My long time favorite politician, Michael Steele, is apparently campaigning to become the Chairman of the RNC. There's a lot of buzz about his efforts on the net; there's even a Draft Michael Steele website.

As you might guess, I'm pretty excited about the idea of the GOP having Mike at the wheel.

Other politicians are reportedly interested, too. I've read that Fred Thompson might like the gig. I was an early supporter of Thompson's Presidential bid ... until he proved to me that he was basically too lazy and indifferent to really campaign. Fred doesn't deserve to be the chairman of the RNC (or anything else) at this point.

There are also rumors about Newt Gingrich. Some say he's interested in the chair, some say he's not interested. As of now the most reliable reports seem to be the ones that indicate that Newt isn't interested ... and that he is, in fact, working with Mike Steele on the platform.

I like Newt, but he's not consistent. He opposed the recent bank bail-out at first, and his arguments were solid. Then he reluctantly flip-flopped and supported the thing at the last minute. Plus, Newt would have to shut up about "global warming" before I'd get enthusiastic about his leadership.

Newt and I do agree, though, about why the GOP lost last week's elections. In a nutshell, although I'm not convinced that Newt is the best choice to lead the party, he is usually a reliable conservative and I hope he'll continue to have a voice in the Republican Party's (hoped-for) rebirth.

Meanwhile, Mike Steele kicks ass! I think he'll be a much needed shot in the arm for the Republicans.

Labels: Michael Steele, News, Politics, Thompson 08

Just watched Thompson's speech. Loved it. But now I can't concentrate on Lieberman, and I love Joe Lieberman. It's just that Thompson handed me a totally full, totally delicious plate!

We were promised a heapin' helpin' of red meat, and Fred came through. In spades.

If he'd had that kind of spirit some months ago maybe we'd have heard McCain throwing the read meat before the GOP nominates Thompson.

Labels: Media, News, Politics, Thompson 08

Glassbooth.org is a very useful website with regard to the 2008 election. It seems to be totally neutral, it contains (and links to) a wealth of information, and it's just plain fun.

We've all seen those internet quizzes designed to assess your political leanings in twenty questions or less. Most of them, in my opinion, are unreliable. The thing that sets Glassbooth.org apart is that it assesses your political priorities and then compares them to the articulated positions of the political candidates, complete with quotes, congressional vote information and links to outside sources.

Here's how Glassbooth compares me to McCain, Obama and Nader on the issues:

If you click that graphic you'll see the detailed analysis of my positions vis a vis the presidential candidates.

At Glassbooth you can also see how you compare to the candidates who've dropped out of the race. I wasn't surprised to see that I line up with Fred Thompson on more issues than I do with any other candidate. He was the guy I initially supported.

I wasn't surprised to see that I compare least favorably with John Edwards. I've considered him the most liberal Presidential candidate in the last two Presidential elections.

I wish that Maryland's former Lieutenant Governor Mike Steele was on the list of politicians you can compare/contrast yourself with at Glassbooth. I've been saying for some time now that I'd like to see him run for President. From what I can tell, he and I agree on literally every issue. I'd enjoy seeing if Glasshouse supports my hypothesis.

And I was surprised to see that I apparently somewhat agree with Obama on more issues than I realized.

The real shock, though, was learning that Ron Paul and I aren't that different. For a while now I've considered Paul and his supporters to be very flaky. Maybe I should have learned more about him before I disregarded his candidacy.

Of course, each of us, no matter what we consider ourselves, is a hodgepodge of political opinion. I call myself a conservative, but if you were to meet me and if you and I were to only discuss the death penalty, immigration and marijuana legalization, you'd think me to be a left winger.

Fun. Interesting and informative, too. And I may have even learned a little bit about myself. I'm actually more liberal than Ralph Nader in at least one area!

If you use Glassbooth for a personal assessment, please share your opinion with me ... in the comments here, or in your own blog if you keep one.

Labels: Links, News, Obama Watch, Politics, Thompson 08

Now that Fred Thompson is officially in the 2008 Presidential race, the big question on everyone's mind is, of course, what's his campaign theme song going to be?

