The Best Republican Presidential Candidate for 2008
Former Senator Fred Thompson is the only real conservative in the race for the Republican nomination, and the only candidate who can unite all three pillars of the Republican Party, namely, fiscal conservatives; national security and defense conservatives; and religious conservatives.
The Republican party, given that the nation is divided, cannot afford to alienate any of these pillars, or they will lose in the general election, as a sufficient number of the alienated pillar’s constituents will simply not cast a vote for president when they vote. This is not an attempt to intimidate Republican voters, but merely a recognition that there are certain conservative voters who simply will not violate their own principles and vote for someone they have fundamental disagreements with, or do not trust. For example, Governor Romney, has not provided a satisfactory answer in the minds of many religious conservatives in his efforts to explain the change from pro-choice to pro-life. They want to know the motivation, and need to be convinced that it was not political. This matter remains unresolved, and thus alienates a proportion of religious conservatives who would otherwise support him as the party’s nominee – regardless of his own religious persuasion. Mayor Guiliani also has a similar problem with religious conservatives, given his personal position on abortion; and promising to appoint strict constructionist judges will not vitiate the conflict with pro-life constituents. Religious conservatives will not vote for a pro-choice Republican nominee – even if it means electing Senator Clinton president. They will not violate a moral conviction. They will simply adopt the attitude – God’s will be done, and maintain their conviction. Governor Huckabee alienates fiscal conservatives as a result of his tax and spend policies during his tenure in Arkansas. Senator McCain, terminally severed his relationship with a proportion of national security conservatives through his aggressive support of the proposed comprehensive immigration agreement, which failed as a result of a citizens’ uprising against this legislation; his opposition to the tax cut policy of the Bush Administration; and his opposition to aggressive interrogation techniques on high value captured terrorists.
Senator Thompson has none of the foregoing problems. He is strong on defense of the nation during a time of war, and has already committed to a substantial increase in the size of our military to fight the enemy threatening our survival; will seal the border, and reverse illegal immigration through attrition; will maintain the current tax policy, and reduce taxes by instituting his proposed voluntary flat tax system with only two rates, one at 10% with no deductions; and the other 25% maximum with current deductions maintained. He will also lower the corporate tax rate to ensure US Corporations are operating at the same tax rates as foreign corporations. Moreover, Mr. Thompson is the only candidate to assemble a plan to address the impending social security system crisis – the “third rail” of American politics. The Senator is acceptable to religious conservatives as well, given his strong and long-standing pro-life position, which explains why he was endorsed by the National Right to Life organization, and many similar state organizations.
In respect to the “fire in the belly” complaint, which is preferable: “Fire in the belly?” or the following leadership characteristics? Personal integrity; moral conviction; courage; perseverance; boldness; humility; analytical intelligence; calm and deliberate disposition; decisiveness; understands historical context and timing; commitment; and vision. In short, the Senator will show more than adequate “fire in the belly” when he demonstrates to those attempting to destroy our beloved nation a backbone of iron and the fury of an adversary who will unleash a conflagration, if necessary, to preserve our sacred liberty. One must guard against being deceived by cliché terms such as “fire in the belly,” in the middle of a media driven political campaign, when there are substantially more important, and higher priority characteristics needed in the President of the United States, and leader of the free world.
For Republicans to win the White House, they must be united and have a large voter turnout among all three of their voting pillars, that is fiscal conservatives; national security conservatives; and religious conservatives. Senator Thompson, is the only candidate not alienating any of these voting pillars, and thus can galvanize their support. Accordingly, he is the best hope for Republicans in the 2008 national election. Indeed Senator Thompson can win the general election, and rest assured the other party knows it for the same reasons articulated herein; to wit: he unites the Republican constituencies and assures a large conservative voter turnout in the 2008 election.
Sheet Anchor Commentary 
40 Comments
Thank you for this fine post about Senator Fred Thompson. Wel done!
What an outstanding article. I don’t think I could have articulated my beliefs and support of Fred Thompson any better. The author should be a part of our MSM. What a more fair and balanced country we would have.
