Even Fred Thompson doubts he'll be president

[The_Elucidator]

Even Fred Thompson doubts he'll be president

By Toby Harnden in Bedford, New Hampshire

Last Updated: 11:06am GMT 06/11/2007

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Even Fred Thompson (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=NF1ASJIFBEIRFQFIQMFSFGGAVCBQ 0IV0?xml=/news/exclusions/uselection/nosplit/thompson.xml) doesn’t think he will become president. Chatting off-air to a television reporter, a stunningly candid off-the-cuff quip from the Hollywood actor cemented the impression that his heart is not in the 2008 race.

Trying to encourage his studio to hurry up so an interview could start, Carl Cameron of Fox News said into his microphone: “The next president of the United States has a schedule to keep.” Standing beside him, a deadpan Mr Thompson interjected: “And so do I.”

As some Thompson aides looked bemused and others cringed, a taken-aback Mr Cameron, Fox’s chief political correspondent, exclaimed: “You can’t do that kind of stuff!”

Fred's Howard Dean Moment (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/06/wuspols106.xml)

Stick a fork in him! I am going to have a really bad day now!!:flame:

I was really hesitant on posting this for obvious reasons...


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[Lazarus]

I wouldn't read too much into the statement... One thing I like about Fred is his humility... He is offering himself as a candidate for President, but I always believed he never WANTED the job as most of the other frontrunners crave the position... Fred also has a very highly developed, dry sense of humor... I think Carl Cameron over-reacted...

As always, the media, including Fox, is incapable of devining what should and what should NOT become public news... The prevailing winds among the media is that if it creates controversy and storms, then by all means, broadcast it to the ends of the earth... Regardless of the consequences...

If it doesn't get the public knee-jerk reaction the media craves, then put hours of promotion into the incident untiol the stupid public begins to realize the seriousness that the media wants us to believe...

Fox, more often than not, resembles a checkout line tabloid... They simply don't know when to keep their big mouths shut... There is no reason why this should have been a news story... Their promotion of it damages Fred's campaign - Maybe that's what they want to do... Maybe they really only want to give lip service to "fair and balanced" but in fact are guilty of promoting their own favorite candidate...

I believe Fred will do his best to win the nomination... If he does, he will do his best to win the election... If he does, he will do his best to lead this country in the path we want it to go...

[Rhino]

It was just a joke. Sheesh!

[The_Elucidator]

I wouldn't read too much into the statement... One thing I like about Fred is his humility... He is offering himself as a candidate for President, but I always believed he never WANTED the job as most of the other frontrunners crave the position... Fred also has a very highly developed, dry sense of humor... I think Carl Cameron over-reacted...


I have no doubt about his humility - that's one of his major character attributes. However.com, that was really a stupid thing to say! I like Carl Cameron and it sounds like Cameron realized what he said and corrected him. Carl has been on the election trail for years, as that is his specialty, and he knows what survivable gaffes can and can't be made. Just be ready for this to get some legs, the candidates on both sides are cut throat and will not let this pass, if they are any good.

This bears mentioning; is he playing for #2?

[Jack_Savage]

Its important to look at our options from more of an observational view. Who has the best chance to win the nomination and then beat Hillary. I woud like to see Fred click. Igniting audiences to believe in him. Transform the room into entheusiasm and desire for conservative goals. But so far that hasn't happened. I am all for Fred doing good. Maybe he has something up his sleeve, but I sure am not for throwing eggs at Rudy, Romney, and anyone else running against Hillary at this point.

What is it with conservatives trying so hard to personally be right that they will try to harm the efforts of those who do have a shot at beating Hillary. this isn't some high school football game. Politics as usual. This time it is real serious.

It isn't about me. Its not about what I would check off on a long position list of priorities. We are in the middle of the most serious war we have ever faced. Never before has the enemy had the resources lined up against us. Taking shots at the people we may be counting on to represent us in just a few months is stupid. Worse, its what the militant-left who wants America to lose is counting on. This isn't the 1950's, when we had just won world war two, and steak dinners cost $2.00. Its the real thing. Not some tv episode of campaign bloopers. To say "I don't want him but I will vote for him if I have too if Fred loses...." Etc. Etc. is not the way to fire up the vote.

