Fred Thompson 2008: A Matter of When — Not If
EmailABC News’ Teddy Davis Reports: Fred Thompson’s top cheerleader on Capitol Hill — Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn. — said Wednesday that the former Republican senator’s entrance into the 2008 presidential race is a matter of when — not if.
Wamp offered his assessment that Thompson is going to jump into the presidential race after the Law & Order actor met at the Capitol Hill Club with 50 to 60 House Republicans.
Among the many questions that Thompson faced from the members of Congress he met with were ones about his divorce and his faith. Wamp told ABC News that Thompson said that he is in "excellent standing with everyone important in his life, including his first wife . . . and the man upstairs."
Multiple House Republicans who attended the hour-long Q&A session with Thompson gushed over him as someone who "checks all the boxes" in a way that the current crop of leading Republican contenders do not.
There were few specifics on the Iraq war, based on the accounts offered from members of Congress who attended the meeting. Thompson simply said, according to Wamp, that America faces a choice between a dangerous world and an even more dangerous world if it leaves Iraq.
Nevertheless, several House Republicans who attended today’s meeting seemed to think that he had the charisma, communication skills, and Reaganesque bearing to bring the country together and lead it in a time of war.
Thompson himself made brief comments outside of the Capitol Hill Club, saying simply that he wanted to see some of his old friends and to tell them what was on his mind. Thompson did not take questions from the press and quickly climbed into an awaiting GMC Envoy.
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It’s obvious Mr. Thompson is taking an Imus-like stance to the whole thing.
If he were still a senator he would most definitely lose his job over this one, or my name isn’t Cal Sharpton.
Posted by: Reverend Cal Sharpton | April 18, 2007, 6:19 pm 6:19 pm
The winning Republican ticket in ’08 will be: Thompson and Thompson, Fred and Tommy. Believe it.
Posted by: Richard | April 18, 2007, 7:31 pm 7:31 pm
Cal: You are confusing Tommy Thompson with Fred Thompson. I am glad to hear that all Fred has to do is announce his intentions. He knows when the time is right….
Posted by: Carole | April 18, 2007, 8:48 pm 8:48 pm
Healthcare crisis, Army in shambles, dollar in the tank, insurmountable debt, divisive society, USA hated worldwide, and we are deep in the big muddy Tigris. Just what we need, a vapid B grade actor.
Posted by: Joe | April 18, 2007, 10:14 pm 10:14 pm
Thompson is a right wing extremist with a phony “Hollywood” veneer.
Unfortunately for him, his giant ego forced him to publish many of his extremist rantings in right wing publications, and they will all come to light the moment he announces.
America has already suffered trmendously at the hands of another right wing extremist with a phony veneer in President Bush, and will not elect another.
Posted by: OxyCon | April 18, 2007, 10:38 pm 10:38 pm
Fred is the man! America needs him in 2008
Posted by: Garth Brooks | April 18, 2007, 11:19 pm 11:19 pm
Go Fred! I think it was Bob Beckel on Hannity & Colmes a while back that said the Dems are scared of this guy running. He would destroy any Dems.
Posted by: Red Stater | April 18, 2007, 11:43 pm 11:43 pm
I would prefer to give Fred Thompson a chance than to vote for a third party candidate.The people raising money in the hope of getting the nomination do not have the hope that Fred Thompson gives the voters. They are more of the same corrupt thieves and socialist government leading the country astray.
Carolyn A. Widmer
Posted by: Carolyn A. Widmer | April 19, 2007, 11:43 am 11:43 am
Fred Thompson is the man running today that gives the best hope of getting our country back on track and off the socialistic merry-go-round. The people running in the hope of getting the nomination are just more of the same politicians with nary a thought to the people or the country!
Carolyn A. Widmer
Posted by: Carolyn A. Widmer | April 19, 2007, 11:49 am 11:49 am
The Republican Presidential nomination in 2008 will be even less valuable than it was in 1996. Supporting the war in Iraq will be a hopeless position in a year – all of the Republican candidates will have to backtrack, big time, on their support for Bush’s war.
Posted by: Richard Davis | April 19, 2007, 12:12 pm 12:12 pm
Maybe Fred ain’t perfect…but then, no one is.
Maybe Fred’s a right wing extremist to some people…but to some people, the Ten Commandments are “right wing extremist rantings.”