Thompson is all but out of the running. Pick again…amazing that you…well, its simply amazing.
I’ll buy you a pitcher of beer if Thompson is the nominee.
Excellent article about the *only* true conservative in the top tier of Repbulican candidates!
As a right leaning independant I don’t care much for Fred’s ability to pull the country together. He doesn’t like working across the isle and I feel will bring about another 4 years of partisan politics dictated from the white house.
The only republican candidate that I know of working for the betterment of all Americans is John McCain.
Very well stated and factual content. You deliver your arguement in an articulate manner. Just a very well thought out and written piece.I am going to have to post a link to this from my website at http://www.pinnaclecascade.com
Perhaps the most remarkable American contribution to protecting individual rights and the rule of law was our Constitution. And I would have to say the same would hold true if Fred were President.
I use to be a Huckabee supporter until I discovered the truth about this man. Now after looking over the Fred08 web site, I see that Fred is more in line with the Federalist, the true Conservative of all the Candidates.
Fred has proven himself as a leader. He hasn’t wavered in his positions and holds true to self and the Conservative ideals.
My only wish is that he joined in earlier this run for the presidency.
Well, at least he now has a new supporter. However, I am in taxachusetts and not part of the Iowa crowed, who should be taking a very serious look at Fred Thompson.
If you are a Huckabee supporter be honest with yourself. Are you supporting Huckabee by virtue of identity politics? Truly look at Huckabees record and you will be amazed to find that he is a democrat in Republican clothing.
What our country needs now is a strong, stalwart leader who will not cave in to phony liberal demands to compromise Conservative principles in order to “get along” or to be “bipartisan.” That would be Fred Thompson.
Conservative Partisanship is a virtue because it shows that you believe in your principles and the power that those principles contain: Freedom, limited government, individualism, free enterprise and the pursuit of financial independence without confiscatory taxation, a strong military and the protection of our people, border security and elimination of illegal immigration and those here illegally, Conservative Judges, and more.
The only one I see right now who embodies these Conservative principles, which are in themselves compassionate, is Fred Thompson.
Note: Any Republican who has to qualify conservatism with compassionate is truly a Democrat. That is just a code word for Liberal. You won’t find that coming out of Fred’s Mouth.
You have my support, Fred. I truly hope the good folks of Iowa do the same.
Go Fred!.
Right on Taxes.
Right on Immigration
Right on social policies.
McCain will make a fine and honorable Secretary of Defense.
I took a look at Rev Huckabee for a while, then I read something disturbing he said. He was quoted as saying those conservatives who opposed the Kennedy/McCain Amnesty bill did so out of “nativism and racism”
I will not be called a racist by a man in my own party because I believe in the rule of law.
Every time I hear one of those silly political slurs about Fred, I start looking into it. Is he really lazy? No. He often has more than one job at a time. He don’t really want to be president??? Sure, that’s why he’s resigned his money making jobs and is trudging around 50 cities in Iowa in the dead of winter. I guess, if they keep up the dirty tricks, I’ll get to know Fred way better than I had any intention of doing. So, tonight, Chris Wallace tells me Fred was on some committe for Chinese commerce and national security. Seems he missed some committee meetings. Geez, I had no idea Fred was so up on China military stuff. And, it seems he was so busy with his other two money-making jobs that he was lucky to make as many of the voluntary/unpaid China committee meeting as he did make. You go Chris, keep punching that lazy bag. You’ve just about convinced me that Fred is a workaholic.
A candidate has to have more than just a belief system to win. He HAS TO WANT IT, and by that, I mean he has to get out and actually do some CAMPAIGNING. Thompson has not done enough actual campaigning to be considered a serious candidate. He has a snowball’s chance in hades of lasting through to Florida. By then he’ll be finished. And I don’t mean in first place, either.
You don’t need to campaign so much when you are not spending all your time explaining why you changed positions, and since your positions are not in line with the conservative philosophy, why you you should be elected by a conservative party.
Excellent article.
