Fred Thompson Considers 2008 Run

[Poiuyt]

WASHINGTON (AP) - Fred Thompson thinks there isn't enough "star" power in the GOP presidential field, so the professional actor and former Tennessee senator is considering getting into the 2008 race.

Thompson, who plays district attorney Arthur Branch on NBC's drama "Law & Order," said Sunday that he's going to "leave the door open" and make a decision in the coming months.

"I'm going to wait and see what happens," Thompson said. "I want to see my colleagues on the campaign trial, what they say, what they emphasize, whether they can carry the ball next November."

more -

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20070311/D8NQ0U2O0.html


Just what we need, another actor

[Lerkfish]

1. we have to stop hollyweird stars from getting involved in politics!

:sarcasm:

[volstork]

2. Oh, dear God.... n/t

[TwilightGardener]

3. Actually, Rudy does have star power, if nothing else.

This schmuck is being convinced by someone that he would be a savior to the GOP. He has no other compelling reason to run.

[WilliamPitt]

4. He'll be trouble if he runs.

[johnaries]

6. I agree. Thompson could take win the General. I've been worried about this..

Aside from his "star power", he has the charisma. He is a veteran in Politics and knows the arena quite well. He can pander to the Base and to the Centrists.

He's big trouble if he runs. Let's hope he stays in TV.

[TwilightGardener]

7. He'd be trouble for the other 'Pugs. I don't think

Dems are going to take him seriously enough for him to pull crossover votes.

[Clark2008]

34. Oh yes he will.

I know shitloads of Dems in Tennessee who voted for him for senator both times.

Moderate and conservative Democrats love the man. Hell, I even like him, personally.

[ChazII]

9. I am not familiar

with his history and there are such things as dumb questions so here is mine: Why would he be in trouble? Sorry for not understanding or knowing my recent history. Thanks in advance for clearing things up on Thompson.

[mcscajun]

18. He won't be "in trouble"; he'll *be* trouble.

See my post (#17) downthread.

[jobycom]

10. Maybe.

If he can get people to take him seriously out of the gate, he could be. He's charming, comes across as intelligent and folksy at the same time, and has name and face recognition. But he could also look like an actor/celebrity, too lightweight for the job. Depends on how he announces, and how his people train the media when he makes his announcement. If the media rolls its eyes and laughs, he'll never get going. If the media refers deferentially to him as "Senator Thompson," he might acquire the necessary gravitas immediately, and then he'd be a serious contender. Especially in the current Republican Party, where they not only don't have a clear contender for 08, they don't have a clear leader for the party. Heck, they don't even have a clear identity right now. That party is ripe for someone to pick it. Maybe Thompson could do it.

[TwilightGardener]

14. Oh, they'll package him properly, I have no doubt. I don't watch

Law and Order, but I remember him from interviews when he was a Senator, and he is one glib bullshitter. THAT would be his biggest weapon.

[jobycom]

19. Packaging sometimes backfires, though.

No doubt they'll try to package him as presidential, but there's still the danger the packaging itself will look too slick. For a career politician, a wrong PR strategy at the beginning of a campaign can be overcome, since people generally see the candidate as a politician, even if he looks like a bad one at first. But for an actor with only a brief political stint, who then went back to acting, if people at first perceive him as an actor playing a role, they'll never see him as a serious politician. He doesn't have the star power of Schwarzenegger, who came with a large cult following who would allow him to perform brain surgery if he declared he could. Thompson's not that well known or loved.

But you're right, they'll package him well, and if the packaging sticks, he could be a strong force. He could pick up the middle voters who call themselves Independent but who vote whichever way the wind blows. He doesn't have quite the anger factor that the other Repubs now do. Dems hate McCain, Gingrich, and Guiliani. They may dislike Thompson, and some no doubt hate him from his Senate hearing days, but he's not as strongly reviled, and not as divisive for the mainstream, as the other Repubs are.

