Should Senator Thompson quit after a third place finish in South Carolina, as some seem to be suggesting? This is very interesting. Why is it that Mayor Guiliani who has not won one primary or caucas, and is now in single digits according to the latest Rasmussen national poll, is not asked to leave the race; yet Thompson is?
Senator Thompson has finished ahead of Mayor Guiliani in Iowa; and in South Carolina he placed ahead of both Guiliani and Governor Romney! This is remarkable reasoning.
Thompson remains positioned to do well in coming primaries given that Governor Huckabee has been marginalized by losing to Senator McCain in South Carolina. Huckabee cannot attract fiscal or national security conservatives, the other two pillars of the Republican electorate. He only attracts religious/social conservatives, who will now be compelled to reassess their support of Huckabee, a candidate who demonstrably cannot attract fiscal and national security conservatives and unite Republicans.
For anyone thinking that Senator McCain can unite and galvanize conservatives in the Republican Party to turnout in large numbers in a general election to defeat the Democrats, you may want to read this article by Mark Levin dated today, 1/20/08.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MzY0M2U3ZTExMGExM2Q4YTJhYzJkZDMzYzgwMDAzZmE=&w=MA==
Republican voters better start thinking seriously about who to nominate. Every single one of the Republican candidates, except Thompson, alienates enough Republican voters to give the general election to the Democrats. McCain cannot attract a large number of religious conservatives, fiscal conservatives, and even some national security conservatives, given his support last year for the compromise amnesty immigration agreement. Governor Romney cannot attract religious conservatives because of his recent conversion to pro-life and family positions. Does anyone think Romney can carry the South? Guiliani cannot attract religious conservatives; not to mention his personal scandals which the Democrats would undoubtedly re-surface in the general election. Huckabee’s problems have already been addressed above.
At present, Republicans have a major problem. They erroneously believed that Republican voters would support them in the end, in the last Congressional election, and lost both houses of Congress. They would do well to observe that there are enough Republican voters who will not compromise on their principles, and “hold their nose” and vote for a “RINO,” or more precisely, a “CINO” (I.e., conservative in name only) – even if it means allowing the Democratic nominee for president to prevail in the general election. There are enough conservative voters who will not compromise on moral principle today any more than President Abraham Lincoln would compromise on slavery, or President Ronald Reagan on communism.
Indeed, Republicans have a problem of monumental proportion requiring serious contemplation. The good news for Republicans is that although time is growing short, there is still time to reflect and act anew.
46 Comments
Absolutely, Sheet Anchor! Of course Fred needs to stay in this. We can only hope and pray the real conservatives in this country will wake up and face reality. Fred is the one — the only one. Thank you for your insightful remarks.
Fred has a 2nd place in Wyoming, has 2 third place wins, and 4th place tie with Huckabee in Nevada, Heck NO Fred should not drop out!
Huckabee cheated with push polling in Iowa and SC, and Rudy HAS NOT won anything! Fred should go all the way to the convention! Foxnews and all other biased media outlets should STOP their biaed attitudes and start telling the truth. Fred is the ONLY true conservative and wanted by many! And it is Rudy and Huckabee that need to GO!
Does it inflame anyone that Huckabee thinks Fred ruined SC for him. Fred is a candidate and worked to EARN those votes. To think Huckabee feels predisposed to receive evangelical support(which he did not win most of in SC) is a sign of whats to come. He’s like a child trying to win prom king. Like wise i think 2000 SC election was John McCains “tear” moment. SC actually felt he deserved it this time because big bad GWB took it from him in 2000. Maybe some of the seniors there think Fred was going to drop their SS checks in order to fix it? I don’t know. I do know Fred has more REAL TRUE support than anyone in the MSmedia or RINO party gives credit. If 4 years of Democrats refocuses the Republicans to true conservative issues, so be it. At least we know whats coming.
I am sick and tired of Rush, George Will, and Hannity giving those faux conservatives Romney and Rudy a pass. Romney increased taxes/fees in Massachusetts $700MM and basically offered a $20 billion bailout to the Michigan auto industry. Rudy increased New York’s debt 50% to $4.5 billion and uses taxpayer money on mistresses and swanky hotels.