If everyone thinks what they do doesn't count in the long run, we will lose. There was a huge Rally for hillary telecast on local tv with Bill Clinton on the stump for her, telling the crown how much each of them counted. Like some rock-star and the crowd loved it. The local interviews of those who attended all revealed how much they wanted to see Bubba back in the White House. Bill being the first, First Lady. He enjoyed every minute on that stage, joking it up at the thought. Glowing in the spotlight. The audience was mesmorized, enchanted by the fool.

Its time to get serious and take the campaign serious. Fred too.

[The_Elucidator]

Its time to get serious and take the campaign serious. Fred too.

Completely agree!!

[Lazarus]

...Carl has been on the election trail for years, as that is his specialty, and he knows what survivable gaffes can and can't be made. Just be ready for this to get some legs, the candidates on both sides are cut throat and will not let this pass, if they are any good.Well, it wouldn't be a gaffe nor would it have legs unless Fox makes a big deal of it... I notice in the story they kept emphasizing how it was an off-camera, candid comment... One wonders at what point the media whores believe such a comment is meant to REMAIN off camera and private...

This bears mentioning; is he playing for #2?Answer: No... He's going for the front seat... Make no mistake...

As Rhino said, it was a joke, nothing more... And Fox needs to show a little more integrity and good sense and let the comment be the joke that it was, instead of making it into a major hemmorage just to garner exclusive headlines...

This campaign is for the survival of America as we know it... Such journalistic self-serving cannibalism is the kind of thing that can turn the tide in the wrong direction really fast...

If the comment starts to form legs, Fred has the reputation for humility and a sense of humor, and he and his handlers can prepare an appropriate comic "soundbite" response to neutralize it - just the sort of thing the media feeds on... Nothing neutralizes such BS like quick wit...

[The_Elucidator]

Well, it wouldn't be a gaffe nor would it have legs unless Fox makes a big deal of it... I notice in the story they kept emphasizing how it was an off-camera, candid comment... One wonders at what point the media whores believe such a comment is meant to REMAIN off camera and private...

Fox nor Carl Cameron is the one who made a big deal of it; it was Toby Harnden from the U.K. Telegraph. The only thing Cameron did was to tell Fred he screwed up.

And I'm sorry but if you already have an undeserved reputation of being lazy and having no fire in your belly you just don't make a stupid comment like that to fuel the fire.

[Neil Peart]

Harry Truman doubted that he would get elected in 1948. Don't count Fred out yet.

[Jack_Savage]

I don't count Fred out. I'm counting on him to go at it 100% and pray for more where that came from. No re-takes allowed on this sound stage.

I hope he can shine brighter than Bill Clinton did on the campaign platform this weekend. I hate the Clinton Clan, but Bill was good in front of that crowd. No mistakes there. The audience was good too. They are gearing up for a tough election. They hate conservatives like we hate them.

And Carl Cameron is one of the best out there reporting. Not like some snotty CNN reporter looking for flaws, he will ask Hillary the tough questions and look her straight in the eye.

We got what we got and we have to make the best of it.

[Lazarus]

Fox nor Carl Cameron is the one who made a big deal of it; it was Toby Harnden from the U.K. Telegraph. The only thing Cameron did was to tell Fred he screwed up.

And I'm sorry but if you already have an undeserved reputation of being lazy and having no fire in your belly you just don't make a stupid comment like that to fuel the fire.You're right... I realized that Fox was not the source of the story after I had posted...

And yes, the comment would have been a stupid one if it had been made in a public forum... But after reading the article cited, it sounds like just more piling on from the anti-Fred crowd... It was in fact a non-story that is being run up the flagpole as an indication of Fred's failure to take the race seriously... The suggestion is absurd... One does not travel around the country making speeches and spending money on campaign materials if one isn't taking the race seriously (discounting 2nd rate comedians who use the race as a mechanism to draw attention to a flagging career)...

Point in fact, the title of the story, Fred doubting his own chances at winning, is a gross misinterpretation of the actual incident that occurred...

[The_Elucidator]

And Carl Cameron is one of the best out there reporting. Not like some snotty CNN reporter looking for flaws, he will ask Hillary the tough questions and look her straight in the eye.



That's how I feel. My point about this is that I haven't heard Fox news or Carl Cameron comment about this on the news (doesn't mean it hasn't happened). The basis of my worry is that Carl told Fred that he shouldn't have said that and some in his inner circle were not pleased either. And of course the DBM via the UK Telegraph ran with the story like an illegal with my SS card.