[TwilightGardener]

22. I don't think all Dems hate McCain or Giuliani--

considering that both of these guys often outpoll the Dem contenders. The people on this forum do, but not the general (uninformed) public. My husband still loves John McCain, because he doesn't realize he's now an ass-kissing RW panderbear, and my mom kinda likes Giuliani, if only because she's Italian! LOL! I actually think Giuliani has the best chance of pulling Dems to his side because of his liberal views, but the GOP is going to run ol' Fred because the base is finding Rudy more and more of a threat to their core values.

[jobycom]

24. Not "all,"

But there is still a lot of anger against McCain and Guiliani, and that will make them more divisive. So far no candidate in any party has a lot of steady support, because people are still learning about them, so the polls aren't good long-term indicators. They can't be ignored, either, I'm just saying it's all in flux, and the polls are most useful now to show a candidate where he or she needs to work.

The "hatred" level of a candidate--not just how many people hate them but also how strongly they are hated--plays a roll. It shapes the amount of non-candidate attacks on them (Clinton with the "Vast Right Wing Conspiracy" against him, for instance), affects campaign donations, media coverage (especially the non-MSM media). It isn't critical, it's just one factor, but it's there, and Thompson doesn't generate the anger that McCain and Guiliani do.

[TwilightGardener]

27. Agreed. I guess if a candidate has strong

"negatives" such as Hillary or McCain, right there it's an uphill battle for them. Giuliani has the highest "positives" of any candidate. That's sure to go down though. Thompson, who knows? I give him a big fat "negative" for raising millions for Scooter Libby's defense fund--he'd never get my vote under any circumstances. Although it's hard to envision a scenario where I'd vote for a 'Pug, anyway.

[jobycom]

29. Well, strong positives can overcome strong negatives.

Hillary has strong positives, as well, especially name recognition with the last successful presidential administration the nation has seen. McCain's positives, though, were his bipartisanship and his balance to Bush's irrationality, and he blew both of those, so it's hard to see how many positives he still has.

Guiliana is a train wreck. He's got 9-11 working for him, and he's got his ethics, his personal life, and his temperament working against him. Not to mention a few questionable corrruption issues. His positive image right now is mostly because he has skated on public scrutiny because he hasn't run for anything or taken any controversial roles since 9-11. He's still the hero of that day, and IMHO, deserves all the praise he gets for his handling of that one day. He also did some good things as mayor, though not as many as his reputation suggests--he got lucky, and he did some bad things. Still, once the focus is on what he can do, instead of just what he did that one day, the corruption, his treatment of his wife and children, his temper, all of that comes out, and he doesn't have a lot to balance against it. I see him as having the greatest negatives of any candidate, just that not all the negatives have become part of the public awareness, yet.

McCain has fewer negatives, but his negatives cancel out the positives he once held. Now he's just a name.

Hillary has strong hatred, sadly from both sides, but she also was part of an administration who dealt with that its whole existence and nevertheless flourished, and this gives her a strong appeal to the middle voters, who don't care about all of our partisan squabbling. Plus she has positives of her own.

Thompson--I don't think most people even know about his role in Libby's defence, and those who do can chalk it up to personal friendship. I have more issues with Thompson over his handling of the Senate hearings into Clinton's China relations, but most people aren't even going to remember those, either. And, Thompson as Senator voted against one of the two impeachment counts against Clinton. That may seem minor, but it will go a long way to making him look objective, and not as partisan or divisive. That will fit the mood of the nation now, looking for reconciliation, rather than partisanship. Us partisans, on both sides, are looking for idealogues, but the middle voters, the ones who decide the elections, want some peace from the fighting. Thompson may appeal to them. Plus, he's plain-looking and doesn't seem as slick or pretty as a standard politician, and that will have its own appeal.

And he's southern, and that would take the South out of play for the Dems. There is some anger in the South at Bush right now, but it is still a conservative region, and a conservative southerner will win it, hands down. Florida might still be in play, but it's only southern by geography.

I think he's a genuine threat. I really don't think Guiliani or McCain are. Gingrich isn't worth mentioning, unless he runs as a third party, and he won't.