Absolutely not. McCain can’t win without Independents and Huckabee is just one squirrel away from destroying himself.
I am a proud veteran of our great country, so I respect Jonn McCain for his service to our country. However, he is not the strong tiger on national security everyone thinks he is. I mean the man would not even consider water-boarding a terrorist to get info that could save countless American lives; a terrorist now, not a uniformed soldier fighting in a specific country’s army. His argument against it is if we did, then the enemy would start torturing our soldiers. Start? Our enemies are already cutting heads off, hanging and burning bodies, dragging them behind vehicles, and God knows what else. Look at all the tortue rooms found. Surely he knows this is going on, so what is really the true story on his position?
When it comes to illegal immigration, all you can say is his true stance and past history in dealing with this issue is dismal.
Taxes? I know he was against the Bush tax cuts even though it put some money back into my pocket, along with several million other people. Some say there were no spending cuts to go with them. Well, all I can say is a large portion of that money was poured back into the economy through consumer spending.
Well, then you’ve got Mike Huckabee with his record on illegal immigration, higher taxes and bigger government, and belief that our foreign policy is arrogant instead of necessary. Plus now he’s been bragging in Michigan about his close ties to the unions. It does all kinda sound like something a Democrat would campaign on.
Then to top it off, after passively denouncing nasty push-polling on his behalf he has the sheer audacity to claim he and McCain were the only two to run a clean campaign. Thought I was gonna see him and Ed ‘the hitman” Rollins cry when Fred took the votes away from him in South Carolina.
You know, I have to put my trust for the future of our national security in a man who speaks with substance, who stands on his principles, who looks you in the eye and tells you straightforward what’s on his mind. Fred Thompson is this man. He’s well thought out, a great communicator, and rock solid on his principles. Go to Fred08.com and look around at his white papers and speeches to make up your own mind. Then tell me who you think should lead us through these dangerous and uncertain times as President and Commander-in-Chief for the next 8 years, Fred Thompson.
P.S. also check out http://www.pinnaclecascade.com/index.html
Simply, yes (he should quit).
It really scares me that people seem to think that we need to nominate McCain because he polls best against Hillary. If polls nine months out were of any worth, Rudy would be the nominee today. Things will change once we have a candidate and the Republicans start hitting Hillary in earnest. To make a judgement based solely on theoretical polling today is ludicrous.
For those who say Fred should get out, I have two words for you: brokered convention. If one of the candidates doesn’t get a majority of delegates, which is a reasonably likely outcome, Fred could still come away with the nomination. And besides, there are still 44 states to go. With as much as things have changed over the past month, who knows where this race is headed?
Thompson is the only candidate on either side who hasn’t flip fopped on some issue yet. Most people, even his supporters think he acts like he doesn’t really want the job. He needs to get the lead out and start campaigning if he’s going to get the nomination. I search daily for articles on how he’s doing and search is the correct word – I really have to look for them. I am not a politician. Idon’t propose to know what he needs to do, but he needs to get on the ball or we may have to vote for someone we don’t really want to have the job. Get with it Fred!!!!!
Right! First, Thompson is the reason Huckabee didn’t win south caroina. Second, Huckabee has beat Thompson is EVERY single state!
With such a muddled field, I’m not sure he should call it quits just yet.
Ruddy is on life support & can’t pay his staff. Huckabee is in the same boat and McCain will follow.
RUN FRED, RUN
Rudy, as much as I don’t like him, isn’t dead. He hasn’t been running, “Freadhead.”
re: “Should Senator Thompson quit after a third place finish in South Carolina, as some seem to be suggesting?”
I’m not a Republican but from where I’m sitting, FRED is the one who publicly staked his claim in South Carolina… and he lost South Carolina. To stay in now gives the impression that he’s just in it for ego.
Mitt Romney has never said he needed to win any one state.
Huckabee never said he needed to win SC.
McCain said he needed to win NH and SC, and he won them.
