Laura Ingrim talked about his Sunday appearance on Fox and so did Rush Limbaugh. Everyone is abuzz with the possibility of his running. Laura Ingrim has a poll up on her website, "Would you support a Fred Thompson run for the presidency?" As of now he's at 87% yes and 13% no.
He will be on Sean Hannity tomorrow, he was supposed to be on today but was tapping his show.
Bill Frist supports his candidacy.
But then there's this:
"Anyone who doubts that [former Sen.] Fred [Thompson] isn't the real deal needs to look at his performance on Sunday and rethink things," says a senior Republican National Committee official. "You can't watch him or read the transcript and wonder what the dynamic would be like with him in the race."(via Rush)
He's referring to Thompson's appearance on Fox News Sunday, where, unlike candidates like Gov. Mitt Romney and Sen. John McCain, Thompson has no problem addressing where he stood on issues from abortion, gun control, and campaign finance reform.
"It isn't just Fred," says the RNC official. "You see and hear [former Gov.] Jeb [Bush] and you realize what the GOP field is missing. You see those two guys and you want to vote for them. With most of the guys in the race now you just feel like eventually you're going to have to vote for them simply out of party loyalty."
Thompson has no campaign staff in place and is not seeking support from his former colleagues in the Senate, despite published rumors that former Sen. Howard Baker was on Capitol Hill last week seeking support for him. "Thompson wouldn't do that to McCain and [Sam] Brownback and other former colleagues," says a Republican Senate leadership aide. "My understanding is that some members asked Baker about what he thought Thompson was doing, and Baker answered honestly: he didn't know. Baker was not pushing Thompson up here."
I hope that Thompson will put the needs of the country above the needs (and egos) of his friends. We need someone like him in the race, someone who will unit the party in a positive way. Someone who will be acceptable to all sides of the spectrum. He's for states rights and smaller government, gun ownership and pro-life. He articulated his position very nicely and we need someone like him to be our spokesman.
McCain and Brownback don't stand a chance and we need for Thompson to enter the race so that we have a chance to beat Clinton (or probably Richardson) in 2008. We need someone without baggage so that all of our base can get behind our candidate and who will bring in the independents and those Democrats who support the war on terror.
Run, Thompson, run and let your friends know that you care about the country, the life of the unborn and the freedom of the Iraqi citizens.
BTW, for all the googlers who come here looking for information about whether Thompson is a Christian, the only thing I can tell you is that he was raised in the Church of Christ according to this website.
Update: I found this after I published:
(via)The major media is missing the full magnitude of the grassroots Republican surge that will soon transform the 2008 field.
The remnants of the Bush presidency and recent Republican Congress is a crisis of conservatism with a major backlash brewing beneath the surface. None of the Big Three (McCain, Romney, or Guiliani) has won the confidence of authentic conservatives. The boomlet for Fred Thompson will grow and challenge the conventional wisdom, again.
What is modern conservatism? Major budget deficits, trade deficits, current account deficits? A mismanaged war with military advice often ignored and a catastrophic scandal in treatment of wounded troops? Massive pork-barrel spending with a Big Government superstate more reminiscent of French Gaullism than American conservatism?
[...]
Howard Baker is brilliant and right in promoting Fred Thompson. The pundits are wrong, the field is wide open, half of the Republicans are not happy with the choices and there is a real chance of a Thompson surge. Conservatism has always included fiscal conservatism, libertarian conservatism, moral conservatism, respect for commanders, patriotic commitment to troops, sound management, small-sized government and respect for the Constitution.
Every one of these is under seige.
Conservatism is in crisis.
Fred Thompson is waiting in the wings.
He's right, it's not too late! This summer will be the perfect time for Thompson to announce his candidacy. And having all this buzz now helps because it will freeze some of the money that would have been wasted on the other candidates. The money people can wait until a real conservative with name recognition enters the race.
Updated again: For one more (really, I've got to go study for my midterm). Bill Hobbs has an excerpt from a liberal who liked Fred Thompson when he met him:
It would be nice to have a nonpolarizing candidate for a change, don't you think?In the end, I have to admit that I was impressed by Thompson. Sometimes when you meet someone you get a sense of whether they are real or fake. And sometimes you are taken in by an amiable, charming person you might not otherwise agree with.
It's hard for me to tell which category I fall into in this instance, but I came away with the impression that Senator Thompson was not your average politician. He really was frustrated with the way the system is set against change. He was very open about his thoughts, his weaknesses and his ideas on real issues.