Fred is still my #1 choice but he needs to have his A game and right now I'm not seeing it. I'm still having a lot of problems (moral conviction) about supporting Rudy if the time comes. You just can't watch the silent scream video and feel good about supporting someone who is ok with abortion for any reason. That is where I am right now!

So Fred I am begging you to get your A game together because there are a lot of folks depending on you! Like ME!

[Jack_Savage]

Fred is still my #1 choice but he needs to have his A game and right now I'm not seeing it. I'm still having a lot of problems (moral conviction) about supporting Rudy if the time comes. You just can't watch the silent scream video and feel good about supporting someone who is ok with abortion for any reason. That is where I am right now!


I hate the video and I cannot stand anyone who would allow that to happen. At the same time I can only conclude Rudy, like other politicans is pandering for votes on that issue. And I think he gets the ideals of conservatives and the depth of the belief on that issue with who are totally against it. I believe him when he says he will not appoint a judge who is for choice.

Look at all the politicans who have wavered on issues, but realize, none has like Hillary and then Kerry who comes in second on the worst kind of record ever. So given our situation, we need to be optimistic about all those who have a shot at taking the bitch on. It does us no good to water-down the entheusiasm out there for Rudy or Romney. McCain either. I just don't see what good it does. The words we use today can come back to haunt us, like it does for Hillary.

People tend to do whatever makes them appear right so if someone says I don't really like the guy, even if down the line they want that person, they don't tend to put their hat, ass, and overcoat into it, like is going to be required to win.

I can look Fred right in the eye and go for him 120%, proud to be on his team. It makes no difference to me that I am also for Rudy. I am for anyone who can beat the bitch one thousand percent, no apologies! I urge everyone else, in shopping lines, at banks, any line I am in or any bench I sit, to vote for anyone who can stop the Soros agenda of destroying this country as we know it.

Right now Rudy holds the wand in the race we are in.

[Lazarus]

...Fred is still my #1 choice but he needs to have his A game and right now I'm not seeing it...That is the concern Im having now too... I have been keeping silent about it publicly, but I'm now beginning to wonder about his ability to get this campaign rolling up to the front position... I expected him to be making more headway by now...

I don't know if its his campaign organization or what... But the fire he seemed to have before announcing, the Fred Thompson we saw on all those videos, doesn't seem to be translating into a national campaign... That also could be the result of a MSM who is actively trying to keep his campaign suppressed...

As for Giuliani and his position on abortion, let's try to stay focused on the realities of the office of the president... No president to date, including the beloved and revered Ronaldus Magnus, has had the slightest effect on the issue of abortion, mainly because it is not an issue that the President can affect - Its an issue for Congress and the Court...

Keep in mind, the president is the executive head of the government - as such he has direct control over various cabinet offices, but none of those offices has any direct relativity on the continuance of the legality of abortion... At best all the president can do is to set internal policies that discourage federal funding of abortions, and even that is greatly limited by the will of Congress... The President isn't King - He can't simply issue a declaration and it become the law of the land...

Contrary to the opinion and actions of King George, the president is in fact duty bound to enforce the laws of the land... I will not support any candidate who selectively chooses which laws he will and will not enforce... Until Congress acts on the question, the president has no power to address it beyond submitting his own bills to Congress for consideration - and that is something that every common citizen has the right to do...

The closest the president can approach the issue is to appoint strict constructionist judges to federal benches, and Giuliani has already declared that that would be his policy... Maybe he's a liar, I don't know... But there comes a point where one must decide to take him at his word or not... His personal beliefs on that issue don't necessarily imply that he intends to impose his beliefs on the nation...

So it comes down to whether you are willing to take him at his word or not... As I see it, I see no difference between any of the Pub candidates on this particular issue... They all have the same stated policy...

Its a question for the Legistlature and the Supreme Court - not the president... So for me, his personal beliefs on this issue are not a deal breaker... Im far more concerned about his positions on gun control and illegal immigration because he can in fact directly affect those issues...

In any case, I may be concerned about Rudy on some issues, but Im committed to whoever wins the nomination - Which is to say, Im committed to stopping the Democrats from winning the Whitehouse...