I think we were all underwhelmed in June when Hillary Clinton announced that her official campaign theme song was going to be You And I by Celine Dion … a song that I don't think I've ever even heard. Which is surprising, since Celine's had about a thousand hits and I thought I'd heard most of them.

A search for campaign theme songs at Google brings up very little, and most of what does come up involves Hillary and that Celine song, anyway. So considering that most of the people running for POTUS in '08 don't seem that concerned about their theme music, I thought I'd make a few suggestions.

• Barack Obama
  There's really only one possible campaign song for Barack, and that's John Lennon's Imagine. What could be better than a secular hymn in praise of socialism for a guy who wants the government to have complete control of the economy, health care, speech, thought, and respiration. Besides, Obama and the song itself have a lot in common: both are extremely overrated, both are terribly trendy, and neither one make much sense when you actually pay close attention.



• Mitt Romney
  I'm thinking Pink Floyd Redux for the Governor from New England. Something like Shine On You Crazy Mormon.
  
  (OK, that was a cheap shot, and I should feel bad about it, and I probably will tomorrow, and I do like Mitt, but as of this second my philosophy is that I never turn down a cheap shot and I'm not going to start now.)



• Hillary Clinton
  There are a bunch of better choices for Hillary than some anonymous Celine pop ditty. The headbanger in me wants to suggest Am I Evil, a song originally recorded by Diamond Head and made popular by Metallica. Of course, the Eagles have a few titles that would work for Hillary, such as Lyin' Eyes and Witchy Woman. Then there's always Elton John's The Bitch Is Back. But if you ask me, the best of all possible theme songs for Hillary is Rid Of Me by P.J. Harvey:
  

  Tie yourself to me.
  No one else.
  No, you're not rid of me.
  You're not rid of me.
  
  Yeah you're not rid of me.
  I'll make you lick my injuries.
  I'm gonna twist your head off, see?
  Till you say don't you wish you never, ever met her?
  Don't you, don't you wish you never, ever met her?




• Rudy Giuliani
  Rudy's unofficial campaign slogan at this point is "Vote for me anyway." Now, I admit, I liked Rudy a lot when I thought of him as a good man trying to clean up a cesspool of a city … but as a presidential candidate he's become an expert at rationalizing, justifying, apologizing and backtracking. For his campaign song I'd suggest a mash-up; a medley of The Indigo Girls' Shame On You and Bryan Adams's Please Forgive Me. However, to really fit the tenor of the campaign, the song will have to play on an endless loop.



• John Edwards
  Of course, there's only one song that will work: ZZ Top's Sharp Dressed Man:
  

  Top coat, top hat,
  I dont worry 'cause my wallets fat.
  Black shades, white gloves,
  Lookin' sharp and lookin' for love.
  They come runnin' just as fast as they can
  'Cause every girl crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man.




• John McCain
  The more McCain talks, the more I'm inclined to think that Run-DMC's Papa Crazy would be ideal for him. But then, given that he's been one of DC's most powerful men for a while now, maybe Black Flag's Gimme Gimme Gimme would work better:
  

  Gimme gimme gimme.
  I need some more.
  Gimme gimme gimme.
  Don't ask what for.
  
  Sitting here like a loaded gun
  Waiting to go off.
  I've got nothing to do
  But shoot my mouth off.

  
  
  Ultimately, though, I think that the Imperial March from Star Wars would be the perfect campaign song for McCain … if only because I've gotten to the point where I hear it playing in my head every time I see McCain:
  




• Al Gore
  As hard as it is to take seriously, there is still talk in some corners about Al Gore running for President in '08. I guess he's the Democrat version of Nixon. I can't understand Gore's continued popularity among the moonbats, but I think I can explain it. That's why I'd suggest that Al's campaign theme song should be I Put A Spell On You, the original version by Screamin' Jay Hawkins. I'd also suggest that Gore change his name to "Screamin' Al Gore."