Giuliani said he needed to win Florida and we shall see.
But Thompson said he “needed” South Carolina. Obviously, they didn’t “need” him.
Now, he just looks like a loser.
Of course, being a Democrat, they all look a bit like losers to me.
Seriously, Ron Paul is the only True Conservative in the crowd of GOP lapdogs.
Unfortunately for him, Bush Republicans AREN’T true conservatives.
And this is now BUSH’s Republican Party (bigger government, more spending, pre-emptive wars) not Reagan’s (smaller government, less spending, a big stick instead of war).
Enjoy!
Thompson should quit. He’d make a good veep choice for McCain.
Since he finally got into the race last September, I got the impression that no one wanted Fred to quit the Republican primary race more than Fred himself.
Its really no wonder since Fred did very little of note in the US Senate except cackle the usual GOP party line.
Lets look at two of the most pressing issues we have….immigration and intelligence/national security. There is no border fence such as Ronald Reagan called for in 1986 that would have practically eliminated that problem. And how about the complete degradation of our intelligence capability during the 1990’s that allowed Al Qaeda to incubate and emerge into a problem we will be dealing with for the forseeable future?
Fred was in the US Senate while these rather huge freakin’ problems emerged and I don’t remember him taking any leadership whatsoever in addressing them. Fred is a typical Washington politician as evidenced by the pathetic ‘attack dog’ role he played for his old feller buddy John McCain in South Carolina this past weekend.
So now Fred Thompson’s serviceability is used up as a so-called presidential candidate. His campaign is weak, his senate record is weak, and his poll numbers have fallen limp.
American voters are way beyond the day where ’soundbite politics’ get mediocre, at best, GOP establishment parrots like Fred Thompson elected.
How come Rudy hasn’t gotten any scrutiny for not leaving the race. He has finished behind Thompson in almost all of the primaries up to this point and many still consider him a contender for the nomination. If you are going to discuss Thompson leaving, you should do the same for the other candidates, as well.
Fred Thompson is being urged to quit by liberals – especially liberals in the media – because they know a true conservative will trump a liberal in the general election. There will be a lot of us holding our noses when we enter the voting booth if Fred is not on the ballot.
Fred Thompson is a pawn being used in the quest to elect Mitt Romney. On his own, in a two-man race against Thompson or Huckabee, Mitt would lose the GOP nomination. The only Repub candidates Mitt can defeat straight up in the GOP are McCain and Rudy — because, against them, Mitt becomes the most Reagan-esque conservative. Therefore, it is in the best interests of the Romney campaign (and Mitt’s big time backers in the Republican establishment) to keep Thompson in the race just long enough to kill Huck’s campaign. Once that is complete, most likely after Florida, expect Thompson to drop out of the race and endorse Romney. His cue will come when the talking heads in the conservative media (Rush, Levin, Hannity, Hewitt, etc.) shift from promoting Thompson to talking him down. Watch for them to say something like, “Thompson is probably the best conservative candidate in the race, but if he stays in, he’s just taking votes away from the one man who can beat McCain — Mitt Romney.” With Thompson gone and Huckabee crippled, this will effectively unite the conservative wing behind Romney and will signal the talking heads to go full barrel against McCain, stepping up their campaign to portray him as no better than Hillary. And, again, with Huckabee crippled, it will leave most evangelicals with no choice but to vote for Romney, who is the GOP’s only hope of stopping the “liberal madman” McCain. And this, combined with Romney’s millions, will allow Mitt to claim the GOP nomination.
Fred Thompson just doesn’t have it to win the presidental race. I don’t believe he is the ideal conservative candidate. He would do away with the long stated objective in the Republican Party’s platform that calls for an Amendment to the Constitution to outlaw abortion (the taking of the innocent lives of American unborn babies). The Republican party cannot abandon our goal to save these children and restore our national sanity. Our strongest Republican canidate to go against whoever the Democrats put up would be Mike Huchabee, a man with the right heart, right message and the ability to express himself well as he represents our conservative values. Thank you!
Our country is sliding down a slippery
slope and Fred Thompson is the only one
who knows where the brake handle is!
