Posts Tagged → endorsement
Assessing the GOP field: Fred Thompson
Law and Order fans may associate Fred Thompson more with plasma TV lifts than presidential politics, but the former US Senator from Tennessee actually has a solid political background, securing two Senate terms in office and taking over the spot once held by Al Gore, but vacated when he joined Bill Clinton on the 1992 Democratic ticket.
Thompson falls into the reliably conservative camp and while he may or may not be completely Reagan-esque in his values, he is probably as close as the GOP will get in this year’s race. Thompson has the boldness to balk at being expected to march in lock-step with the leaders of the religious right, like Focus On the Family, and the temerity to question the relevance and logic of certain debate questions, refusing to play along with ridiculous propositions.
Yet Thompson has had the good common sense to not alienate faith voters, nor has he kicked up a ruckus just to get attention. In fact, Fred Thompson has even been accused to not wanting the presidency desperately enough, although as Gregory MacDonald wrote in Fletch and the Man Who, would you really want to vote for someone who did?
Thompson’s Senate record verifies some exposure to foreign policy, and he is one of the few candidates consistently endorsed as reliably pro-life on the abortion issue. I trust his common-sense approach to most domestic issues, which he doesn’t sell from a viewpoint of ideological stridency, but from more of a blue-collar, “this is what makes sense to me” approach that ought to appeal to Reagan conservatives disaffected by both the MoveOn.org Democrats and increasingly big-government RINO Republicans.
In an ideal world, Thompson would be setting the polls and the electorate on fire. He has few negatives to speak of from a “Reagan conservative” viewpoint, and he’s a plain-spoken, to-the-point public speaker. Yet for some reason, he’s just not catching on; not yet, anyway.
In an ideal world, WonderfulPessimist.com would love to endorse Fred Thompson for the GOP nomination for the presidency during the caucus and primary season. He’s the candidate that is closest to our hearts, and would stand a decent chance of moving California into the GOP side of the voting column, much as Reagan did.
But the sad reality is, it’s not an ideal world and, so far, Thompson’s not lighting a fire under most of the GOP electorate. While we hope this turns around and Thompson emerges from the early primaries and caucuses in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Michigan, gearing up for Super Duper Tuesday with at least a couple wins under his belt, right now that doesn’t seem to be the way the tides are turning.
So for now, WonderfulPessimist.com can’t endorse the candidate it likes best; Thompson needs to prove he’s a winner before that can take place.