• Fred Thompson
  A number of songs could serve Fred's campaign well. Tom Petty's I Won't Back Down is an obvious choice. The titles of Anthrax's I'm The Man and 2Pac's All Eyes On Me sum up Thompson's popularity and his image as the candidate to beat. But another song comes to mind for this Alabama-born former Senator from Tennessee. It's a song that expresses pride in the south specifically, but in America in general … and, more than that, it expresses a general willingness to cut through the BS. That seems to fit Thompson well, from what I've seen. So for Thompson's campaign I'd suggest as a theme song A Country Boy Can Survive by Hank Williams, Jr.:
  

Labels: Music, Politics, Thompson 08, You Tube

I'd gotten tired of waiting for this:

After months of not-so-coy will-he-or-won't-he political flirtation, Fred Thompson has finally and officially announced that he is a candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.

"I am running for president of the United States," he said during a taping of NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" Wednesday evening, drawing applause and cheers from the audience.

I think Fred's campaign would have been better served by announcing earlier and participating in the GOP debate ... but either way I'm glad he stopped the feet-dragging, which had become tiresome. I still think Thompson is the guy I'm most comfortable supporting and I look forward to the next few months of politickin'.

Labels: News, Politics, Thompson 08

• Pretend Indians Protest Firing Of Pretend Indian
  
  
  Ward Churchill, the infamous, insane, fraudlant University of Colorado professor and pretend American Indian who equated 9/11 victims with Nazis, has finally been fired by the University for many of the items on his long list of offenses:
  
  

  The Board of Regents passed a motion to accept the recommendation from CU President Hank Brown to fire Churchill from his position in the Ethnic Studies department…
  
  Churchill and his supporters then participated in a Native American ceremony outside of the building.
  
  "I am going nowhere," said Churchill. "This is not about break, this is not about bend, this is not about compromise."

  
  
  I didn't see Churchill's pretend Native American ceremony, but I have seen other pretend Native American ceremonies before. They look like this:
  

  

  
  Churchill's actual supporters are a bit more uniform looking, at least with regard to dress:
  

  

  
  In a show of pretend American Indian solidarity, the guy on the left is sporting a mohawk. It seems to be quite the fashion this summer.
  
  Elsewhere on this topic: Cube, LGF.




• Fred Thompson: More Nothin'
  
  How can your campaign be falling apart before it's a campaign?
  
  

  Growing pains within Fred Thompson's "non-campaign" for president in 2008 revealed themselves in a big way Tuesday.
  
  …there has been much speculation about the role of Thompson's wife, Jeri Kehn Thompson, and today, a senior adviser to Fred Thompson today stepped out of a day-to-day role in the campaign because of friction with her.

  
  
  I've been pseudo-supporting Thompson's pseudo-campaign for a while now, but if he doesn't formally announce soon and get his act together, I might throw my pseudo-support to Romney. Romney sure seems to have his ducks in a row, Fred.



• Lindsay Says: ("Incoherent Slur")
  
  Lindsay Lohan, professional party girl and stunt driver (and occasional actress) has been nabbed yet again for more vehicular misconduct:
  
  

  The 21-year-old actress was arrested and released on bail for investigation of misdemeanor driving under the influence and with a suspended license, and felony cocaine possession, early Tuesday in Santa Monica, less than two weeks after completing her second trip to rehab.

  
  
  Apparently, Lindsay jumped into her SUV and attempted to chase down her former personal assistant and that girl's mother shortly after the assistant quit. Police were called to the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, where they found Lohan and the other two women in a heated debate. Lohan was immediately arrested when the cops determined that she was drunk and driving with a suspended license, and they later found cocaine in her pocket. Of course, Lohan claims that the coke wasn't hers:
  
  

  “I am innocent ... did not do drugs they’re not mine. I was almost hit by my assistant Tarin’s mom I appreciate everyone giving me my privacy,” Lohan wrote in an e-mail to “Access Hollywood” host Billy Bush, the show reported on its Web site Tuesday night.

  
  
  Lohan, who has been in and out of rehab centers for the past thousand years, is apparently once again back in rehab. And that's good. Rehab obviously does her a lot of good, judging by the amount of times that she goes there.
  
