Fred on Fire

Some snippets from a Human Events article.

• Fred On Fire in South Carolina
• by Martha Zoller
• Posted: 01/15/2008
• Wendell Goler: Gentlemen, if we can, let's move on.
  
  In his second inaugural, President Bush made clear that this country would no longer trade civility for democracy, yet relations with Pakistan seem to test that.
  
  Senator Thompson, would your administration continue to back Pakistani President Musharraf despite polls that show two-thirds of the Pakistani people want him to resign immediately?|

• Sen. Fred Thompson: Oh, my goodness, go against the poll?
• --Fox News Republican Presidential Debate, January 11, 2008
• 
  
• In a debate format that usually sets the stage for Gov. Mike Huckabee to deliver the biggest laugh line, Fred Thompson was funny and feisty and edgy last Friday. But his answer was honest, and honestly funny.

• In every Republican debate the candidates have been vying for the mantle of Ronald Reagan comes up and South Carolina was no different. It’s funny; you never hear the Democrats asked how they will carry on the mantle of FDR, JFK, LBJ, “Jummy,” or “Slick Willie.” In this debate, the panel was asked about Ed Rollins statement that the Reagan coalition was dead. Fred Thompson hit the nail on the head on Reagan and on the concerns that conservatives have about front-runner, Mike Huckabee when he said:
• “You asked a minute or a minute-and-a-half question of these gentlemen on the Reagan revolution. Could I address that? It's an important issue, because I think it demonstrates what we're about here today. I think that Governor Huckabee's campaign manager said it accurately in terms of what they believe. They believe that it is over. This is a battle for the heart and soul of the Republican Party and its future. On the one hand, you have the Reagan revolution. You have the Reagan coalition of limited government and strong national security. On the other hand, you have the direction that Governor Huckabee would take us in. He would be a Christian leader, but he would also bring about liberal economic policies, liberal foreign policies. He believes we have an arrogant foreign policy and the tradition of, blame America first. He believes that Guantanamo should be closed down and those enemy combatants brought here to the United States to find their way into the court system eventually. He believes in taxpayer-funded programs for illegals, as he did in Arkansas. He has the endorsement of the National Education Association, and the NEA said it was because of his opposition to vouchers. He said he would sign a bill that would ban smoking nationwide. So much for federalism. So much for states' rights. So much for individual rights. That's not the model of the Reagan coalition, that's the model of the Democratic Party.”

• That is Fred Thompson’s message to every Republican primary voter. The Reagan Coalition is not dead, but it is in need of a new leader. The voters are jaded by a Republican Congress who squandered the majority and by an Evangelical President they thought was a Reagan conservative. They are discouraged but they might find what they are looking for in Fred Thompson. [more here]