to compromise every time.
I know this is going to be a bitter pill to swallow, but conservatives do not represent the majority of the country. The only way for Republicans to win is to appeal to moderates and independants. That’s a battle our party is losing, and losing fast. The Democrats are moving in to fill that void. They won Senate seats in Montana and Virginia by putting arch second amendment proponants on the ballot. We lost Rick Santorum to a rabidly pro-life Democrat. We very nearly lost Bill Frist’s seat to one of the most moderate Democrats in their caucus. The Democrats get it. They’re moving in and filling that moderate void while our party obsesses over credentials far to the right where only 30% of the vote resides. This is a recipe for a generation of Democratic dominance of the presidency and the legislature. The last one of those took us 30+ years to undo.
Vinnie says:
I’ll vote for Homer Simpson if it will get you to shut up about this fucking stupid shit and focus on what’s important.
American Idol!!!!!!!!!!
Beth says:
Damn right he did, and nobody dragging around Reagan’s corpse seems to remember that. They don’t seem to remember much about him at all, in fact–just that he was a conservative. There’s a lot more to Reagan than just being a conservative, and there’s a reason why he was successful. It wasn’t because he was always “my way or the highway,” either.
As usual, I agree with everything else you wrote, Anon in MI. Well, except I wouldn’t be thrilled with Lieberman as VP, but it IS “just” the VP slot. ;-) I’d rather see someone who’s paid his or her dues in the GOP there, myself.
Thompson would be a great pick for the conservative base, but I swear I just don’t see it happening. McCain needs a Michael Steele, or someone else young and dynamic. Maybe not Steele, considering he lost the MD race (I’m still pissed about that), maybe someone from the South. (Jeb! heehee)
Beth says:
Vinnie,
Bite me, brat. :-P
Anonymous,Somewhere,MI says:
Yeah, Michael Steele is one I had high hopes for in 2006. Too bad he didn’t win the race, but as a VP he’d be great. He’s got conservative street cred and, assuming McCain only wants one go at the presidency, would be a good candidate for the nomination in 2012.
TC says:
Duncan Hunter bailed. Looks like Fred! will as well.
Now I’m not going to be one of those “I could never vote for Rudy/McCain/Romney” folks - but they just don’t appeal to me. Huckabee pisses me off and I wish the little turd would go away and take Ron Paul with him.
At least we’ll be keeping our heads above water with a McCain, Rudy or Romney administration.
So we’ll probably end up with “Dubya 2.0″ in the Whitehouse.