  

  

Labels: Entertainment, News, Politics, Thompson 08

A few items from the news that I thought were worth mentioning:

• Man convicted of killing 10 women, 1 fetus, sentenced to death
  

  
  LOS ANGELES – A one-time pizza deliveryman was sentenced Tuesday to die for the slayings of 10 women and an unborn fetus over an 11-year period in areas plagued by a crack cocaine epidemic …
  
  (Chester) Turner was convicted April 30 of 10 counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder in the death of a 6½-month old fetus …

  
  
  I'm sure I've mentioned this observation before, so forgive me if I'm being repetitive. The thing that strikes me about this story and others like it is that the killer in question has been convicted and punished for the murder of a fetus. Why do the courts recognize that killing a fetus is murder if the mother (presumably) wanted the child, but killing a fetus is a legal medical procedure if the mother doesn't want the child? Is that what makes the difference between being a human being or not? Being loved by your mother?
  
  Another thing that strikes me about this particular case is that the murderer happens to be a black guy. How long until Hollywood's ultra-leftist, self-hating, guilt-wallowing, wealthy, white goof troop is making movies, writing songs and campaigning hard for this man to be released? It's what we should expect, after all, since that's what Hollywood leftists do.



• Man gets a year in reporter attack
  

  A man who was caught on tape attacking a television news reporter was sentenced Friday to a year in jail and ordered to complete anger management classes.
  
  Assad "Sam" Suleiman, 37, pleaded guilty in April to assaulting Fox 6 News San Diego reporter John Mattes in the upscale La Jolla area last September.
  
  Mattes, who was investigating a suspected real estate scam, suffered cracked ribs, bite wounds and cuts to his face.
  
  At his sentencing hearing, Suleiman apologized to Mattes but criticized the reporter for being too invasive.
  
  "There is no stopping this man," said Suleiman, who said his family and business had been destroyed in the aftermath of the episode.

  
  I remember this story. It's pretty grotesque, but here's the video if you want to see it:

  
  After all that, after making it clear that he blames the reporter for his own actions, Suleiman still only got a year in jail.




• Fred check
  
  Checking in with Fred Thompson's not-yet-a-campaign:
  
  Wasn't Fred supposed to maybe announce officially around July 4? What's up with that? Facing South, a liberal southern politics blog, thinks it knows:
  
  

  With the McCain campaign circling the drain, there is speculation that Thompson's announcement, which earlier rumors said would happen on the 4th of July, may have been delayed to coincide with McCain's withdrawal.

  
  
  Granted, Facing South has been out for Thompson's blood all along (example one, example two), but that's fine because attacks from leftists actually increases Thompson's credibility among his base. If the lefties ain't after you, you ain't living right. Nonetheless, the idea that Thompson is waiting for McCain to abandon his sinking campaign rings true with me. It makes sense.
  
  Chuck Muth points out that many (most) of the attacks on Thompson have been paper thin:
  
  

  Just last week the Los Angeles Times ran a BS story about how Thompson supposedly lobbied for an abortion group some 15 years ago - an accusation denied by Thompson - in an effort to undermine his support among social conservatives. The charge was so thin and ultimately meaningless - Thompson had a stellar pro-life record during his time in the Senate - that it’s hard to see how the Times justified the ink needed to print it.
  
  That slop was followed on Monday by a lengthy New York Times story attempting to slime Thompson for having a “trophy wife,” musing in the headline whether or not Jeri Thompson would be an “albatross” around the neck of the former senator’s expected presidential campaign.

  
  
  I'm having a hard time figuring out why so many people are attacking Jeri Thompson for having committed the horrible crime of being easy on the eye. The New York Times has branded her a trophy wife. MSNBC's Joe Scarborough has compared Mrs. Thompson to "a stripper." An AOL News Blogger identified as "Scott" points out the double standard:
  
  

  Jeri Kehn Thompson is a wife, mother and a highly successful professional woman. That would seem to meet the criteria set forth by the womens liberation movement the NY Times continually forces down our throats …
  
  You may recall that the media was painstakingly restrained in not reporting anything about Chelsea Clinton. They, of course, couldn't wait to report about the drinking habits of the Bush twins but that's a post for another day. Jeri Thompson doesn't seem greatly involved in Thompsons campaign, she doesn't call talk shows and defend her husband from pundits like Elizabeth Edwards has done …

  
  
  Nor, for that matter, is she likely to take on the shrill, brow-beating role of a Teresa Ketchup Kerry.
  
