??????? Initial reports and reaction to the speech of former Senator Fred Thompson to the Orange County (CA) Lincoln Club come from the Orange County (CA) Register, the Brody File, and The Hotline.
I agree with the general consensus in these reports – that the speech was solid but unspectacular. It could have been more focused and impassioned, especially given the recent high expectations for Senator Thompson as a potential 2008 presidential candidate.
As a substantive matter, I would only add that the Senator Thompson positive reference to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was a natural – given the California venue and their shared background as politicians and actors – but a bit more homework perhaps should have been done given how unpopular Arnold has become among Golden State Republicans, as he increasingly governs like and appeases Democrats (who run both bodies of the state legislature); I would imagine that the audience (which I am personally familiar with) was probably a bit uncomfortable with this part of the speech.
As a procedural matter, I think the commentary that Senator Thompson needed to be somewhat restrained given his lack of a formal candidacy makes sense. But as Speaker Newt Gingrich has shown recently, remarks focused on specific policy problems and solutions can still inspire while avoiding most of the political quicksand, which is what Senator Thompson will need to do until he is ready to declare himself a candidate.
May 5th, 2007 at 1:17 am
[...] post by Republius and software by Elliott [...]
May 5th, 2007 at 5:48 am
I was decidedly disappointed at his speech but I still think Thompson ought to enter. If nothing else he offers some Republicans another face to get excited about.
With the broad discouragement and pessimism of Republicans, a candidate that can cheer some Republicans up is a good in itself. It’s my rationale for liking Brownback in the race too.
May 5th, 2007 at 9:17 am
Watched most of the speech, and I’ve gotta say I came away pretty unimpressed as well. I had never seen Thompson speak before, believe it or not, so part of the problem might have been that I built him up in my mind to be this phenomenal orator. Well, he definitely wasn’t that.
I wanted to share an exchange that my wife (who doesn’t really follow politics much) and I had during the speech. This is honestly, word for word (as close as I remember it) how the conversation went:
She walks into the living room and glances at the TV: “Woah, that’s one ugly mug!”
Me: “He is kind of ugly, isn’t he?”
Her: “Kind of?”
Me: “He’s thinking about running for President.”
Her: “Really??”
Me: “Yeah.”
Her: “Isn’t it a little late for that now?”
Me: “That’s what other people are saying, too, but he doesn’t think so.”
[We watched for a couple minutes...]
Me: “This guy is supposed to be a good speaker.”
Her: “Well, I’m not seeing it.”
Me: “I’m not so much either.”
Then, bored with Mr. Fred Thompson, she got up and left.
Take that however you want to.
May 6th, 2007 at 11:29 pm
lol, allow me to be the sole dissenting opinion.
* As far as Fred’s “mug” is concerned, if it’s good enough for Lori Morgan and now his wife Jeri, it’s definitely good enough for me as I have no inclination to be swapping spit with him…I’m sure he hopes you don’t either. I had a woman tell me one time that she voted for Clinton and I had to ask her why. She said, “His looks.”( very matter-of-factly. ) where I promptly told her she had just single-handedly set womens right’s back a good thirty years or so. If that doesn’t tune you up, maybe this will;
(clip)
May, 2001 “Earlier this year, the New York Post reported a “catfight” on Capitol Hill with Jeri Kehn, a 33-year-old blonde who is communications director of the Senate Republican Conference, denouncing “all these women” who were pursuing him. “They won’t leave him alone,” she was quoted as saying. “I can’t get up to get a cocktail at a party without coming back and finding some girl sitting in my chair.”
* About his speech at the Lincoln Club, “Of course Iraq is a large part of it. Not only is it tough going, but the effort is besieged on all sides. From those playing the most crass kind of politics with it at home to criticism from around the world.” For those who don’t know the definition of ‘crass’ is, “So crude and unrefined as to be lacking in discrimination and sensibility.”
Who else in your recent memory has directly told the democrats who have declared the war “lost” that they are agenda driven barbarians in a nationally televised speech? Yeah, I can’t remember anyone either…Not much there eh?
“…Some want us, to the extent possible, to withdraw from the world that presents us with so many problems, in the hope they will go away. Some would push us towards protectionist trade policies. Others see a solution in raising taxes and redistributing the income among our citizens.
Wrong on all counts. These are defensive, defeatist policies that have consistently been proven wrong. They are not what America is all about”….”Some economists have calculated that today each additional dollar collected by the government, by raising income-tax rates, makes the private sector as much as two dollars worse off.”; “To me this means one simple thing: tax rates should be as low as possible. This isn’t anything ideological, and it really isn’t some great insight. It’s common sense arithmetic.”; “The Democrats, of course, want to raise taxes. They only want to target the rich, they say. A word of advice to anyone in the middle class — don’t stand anywhere near that target. Wouldn’t it be great if, instead of worrying so much about how to divide the pie, we could work together on how to make the pie bigger?”
Does he leave any question in your mind how he feels about taxes? Does he not provide direction of exactly where he’s going or would you have prefered he whipped out a calculator? With his voting record do you doubt his sincerity or conviction on these issues for one second?…Can you say the same with YOUR choice of candidates? I think not.
As Brownback and Paul would apparently like to fight the terrorists here, Fred fully understands we must leave with the best possible chance for democracy there. If it takes strong root, it is one less place of refuge for them and a real beginning for the Iraqi’s which if we’re very lucky, just may influence their neighbors in fortuitous ways. It is also our moral responsibility to provide them this chance and I fully appreciate the Libs are too blind to see it but, I thoroughly expect a libertarian or conservative to.
You know guys, you really take all the fun out of a great speech when it has to be explained in great detail to you. Maybe next time, you’ll listen instead of whatever it was you were doing.