In George Will's hit piece on Thompson, he rehashes the same point that we've been reading about for the last month or so. He's lazy but this being George will he has different take. Would we want to elect a man like Taft?
One litmus test of conservatism is: Who would you have supported for president in 1912? The candidates were a former president, Theodore "I don't think that any harm comes from the concentration of powers in one man's hands" Roosevelt; the incumbent president, William Howard Taft, and the next president, Woodrow Wilson.Of course Will doesn't mention the fact that the death of Thompson's daughter was a contributing factor in his decision not to run.
Conservatism warns against overreaching, and hence rejects the energetic Wilson, would-be fixer-upper of the whole wide world. And conservatism teaches distrust of hyperkinetic government, the engine of which is the modern presidency, of which TR was the pioneer. So: Steady, prudent Taft. Thompson has never had to show consuming energy as a candidate, never having been in a closely contested race. He won his two elections with 60 percent of the Tennessee vote in 1994 (for the remaining two years of Al Gore's Senate term) and 61 percent in 1996. He did not seek re-election in 2002 -- not a painful sacrifice for a man who disliked the Senate: "I'm not 30 years old. I don't want to spend the rest of my life up here. I don't like spending 14- and 16-hour days voting on 'sense of the Senate' resolutions on irrelevant matters.''
He also brings up the money issue and the vote for campaign finance reform. The campaign finance reform vote is handled here (as well as the abortion issue that Will was smart enough not to bring up). I wonder how many times Thompson's detractors will bring that up?
There's a cover story of Thompson in The Weekly Standard by Stephen F. Hayes. Not too far into the article Hayes brings up the conventional wisdom that since we are unhappy with the rest of the field of Republicans we've turned to Thompson because he's "somebody else." I think that this misses the point of his support. We want someone with Thompson's ability and record. It's not that he's somebody else, it's that the other candidates aren't Thompson.
Some interesting tidbits from the article:
And Iowa Republican party executive director Chuck Laudner told the Washington Times, "He's the biggest buzz in the state."(via)
Representative Zach Wamp, a fellow Tennesseean who is running an effort to "Draft Fred," tells me he expects 60 congressional Republicans to show up early next week at a meet-and-greet with Thompson. Mark Corallo, who has volunteered to answer press inquiries for Thompson, has been getting dozens of calls each day--not only from reporters, but from Republicans around the country who have seen his name in the newspaper and tracked him down at his private consulting firm to sign up for a Thompson campaign. Politicians are reaching out to Bill Frist to offer their support. Says Frist: "I have governors who have called me, fundraisers I've known from my days as majority leader who are ready to go."
I think that might explain why Thompson isn't worried about entering late.
And here's something else that Neil Cavuto noticed as well. Thompson had no handlers with him when Hayes interviewed him:
The presence of the cigars and the absence of a press chaperone were clues that Thompson is taking a different approach to his potential candidacy. A campaign flack would have insisted on hiding the cigars--Senator, how did you get those Cuban cigars? Isn't there a trade embargo?--and might have dampened Thompson's natural candor. On subjects ranging from Social Security to abortion, the CIA and to Iran, there would be lots of candor over the next several hours.And I thought this was funny given the above George Will commentary:
And by the end of the conversation, two unexpected realities had emerged. If he joins the race for the Republican nomination, and if he campaigns the same way he spoke to me last week, Fred Thompson, a mild-mannered, slow-talking southern gentleman, will run as the politically aggressive conservative that George W. Bush hasn't been for four years. And the actor in the race could well be the most authentic personality in the field.Indications that he is going to get in the race:
Thompson says he came to respect George W. Bush during the 2000 campaign because of his plan to reform Social Security. Congressional Republicans considered the plan a political liability, and it went nowhere. Thompson says that although it was only tinkering on the margins of real reform, it was a good start. He won't share his own plan--"I'll roll that out at the appropriate time"--but the general principle he articulates sounds like a political risk.Go read the rest of the article because Thompson tells Hayes about the story of his life. I think it puts to rest the charge of Will (and everyone else) that Thompson is lazy. BTW, the article also puts to rest the notion that he lacks vision.
[...]"We thought we had to get it out early," says Frist, "in the sense that he's going to be announcing."
If Frist's acknowledgment that Thompson was going to run may have been a slip, Thompson's own words also suggest he's running. He says he understands "how hard it is, how difficult it is, how embarrassing it is, how intrusive it is." And he knows that as a candidate he could be subject to harsh attacks.
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