  According to Robert J. Elisberg at The Huffington Post (which is the political blog equivalent of Perez Hilton), the problem is that Republicans are scandalized by Mrs. Thompson. To which I say, wha? The conservatives and Republican voters I happen to know who've mentioned Mrs. Thompson at all have said two things: One, she'd sure be the prettiest First Lady ever. Two, it's a shame that the media has behaved so unseemly toward her.
  
  I think that all of this comes down to media fears that Jeri Thompson's good looks will create a prurient emphasis on the fact that Hillary Clinton is easily the most hideous thing that ever crawled out of an Arkansas sewer. But that's just me.
  
  Anyway, here's where I am with regard to Thompson right now. I think it's time for him to announce. Fish or cut bait. Poop or get off the pot. Campaign in earnest or stop campaigning for free with your ABC News job. Give us some political red meat so those of us who've hung our hopes on you will be able to feel that we know if we're fooling ourselves or not.



• Charges set in Erie collar-bomb case
  
  Remember this bizarre case from August, 2003?
  
  

  Brian Douglas Wells was a pizza delivery man who was killed by a time bomb explosive fastened to his neck, purportedly under duress from the maker of the bomb. After he was apprehended by the police for robbing a bank, the bomb exploded. The bizarre affair was subject to much attention in the mass media.
  
  …On the afternoon of August 28, 2003 Wells received a call to deliver two pizzas to an address a few miles from the Erie, Pennsylvania "Mamma Mia Pizzeria", where he worked. It was later found that the address was that of an unmanned radio tower at the end of a dirt road.
  
  Within an hour of leaving for the delivery, Wells had entered a bank with a sophisticated home-made shotgun disguised as a cane and demanded $250,000. When police intervened, Wells claimed that three unnamed people had placed a bomb around his neck, provided him with the shotgun, and told him that he had to commit the robbery and several other tasks, otherwise he would be killed …
  
  At first, the police made no attempt to disarm the device. The bomb squad were finally called at 3:04 PM, at least 30 minutes after the first 9-1-1 call. At 3:18 PM, it exploded, blasting a fist-sized hole in Wells' chest just three minutes before the bomb squad arrived …

  
  
  (More details are here).
  
  Anyway, after almost four years, it looks like there may finally be some resolution in the case:
  
  

  An imprisoned former teacher learned Tuesday she will face federal charges in the bizarre 2003 collar-bomb death of an Erie pizza delivery man.
  
  Lawrence D'Ambrosio, a lawyer for Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong, said his client told him federal authorities delivered a detainer listing the charges she would face related to the death of Brian Wells.
  
  Diehl-Armstrong, 58, a former Erie resident in state prison, is expected to be charged with conspiracy, bank robbery and a weapons violation.
  
  Kenneth Barnes, 53, who is in the Erie County Jail, is expected to be charged with the same crimes, the Erie County Times reported on its Web site yesterday.

  
  
  I've thought about this case from time to time over the last four years. The video of Brian Wells sitting in the road and begging the police for help really bothered me, and I've always discounted those who think that Wells may have been in on the plot. Well, it turns out that there may be forthcoming evidence that Wells really was part of the plot. It's an ugly, troubling story. I hope that the authorities really have solved this matter.



• One of these things is not like the others. One of these things does not belong.
  
  What's wrong with this group of pictures?
  
  

  

  
  
  If you answered that the picture of Jimi is backwards, consider yourself virtually slapped on the wrist. Jimi was left handed and played his guitar upside down.
  
  No, that's not what's wrong. What's wrong is that after something like 25 years as a pop star, Madonna has started doing GUITAR SOLOS. For real:
  
  

  Debate is raging on internet message boards over whether Madonna's "rocking" Live Earth performance owed more to technical wizadry (sic) than musical talent.
  
  Millions of people around the world saw the American singer, not known for her strumming skills, wrap a guitar strap around her neck and play along to her hit Ray of Light on Saturday night.

  
  
  OK, look … up until now I've been fine with Madonna's expert-at-everything confidence. Pop star? Fine. Actress? Check. Author? Whatever. Pornographer? I'd imagine so. Religious leader? Go for it. Anything Madonna wants to try to do is fine with me since I don't pay much attention to her. The only things she's ever done that I've enjoyed is the song Live To Tell, but with a career as prolific as Madonna's, it's a given that she'll eventually do something for everyone.
  
