Thompson was once an abortion rights lobbyist

[useful idiot]

Thompson is a one term senator with no real congressional accomplisments, former lobbyist, and tv drama actor with a secondary role on a show that was on the decline by the time he got there. He can work the camera but has no real public speaking ability. He's old, overweight, divorced, and has a wife 25 years his junior. He used to be pro-choice but has changed his position on the most critical issue to evangelicals.

Like Obama, party activists are ejaculating every time they think about him but really don't care that he isn't a good candidate. Giuliani, Romney, and McCain are all better for the job of being president. Thompson is not the saviour of the Republicans, to think so is ludicrous.

[Likely Voter]

ok let me get this straight
1. He campaigned as pro choice
2. He lobbyed for a pro-choice group

yet he is not open to attacks of being a flip flopper or pro choice?

Lets face it...Thompson is not the shiny perfect conservative candidate that people hope he is.

arguments like 'he changed his mind with more conviction than Romney' or 'since he was a lobbyist it was ok to compromise his values' aren't exactly inspiring.

Does the GOP really want to have the first lobbyist nominee in the first presidential election after the Abramof and other GOP scandals?

I still don't get why many Republicans are just ignoring their field of 11 candidates to look at this guy. It is sad that his real claim to fame is that he 'looks like a president' and is on TV. What an incredibly low standard

I still don't see why his change of heart wasn't sincere. He didn't have to do it for political gain since he won as a Pro Choice candidate for the Senate seat. Do me a favor and address that point before you post again, Likely Voter.

I have no idea if it was sincere...Romney's could be sincere. My point is that he is not pure as people think and he is clearly open to attack on this issue. To think otherwise is just ignorant. If Kerry can be attacked as a flip flopper for merely supporting a different version of a bill, then a man who goes from pro choice (and lobbies for a pro choice group) then is pro is clearly vulnerable to attack.

Your point is that *maybe* the attack would be unfair. well that's life in the big city of poltics

so you tell me how he is some how immune to this attack. How joe avg GOP pro life voter who knows jack about Fred will see those attack ads and immediately think to himself 'well Fred is so sincere I am sure he is not a flip flopper on abortion'

[CARLHAYDEN]

Thompson is a one term senator with no real congressional accomplisments, former lobbyist, and tv drama actor with a secondary role on a show that was on the decline by the time he got there. He can work the camera but has no real public speaking ability. He's old, overweight, divorced, and has a wife 25 years his junior. He used to be pro-choice but has changed his position on the most critical issue to evangelicals.

Like Obama, party activists are ejaculating every time they think about him but really don't care that he isn't a good candidate. Giuliani, Romney, and McCain are all better for the job of being president. Thompson is not the saviour of the Republicans, to think so is ludicrous.

First, one and two thirds terms  He won election to fill out Gore's term, and then won reelection to a full term.

Second, Thompson's early acting career was in films, not TV.

Third, while not the finest orator, Thompson is clearly better than either Bush, Ford, Nixon or Eisenhower in public speaking.

Fourth, I prefer to think of Fred as mature rather than old.

Fifth, while any realistic person will agree that Thompson is imperfect, he is clearly superior to McCain or Giuliani as a potential President.

[Eraserhead]

Thompson is clearly a baby killer.

[Ebowed]

I think it's hilarious that all four of the "top tier" GOP candidates used to be pro-choice.  It really shows that the Republican party is now in chains at the masters of the religious right.

But even funnier is that the religious right has rejected three of them, and will probably reject this Fred Thompson joke eventually as well.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Sure he might win the nomination. That doesn't make him the savior of the party since he's not a strong candidate in the general.

I'm confident that he'd be a strong nominee.

Based on what? I've yet to see anything that makes him particularly strong or any stronger than a generic Republican, especially since he has "generic Republican" written all over him, pro-war southern conservative who has closely aligned himself with Bush. And we all know a Bush clone isn't what the GOP needs in 2008.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

And you start paying attention to things that actually matter.

People who have money riding on it do too.

No one can deny that Hillary has had a decline. The size of this decline is debatable, but not the fact that it has happened.

[Boris]

I think it's hilarious that all four of the "top tier" GOP candidates used to be pro-choice.  It really shows that the Republican party is now in chains at the masters of the religious right.

But even funnier is that the religious right has rejected three of them, and will probably reject this Fred Thompson joke eventually as well.

To be perfectly fair, pro-choice groups do the same thing to the Democrats, hence Al Gore and Dennis Kucinich's changes of heart in 1988 and 2004 respectively. Although they obviously don't dominate the debate and tend not to be wholly concerned with a candidate's past voting record.

And the religious right has a hold of the Democrats in an indirect manner. Why do you think none of the top three Democratic contenders have endorsed gay marriage? They don't want to be beaten down at the polls in a 2004-esque manner (i.e. 12 million new voters for Bush).