Fred is doing this campaign HIS way, the same way he came from 20 percentage points down in ’94 to win the Senate seat. If you paid attention to something other than the MSM which ignores Fred you would know that he has been campaigning – getting HIS message out without having to do all the things Red Raider points out.
As for Stormwarning … you really shouldn’t make bets based on polls which ’04 & ’06 proved are meaningless.
Again an great, fact-based article.
Like the Thompson campaign, this article makes plodding good sense without fanfare.
Fred Thompson is the only credible candidate who can unite the social conservatives with the fiscal conservatives.
To call Fred Thompson lazy would be like calling Billary a republican. Fred is working his campaign at his pace. This man doesn’t know how to be lazy. He speaks the truth about the things this country needs and how to protect itself more efficiently. He is the “Clear Conservative Choice”!
Love Duncan Hunter; wish he had a chance. Since I’m a Tennessean, and a Conservative, and have met Fred, he’s my “fall back,” I guess you’d say. That doesn’t mean he isn’t Aces in my book (he certainly is), but I worry about his age, and his agressiveness in campaigning (though not his “late entry” — he could have jumped in in late November and still done just as well as he has). Mr. Thompson is best described as “laconic,” which is no insult — he’s measured, truthful and genuinely Conservative.
I only hope that Iowans will give him a chance. He would absolutely destroy Shrillary in a national debate (there will be only one; she’ll never agree to another after being obliterated by him). If he can get a 2nd or even 3rd place finish in IA and then in NH, he could easily “roll” in SC, and the nomination would virtually be his. We’ll see . . .
Hey, Demetriou: You’re welcome to Shrillary, the Breck Girl and Obama; take them (please!). Real Americans cannot stand these creatures — Nurse Ratchett and her two ….. Quite possibly the worst thing that would ever happen to this country is the installation of one of these empty suits with empty heads into the highest office in the land; the U.S. would cease to exist, and with us, goes the rest of the civilized world (but it sounds like you’ve already converted, there, Dhimmi).
Excellent article!
I simply cannot imagine anyone else being President of the US. Seriously.
Nice analysis of Mr. Thompson, and I agree with most of your thoughts. Fred would make an acceptable candidate, provided Mr. Romney is not nominated. He is the only other person who can potentially unite the conservative bases again going into next summer.
Anyone but Huckabee who is a liberal, Guiliani, who is already toast, and McCain, who I frankly know would embarass his country and his party within the first year…
The difference between Fred and Mitt is that Mitt has private world fiscal expertise which we desperately need. No terrorist threats will matter if we are bankrupt in 15 years, which is where we are headed without someone creating something new to shake up DC power brokers. Go Mitt.
“private world fiscal expertise which we desperately need”
You mean like Enron, worldcomm, tyco, qwest, and all the other companies whose crooked ceo’s fleeced the shareholders and their employees?
Yep, we need more of that.
Face it, the republican party is run by a bunch of kleptocrats.
If Fred doesn’t come in third in Iowa, and there’s a good chance he will not, look for him to be out of the race by the end of the day on Friday the 4th of January.
Good post. But with the black background and the them of uniting the “three pillars,” it sounds a bit like Fred is running for Emperor of the Dark Side.
Anyway, what are your thoughts on Bloomberg?
Sadly, I cannot think of anyone in either party who has anything new to offer. Would that any politican listened to the people and not the polls. Belle
Fred is everything that the Conservative base needs to rally around this is true. Folks seem to still get bewildered by the advertising jobs done by Romney and Huckabee. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig. Iowa, please turn out and vote for Fred Thompson for our next President. Help out us Ohioan’s that think that the rest of the country must be out of its mind to think about electing a liberal to the GOP ticket.
You nailed it!
People keep saying, in effect, “Thompson may be the best, but he can’t win — because he can’t win.” Absurd. This is primary season, people, just vote for the one you like. If it must come, save the nose-holding vote for next November.
I’ll be voting Thompson. I don’t care what the polls say.