  But this is where I draw the line.
  
  Madonna is NOT a guitarist. I'm a HUGE fan of rock guitar and I resent Madonna's parading around with a guitar in her hand, aping solos and trying to look like a guitar hero. Get REAL, lady.
  
  And don't accuse me of sexism, either. I can name a long, long list of capable female guitarists. Bonnie Raitt, for example. And then there's …. Well, there's Bonnie Raitt. It's not a gender issue. It's a Madonna issue. Why can't she stick to Kabbalah, pop songs and pornography? Does she have to taint everything?
  
  Besides, her guitar playing is as vulgar, as showy, as unnecessary and as ultimately forgettable as the last fifteen years of her career. Can you even hear her in this clip?
  

  
  Did you see that little feedback amp trick at the end of the video? If so, did you want to puke, too? Who does she think she is? Neil Young?
  
  Now, you may asking yourself if, in a world full of war, murder, rape, starvation and plague, Darrell is really more upset about Madonna playing guitarist than anything else.
  
  Yes, I am. There are tons of people trying to save the world. I settle for saving Rock and Roll. Bring me Madonna's head in a cardboard box.

Labels: Entertainment, News, Politics, Thompson 08, You Tube

The, um, objective and unbiased reporters in the MSM are really starting to get vicious about Fred Thompson. Check out this churlish item from ABC News:

Fred Thompson, a likely Republican presidential candidate, on Tuesday defended his work as a Washington lobbyist, telling The Associated Press that lobbying is an important part of life because "government's got their hands in everything."

...Thompson, who likes to cast himself as a political outsider, earned more than $1 million lobbying the federal government for more than 20 years. He lobbied for a savings-and-loan deregulation bill that helped hasten the industry's collapse and a failed nuclear energy project that cost taxpayers more than a billion dollars.

He also was a lobbyist for deposed Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was widely criticized for endorsing "necklacing," the gruesome practice of execution where gasoline-soaked tires are thrown over a person's neck and set ablaze.

Good Lord! Sounds terrible. Reading that did give me pause, I have to admit. I'm glad to see, though, that Thompson brushes the charges off at his blog. His response is an audio file and you can load it in a new window by clicking here.

I wish, though, that he'd be a little more specific about these charges. (Give me specific info I can use to defend your {almost} campaign, Senator Thompson. Those charges are really ugly.) I've become a Thompson booster of late and I'm only inches away from that all-important Official SouthCon Endorsement. I'd like to have reason to believe, though, that Thompson hasn't really worked shamelessly for Haitian dictators before I put up the old "Thompson '08" banner in my sidebar.

Labels: News, Politics, Thompson 08

The lefties must be trembling a bit about Fred Thompson, since the "vast left-wing conspiracy" against him is kicking into high gear.

Classic smear politics; the first strike is to try to separate Candidate X from Candidate X's base. The lefties are trying hard to drive a wedge between Thompson and conservatives. Newsweek recently ran a story about Thompson in which they indicated that he was soft on core conservative issues, like abortion and campaign finance.

But as Andy Selepak points out for Accuracy In Media, it ain't necessarily so:

According to Newsweek, ... Thompson's answers to a number of surveys in office "could be viewed as supporting abortion rights."

What exactly were his pro-abortion responses he made on these surveys? According to Newsweek, "on a 1994 Eagle Forum survey, Thompson said he opposed criminalizing abortion."

You mean that Thompson doesn't want every woman who's had an abortion thrown in jail? GASP! Well, he just can't really be a conservative pro-lifer! I mean, EVERYBODY knows that all us conservative pro-lifers want every woman who's had an abortion thrown in jail!

Except that we don't. But, of course, since that's what the media says about us, that's what the lefties all believe ... and, of course, they think that Thompson's unwillingness to throw women who've already been through the heartbreak of abortion into prison simply must mean that he's at odds with the pro-life movement.

Nice try, Newsweek, but if you're going to try to imply that Thompson doesn't share our pro-life values, you oughta learn just what pro-life values actually are.