Your analysis is SPOT ON!!! Thompson IS the only candidate who can stop Hillary. People who don’t see this are just willingly blind.
Remember this…”Where there is no vision, the people perish.”
There is still the possibility of a brokered convention. Thompson would have to be the favorite there, as he is the only one that folks can agree on.
Fred Thompson is the one candidate out there that I like. Heck NO! He should stay in the game! There is no way I will vote for McCain or Huckabee. Conservatism needs to be revived and I feel McCain and Huckabee are only out to destroy it. Stay in there Fred!!!
A nice ‘balanced’ set of commentators here – all the liberals and RINOs want Fred out to clear the way for a “Liberal Lite” candidate, while all the conservatives want Fred in.
Remember, Democrats (Liberals, Progressives) want government to take care of you; Conservatives (most Republicans) want government to take care of the country and let us take care of ourselves. (Very rough paraphrase there)
Fred is a conservative, and none the less so for respecting state’s rights and declining to call for constitutional ammendments against anything unpopular with his constituents.
This makes Fred the honest and trustworthy candidate, especially compared to all the populists and panderers out there on both sides.
Much as I think Fred is the best man for the job, and I think that Huck, Mac and all the Dems are not, I suspect that Mitt may turn out the be the front-runner over time. I do not, however subscribe to the conspiracy theories that claim “Mitt’s Minions” are keeping Fred afloat – he has a large and growing, very loyal, base of support, who will drop dollars at the slightest hint that Fred’s still in the fight.
Run, Fred, Run!
What about a good old fashioned favorite son campaign? Run in Tennesee and Alabama only on Feb 5.
I don’t want a candidate who will say anything to get elected, or wear anything to get elected.
I want a candidate who can articulate the common sense of conservatism in the context of our history and the Constitution. Liberalism can’t possibly stand up against those basic principals.
Primary elections aren’t beauty pageants or horse races. They are an opportunity to identify which candidate most closely identifies with the ideals that make us conservatives.
In my view, Fred Thompson is the only candidate who possesses those qualities.
I could care less about doing what might be best for slick, poseable Ken doll candidates or born again Conservatives or ballistic Mavericks. I especially could care less about which “GOP flavor of the day” is being promoted by the media. Screw them….I want what’s best for our COUNTRY. Once that candidate has been chosen, I’ll focus on preventing Bill Clinton from becoming our First Lady…
Gee…maybe the Huckleberries should consider that Huck ruined SC for Fred. Huck is the only Republican candidate for whom I will refuse to provide a vote, even against Clinton…..I’ll go third party is Huckabee is on the ticket.
Fred should stay…when all the factions are done with their Democrat emulating identity politics, Fred is the ONLY candidate who has credibility in all elements of what is required for governance and around whom the party and nation can gather. I need to have him stay long enough to allow me to vote FOR someone rather than settling on or voting against someone.
Huckabee is here to stay……He handles his money better than all the above…I mean Fred has already gone through $20 million dollars….for nothing….A third is the best he has done
Fred…GET OUT!!!!! It was all just a failed experiment.
Fred should stay in through Feb 5th to see what a healthy number of GOP voters say, as opposed to pundits, polls, and open primary states that had 20+% non-GOP (Dem and independents) participating and throwing the race one way or another. Those that want Fred out primarily want it because they perceive it hurts their candidates (either Huckabee or Romney). Also, in the case of a brokered convention, all bets would be off and- in the unlikely case of a deadlock, Fred is the ONLY possible concensus candidate.
The GOP ‘leader’ has just over 5% of the delegates needed to win. Too early for Fred to throw in the towel.
I think Fred’s the only true conservative candidate out there.
Initially I was leaning toward’s Huckabee but his campaign, under the leadership of Ed Rollins, has done some really underhanded stuff (the illegal phone call Huckabee refused to try to reign in, completely false comments about Fred trying to give votes to McCain, etc.) and because of this I believe Huckabee is not a man of true character. As a man’s administration is run, so is the man. If that’s the case Evangelicals should be RUNNING away from Huckabee.