[Keystone Phil]

so you tell me how he is some how immune to this attack. How joe avg GOP pro life voter who knows jack about Fred will see those attack ads and immediately think to himself 'well Fred is so sincere I am sure he is not a flip flopper on abortion'

Talking to you is like talking to a brick wall. I think Thompson is immune to this attack because he didn't have to change for political reasons like Romney and Kerry did. I'm not going to repeat this again.

Based on what? I've yet to see anything that makes him particularly strong or any stronger than a generic Republican, especially since he has "generic Republican" written all over him, pro-war southern conservative who has closely aligned himself with Bush. And we all know a Bush clone isn't what the GOP needs in 2008.

He satisfies the base and I believe he has real appeal as a popular actor. People mock him for this but I think that is actually a major asset.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Oh, get real. Tradesports is probably the least important aspect of any campaign. I'll pay attention to those leading in the money race, who has the better ground game, who has the big hitting endorsements, etc. and you can play around on that website.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

From everything I have seen, she has surged ahead of your joke candidate in all of the early primary states.

[Joe Republic]

I think Thompson is immune to this attack because he didn't have to change for political reasons like Romney and Kerry did. I'm not going to repeat this again.

Phil, do you also not see a problem with somebody working actively against their own moral principles for the sake of money?

[Likely Voter]

so you tell me how he is some how immune to this attack. How joe avg GOP pro life voter who knows jack about Fred will see those attack ads and immediately think to himself 'well Fred is so sincere I am sure he is not a flip flopper on abortion'

Talking to you is like talking to a brick wall. I think Thompson is immune to this attack because he didn't have to change for political reasons like Romney and Kerry did. I'm not going to repeat this again.

You my friend are being the brickish one if you think that the judgement call you have made is clear and objective and so obvious that no one would ever possibly accuse Thompson of changing his position. Do you really think that a conservative in the race is not going to try and use thompson's pro choice past against him? You have made the call that changing his mind is OK, but if Republicans have done anything it is to make the claim in recent elections that politicians who change their minds are 'flip floppers'
...you are saying 'all of them  except Thompson'....That may be true, but it is a judgement call

Thompson is not 'immune'....he may be able to defend himself but that does not mean the attack is not coming

As I point out...Kerry was attacked not for changing his mind on an issue, but for voting for a different version of a bill. He prefered (and voted for) the one with a paygo provision. But that was twisted into him being a flip flopper on funding the troops. If you can make him a flip flopper on funding the troops...then clearly thompson is a flip flopper on abortion

[Keystone Phil]

I think Thompson is immune to this attack because he didn't have to change for political reasons like Romney and Kerry did. I'm not going to repeat this again.

Phil, do you also not see a problem with somebody working actively against their own moral principles for the sake of money?

What were his moral principles at the time though? I recall him having a Pro Choice position in 1994 and I assume he had the same position a few years earlier. If he had objections to abortion and still had the consultation then I'd have a bit of a problem but we still don't know if it was anything more than a consultation.

Do you really think that a conservative in the race is not going to try and use thompson's pro choice past against him? You have made the call that changing his mind is OK, but if Republicans have done anything it is to make the claim in recent elections that politicians who change their minds are 'flip floppers'
...you are saying 'all of them  except Thompson'....That may be true, but it is a judgement call

Uh, once again, there is a difference between changing your mind and changing purely for political purposes and you clearly aren't getting that. Yes, Kerry being labeled a flip flopper is fair because he changed positions in the middle of a campaign, based on public opinion. Romney did the same during this campaign for political gain. Those people are flip floppers. They'll try to use this against Thompson, no doubt, but you are refusing to listen to why that isn't a flip flop. Thompson didn't have any political gain as a result of his change therefore it is not a flip flop to me.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

I meant that when the situation can not be classified as a flip flop then he should be immune from such attack.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

He changed his mind on an issue during a campaign, based on public opinion. That is a flip flop. Thompson is not "clearly" a flip flopper on abortion when he had no political gain from the issue and didn't base it on public opinion polls.

[MODU]

Not that this was really a big issue to begin with, but I stumbled across this today which shines some light on the topic.  It's not very long, so I've posted the whole article:

"Preemptive Karma and Fred Thompson"

Preemptive Karma argues that Fred Thompson took a couple of direct hits this week. One of which is the LA Times story in which Preemptive Karma says are "well-founded claims that he lobbied on behalf of a pro choice group..."

Not so fast says Capt. Ed Morrissey and Jim Geraghty of NRO. Seems the story is falling apart.

Capt. Ed writes

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Jim Geraghty writes that

You must be logged in to read this quote.

He hadn't appeared in any western movies until this year. Now that reference has disappeared from the LA Times story.

Whoa, doggies! Who's out to get Fred?

[auburntiger]

why don't people like McCain again? Republicans that is......

No doubt he is pro life in this mind.

I think alot of hat has to with his 2000 campaign...they just don't trust him. for me, it's his pro-amnesty stance