Selepak continues:

Thompson's view about when life begins has also evolved since 1994. Newsweek reported that in a recent Fox News interview he said "he's always been against abortion, but that the issue has 'meant a little more' since he saw the sonogram of his 3-year-old daughter." Thompson added in the interview, "I'll never feel that same way again. Not only is it in my head, it's in my heart now."

In the end, the article acknowledged that his Senate voting record included votes to block federal funding for abortions and in support of a partial-birth-abortion ban. The National Right to Life organization gave him a 100 percent rating.

Wow, accuracy from Newsweek. Wonders never cease.

The article attempts to tarnish his campaign before it even starts, in the eyes of Republican voters, by portraying him as anti-conservative. But Thompson isn't pro-abortion and never has been. He has expressed concerns about his vote on McCain-Feingold, and in refusing to play partisan politics in a corruption investigation, Thompson showed the signs of a fair and decent man―the qualities admired in a leader by both conservatives and liberals.

Thompson may not be a "southern-fried Reagan," but he is definitely not Newsweek's mis-portrayal of him either. Like all candidates, the American people still need to learn more to determine who should be the next president. But, what the American people don't need is a misinformation campaign by the media to take down a candidate because he could defeat the Democratic nominee.

Step one in the Thompson attack schedule is going to fail because conservatives know more about our own people than lefties do. Step two will be the usual scare tactics: "Thompson wants to take away all civil liberties, throw old people into a ditch to die and reinstate the draft!" You watch and see.

Labels: News, Politics, Thompson 08

I like the looks of this:

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson earning support from 28% of Likely Republican Primary Voters. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani attracts support from 27%. While Thompson’s one-point edge is statistically insignificant, it is the first time all year that anybody but Giuliani has been on top...

Yeah, my support for Thompson is growing exponentially. The more I learn about the guy, the better I like his (soon to be) campaign.

Meanwhile, Kristine has a Hillary video with a cringe factor of about 15 on a ten scale. Geez, Billary is the creepiest celebrity couple in history.

Labels: News, Politics, Thompson 08

I've been pretty ambivalent about the current crop of Presidential hopefuls. Believe it or not, I would consider voting for a Democrat if he talked sense and was reliable on ..... Oh, what the hell am I saying? A Democrat talking sense??!? Ha ha!

Anyway, the current crop of Republican candidates all strike me as a pretty lame crew, but one guy who is about to announce his candidacy seems to be speaking my language.

The more I hear about Fred Thompson and from Fred Thompson, the more I like him. I can really see me supporting the guy eventually.

Here's a YouTube clip, Thompson with Chris Wallace a while back:

Now, granted, I have my days of disgust with the war in Iraq, and I sometimes throw up my hands and say "It's not worth it, bring the boys home." I realize, though, on a deeper level, that we can't abandon Iraq. It's just difficult to stay focused on reality when all you hear day in and day out is gloom and doom. I admit, I had a MSM relapse earlier this month and started getting my news from network TV again. It was a mistake, it won't happen again. Not everyone reporting on Iraq has the same bias and the same agenda as the MSM and those in DC and in the Green Zone.

Ultimately, though, I think I just wrote my "abandon Iraq" post on a grouchy day.

Anyway, I think Thompson could both make sound decisions on Iraq and communicate them to the American people much better than the current President. That might be part of the problem; maybe most of the problem: Dubya just can't communicate.

Thompson's positions are solid conservative common sense on the other issues, such as taxes, abortion, stem cell research, abortion, commerce, immigration, abortion, gun rights, abortion, abortion, trade and abortion. (I admit, I often tend to be a one-issue voter. As much as I like Rudy Giuliani, I could never vote for him.)

The only thing I disagree with Thompson on is the death penalty. He supports it. And, let's face it, until my personal pick for the ultimate candidate (Michael Steele) decides to run, solid conservatives who oppose the death penalty are gonna be hard to find.

Anyway, yeah, Thompson is solid. Hopefully he'll announce soon. If you want to check into his record and opinions, here are some good resources:

Fred Thompson's YouTube Channel

I'm With Fred (Close to an official campaign page)

Fred Heads

Draft Fred Thompson (A discussion board)

The Fred Thompson Report (Thompson's ABC Radio podcast)

Labels: News, Politics, Thompson 08, You Tube