Just go to the candidate’s websites and read their white papers (note: not everyone has them) and you’ll see the light: Fred’s the only way to go.
“Should Senator Thompson quit after a third place finish in South Carolina, as some seem to be suggesting? This is very interesting. Why is it that Mayor Guiliani who has not won one primary or caucas, and is now in single digits according to the latest Rasmussen national poll, is not asked to leave the race; yet Thompson is?”
It is all about perception, people! Sen Thompson said that SC was a big state to him. He said it mattered. Then he pretty much tied with Mitt for third place, barely squeaking ahead of him. That is his big stand? That is how he’s going to prove that he can win this thing, by barely managing to take third in a state he campaigned hard to win, and that he said was very important to him?
And you wonder why people are saying he should drop out!
Havs
Of course not. This country has forgotten what a true conservative looks like, talks like, believes in. The rest of these guys are all frauds.
I am a Fred fan, and a Romney fan. I think Romney is doing a fair job of leaving his Religion on the side, unlike Huckster. McCain scares me, as I received a personal response from him esentually educating me that a politian has to hold his finger to the wind of popular opinion even on moral issues… Guiliani is stomachable, but has a bad campaign manager. My only complaint with Fred is that he has the Throphy wife, and he is better on TV. That is his handicap, which is a visual handicap for many conservatives. This should be interesting, but I can say, as a conservative I would even vote for Obama over McCain. Better that the other side is in charge of the sinking ship.
It appears to be a new tactic of the MSM to just ignore a candidate of substance or to make it look like he’s losing steam to eliminate him instead of attacking his issues of substance. It appears Fred is the only true threat to the libs plan of taking over the white house, and this is the way they quietly make him go away. Don’t give up Fred! There’s lots of us waiting to vote!
If Sen Thompsen can keep votes away from Mr. Romney, I hope he stays in.
Thompson should talk with Romney and figure out a way to work together. It would probably involve Thompson dropping out of the race, to stop pulling votes from Romney which is keeping this race so muddled. Thompson could serve in President Romney’s cabinet or possibly be the VP.
Those two are the true full spectrum conversatives (only Romney with tremendously more support, strength, money, delegates, debate success, actual victories, and so forth).
The reason Thompson needs to drop is because he has already taken two “last stands” in which he was “all in” and he just cannot win a state.
Yes,Thompson should get out while he can and deal with Jeri’s ambition later. He’s not going to be in the Florida debates, so I guess he thinks he’s out, too, without making an official announcement.
Fred Thompson should stay. I believe the support he needs will be there by the Feb. 5th primaries.The field is still close enough to for him to stay in.
Fred needs to get out now. We need to narrow down the field, so someone can come to the front (other than McCain). McCain isn’t a true conservative and we will be stuck with him if we don’t get united behind someone else. I would prefer Huckabee, but anyone but McCain or Guiliani.
Well, he’s out. So what are you going to do? Find another topic to write about? He wasn’t in it from the beginning (you’ve gotta be in it to win it) and never really had his heart in it. Just because apparent hoards on the Internet and blogosphere favored him, didn’t make him win. Same thing with some of the other marginal candidates.
This is a sad, sad, and dark day for America. Stormwarning, did it ever occur to you that those “hordes” (note sp) may be ALOT SMARTER THAN YOU? If it didn’t occur to you, it should have.
Fred’s problem was that he failed to utilize the operative words “race” or “running” when considering his bid for the presidency. They don’t call it “crawling” or “strolling” for the office. Fred wasn’t in the “race”; he was almost always in the “crawl”. Crawlers don’t win the presidency.
Actually, Fred’s biggest problem is that he isn’t willing to pander and never saw the need to ‘dumb down’ a speech.
Don’t make me remind people of Miss South Carolina, it’s too embarrassing and far too sad. Unfortunately, she is the poster child of a majority of graduates of American public school systems…
That leaves only Ron Paul .. the MSM and Fox will try to marginalize him just as they did Fred.
Has it occured to anyone here that the so called “conservative agenda” isn’t shared by all Republicans?