As a National Security conservative, I have to tell you that you are wrong about Thompson uniting me. I won’t vote for Fred over Hillary. Thompson has proven himself to be a buffoon in the way that John Glenn ran roughshod over him in the ChinaGate hearings. If he can’t handle John Glenn, there is no way he can handle a savvy politician like Vladimir Putin.
Please, please–you people that think Fred’s the greatest thing since sliced bread need to realize that the job of POTUS is the most demanding in the world. Maybe you can recommend a slacker, but I can’t! Fred’s performance on the campaign trail has convinced at least 90% of Americans (he’s at about 11% in Iowa and 3.4% in NH) that Fred isn’t their guy. Why, Ron Paul has twice his support in NH and Fred’s running 4th in Iowa. His national support is from TV name recognition only. He’s as ephemeral as a desert rainstorm. I want a guy who can WORK; someone with at lease SOME fire in their belly.
all candidates on both sides are the “media darlings” bought and paid for junkets. People need to turn off the boob-tube and actually think for themselves. The only true conservative candidate who follows the constitution and the rule of law is Ron Paul.
The MSM, including FOX, will not forgive Fred for getting in late, for not being an “A Type” personality and for not running the sort of campaign it thinks is he shoud run. All the MSM wants to talk about are the latest polls and the latest gaffe and gotcha. I’m disgusted with them.
Fred is probably the only republican running who has read Russell Kirk’s The Conservative Mind and understands what conservatism is from Edmund Burke and John Adams to Ronald Reagan. These principles would simply crush any liberal whining for “change.”
Fred lost his ability to join all three factions of the Republican Party when his recanted his positions after his initial interview with Chris Wallace. It is more important for him to be a social liberal than to address judicial decisions regarding domestic policy made since the revision of the ALIMPC in 1955 based on the fraudulent and fallacious research of Evelyn Hooker and Alfred Kinsey.
Hannity has a Guliani/Catholic prejudice. I think O’Reilly does too. That hurts Thompson with the only media group that otherwise would be kind to him.
The rest of the media is glad to keep him on the margins, because they know they cannot beat him on the issues. They want a GOP candidate that they can beat the crap out of with BS. The others all give them that.
I also looked at Mike, but a deeper look, and I came back to Fred. If it is not Fred in 08, don’t ask me to get excited. If we want to bring the country together, vote for some one else. I’m not interested in bringing congress together, I want a President to lead this country. Not one who lets the media polls tell him where it needs to go, like the dems do. If you check the polls and the pollsters, you’ll find they call the same democrats with every poll. If you want a President with vision, and leadership skills to get things done, vote for Fred Thompson. If not, just vote for any of the others, and watch the media winds blow your hard earned tax dollars to waste.
Fred Thompson is marginal in the polls and largely ignored by the media for good reason. He’s narcoleptic. Sadly, McCain will face Hillary, and we will then get the 4 years of Democratic dominance Republican politicians (but not their constituents or the country) deserve. Fortunately, 4 years later, we will also retake both branches of government, as America decides it’s not ready for feminized socialism.
I hope that Fred Thompson gets the nomination, but it is not looking too good right now.
Ho hum. How does borrowing money from China and Japan for four more years to stay in Iraq contribute to our defense?
Fred Thompson’s squealing to the crooked Nixon administration while he worked as an investigator for Sam Dash in 1973-4 RUINS Thompson’s chance to draw independent voters.
You could make a better argument for pro-life, small-government, constitutionalist Ron Paul than for former one-term Senator Thompson.
Electing Fred Thompson will do more to lead this country in the right direction politically than any other candidate in either party. Fred is a true American who is doing what he sees is his duty to do. God willing, he will win the presidency and start a whole new day in politics in this country!
Exactly… “They will not violate a moral conviction. They will simply adopt the attitude – God’s will be done, and maintain their conviction.” <- That is me!
As such, I am a Sen. Fred Thompson supporter – otherwise, …
Well said. Let’s keep getting the word out.
Great article about the *only* true conservative running. I like Duncan Hunter, too; but being from Lawrenceburg, TN I have to go with who I know! I agree – Fred is the best candidate for 2008.
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