Maybe Fred’s “only” a “vapid B actor” to some people…but people made fun of Reagan, too.
Only now are we appreciating just how good we had it under that “vapid actor” who became President.
I’ve read Fred’s views, and I like them.
I may not agree 100% with everything he says or does…but I wouldn’t with anyone.
But all the bellyaching we’ve heard for the last year or more about how the Republicans don’t have a “name,” a “face,” a rallying point–that we don’t have a charismatic candidate with the pull of, say, a Barack Obama–sure seems to have a solution standing right in front of us, now, doesn’t it?
Stick a fork in the Dems…they’re done.
Posted by: Janet | April 19, 2007, 2:07 pm 2:07 pm
America will never elect a bald guy as Potus in this day and age.
Simple truth.
There’s not a snowball’s chance in hell of a Republican winning the 2008 election for Potus.
Also, in the Senate, they have to defend 21 seats versus the Democrats 12.
If Bush doesn’t start bringing home combat troops this fall, then say goodbye to the Republican party being competetive in any election for the next decade.
But he will start bringing home the troops this fall. Every GOP consultant and pollster worth his salt tells him he must do this, or ruin the Republican party for a long time to come.
So no, Thompson (bald or not) isn’t going to be elected. He might be the nominee, though…god knows the right wingers have to choose from a bunch of flip-floppers. Might as well be him losing out to the Democrat as any other.
Ain’t it sweet ;-)
Posted by: savvy1 | April 19, 2007, 10:44 pm 10:44 pm
I’ll do something unusual here. I’ll actually tell people something of substance.
Fred Thompson is a very smart man. Before he retired from the Senate, he hosted Hardball while Matthews was on vacation. What I saw was a man who dominated the conversations with his reporter & pundit guests. They simply didn’t have the grasp of the issues that he had.
Fred Thompson’s grasp of the issues should scare Democrats. Simply put, he’s unflappable; he’s knowledgeable & he’s likeable.
More importantly, he doesn’t have the high negatives that Hillary has & he’s got a superior depth of knowledge over Obama.
One other thing: Thompson starts with a 17 electoral vote lead over the Democrats. What I mean by this is that Hillary or Obama have to hold all of the blue states from 2004 AND win over red states that total 17 electoral votes.
It might be possible to flip states worth that many electoral votes but that’s assuming that the Dems can hold onto Wisconsin. Since Kerry needed significant amounts of voter fraud to eke out a 10,000 vote victory there, I wouldn’t bet the ranch on that happening.
Posted by: Gary Gross | April 20, 2007, 5:32 am 5:32 am
FRED IS AS REAL AS REAGAN, AND,
OF COURSE, THIS IS NOT UNDERSTOOD
BY THE 43% OF LEFT, FRED WILL
PREVAIL.
Posted by: WLWAND | April 20, 2007, 9:32 am 9:32 am
Fred Thompson play the role of Ronald Reagan in 2008!
But who will play the role of Walter Mondale?
2008 will be a landslide over the terrorist coddling libbies!
Posted by: appman | April 24, 2007, 11:20 am 11:20 am
This is good news. Run, Fred, Run!!!
Posted by: Draft Fred Thompson for President 2008 | May 12, 2007, 4:02 am 4:02 am
Fred definitely does “check all of the boxes” for conservatives–in a way that McCain, and definitely Giuliani, just fail to do.
Romney is saying a lot of the right things, but he’s a “Johnny come lately” to the conservative cause, and a lot of conservatives just don’t trust him.
Posted by: Draft Thompson | May 13, 2007, 8:22 pm 8:22 pm
C’mon, Fred! What’s it gonna take???
- RD
Posted by: Draft Fred Thompson 2008 | May 26, 2007, 11:18 am 11:18 am
LOL The Dems must be freaked by Fred Thompson running. He’s not even officially in the race yet and already the “B grade movie actor” description is becoming tired. The liberals biggest problem is their refusal to understand the American people and the dynamics that drive peoples’ motivation to vote. Simply screeching about shallow matters such ones acting career ain’t gonna cut it. The Dems instinctivly know that Thompson is their worst nightmare but they can’t even bring themselves to admit it.
Posted by: chugs | May 31, 2007, 6:10 pm 6:10 pm