[TwilightGardener]

31. Yup, someone to keep an eye on, for sure--

but will be fun to see McCain and Giuliani go after him. There are now too many of them to keep up with--what about Mittens? What about Huckabee--how come the Baptist preacher/governor gets no traction? I am not worried for our chances though, as long as we put up Obama! :)

[Clark2008]

36. And Thompson's not seen as all that conservative in the South, btw.

Which, actually plays better in Nashville and Atlanta than you'd think.

[devilgrrl]

30. I do watch L & O and scratch my head how someone from TN can become DA in NYC

There's no way in reality that something like that would go down in New York.

I'm just saying... :shrug:

[Clark2008]

37. Why not?

Louise Slaughter is a congresswoman in New York and she's originally from Kentucky and has the Appalachian accent that goes with it.

So... your premise is a bit off.

P.S. Our governor here in Tennessee is from New Jersey. It can work both ways, you know.

[devilgrrl]

41. You have a point...

however, I can't imagine NYC residents going for such a thing. I wouldn't vote for that rightwing git. But that's just me. :shrug:

[Clark2008]

56. True - but they did vote for Guiliani and Bloomberg.

LOL!

[devilgrrl]

60. You make another good point...

but least those schmucks were homegrown.

;-)

[jobycom]

5. WIth the complete lack of candidates for the Repubs, I imagine anyone with a little spare time

is thinking of running. It's kind of like hearing that the lottery is up to $100 million, someone is guaranteed to win, only three other people have bought tickets, and they've all picked the numbers that won last time. After a while, the odds start getting very tempting. I'm surprised Dan Quayle and Alan Keyes haven't chirped up by now.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

The field is getting pretty crowded. When Fred Thompson and Newt Gingrich think they have a chance

along with Mike Huckabee and Sam Brownback, it's going to be a virtual mob. MKJ

[jobycom]

26. Lack of legitimate candidates, is the point.

There are only a couple with mainstream recognition, and those are largely lukewarm or downright negative. I hear a lot of non-interested voters talking about Clinton or Obama (though they usually get his name wrong), I don't hear anyone saying "Hey, Brownback and Huckabee look pretty good." Back in 2000 they ran something like ten people against W, but only McCain, and him only briefly, got much attention.

[DemKR]

8. Why is it that the Hollywood people

are all Republicans? Aren't we supposed to be "owned" by Hollywood?

[C_U_L8R]

11. Haven't we had enough bad actors in the WH

ugh

[Botany]

12. I hope he brings out his young wife and her store bought boobs

That will play big with the "good Christian Women" of America

[TwilightGardener]

15. Jesus Criminy, he is an ugly SOB.

[WillyT]

45. You Ain't Lyin !!!

http://media2.salemwebnetwork.com/Townhall/reu/e/2007/39/[e-mail]

What number wife is that anyway???

:shrug:

[TwilightGardener]

49. I think it's No. 2--the two of them together are just...gross. She

looks like his granddaughter.

[Lurking Dem]

51. Wife #2

He was 59 and she was 35 when they married. (2002).

There's 25 years between my father-in-law and his wife and they have been married for over 35 years so I'm not going to judge. Hell, there's over 16 years between me and my husband.

He divorced his first wife in 1985.

[TwilightGardener]

52. Well, I AM going to judge! I am going to judge Rudy and his

3 wife/cousin-marrying/philandering/cross-dressing sorry self. I am going to judge John McCain and his marrying a Budweiser gal which financed his first campaign, and I am going to judge Mitt Romney and his whore-like positions on just about everything. It's all a question of character. I judge Dems the same way. If Obama (my sweetie) should have his OWN bimbo or financial problem, I'd judge him too. This is the second post where you've tried to "mitigate" what I've said about Thompson. If you're a big fan of his, head to Freeperville. I find him to be a vile old perverted warmongering neocon fart who is going to try to "charlatan" his way into the Oval office solely on his "star power"--if he wasn't a celebrity, he would have faded from view--it's that simple.

[Lurking Dem]

55. My view

The guy didn't divorce his wife to marry a bimbo. He had nearly 20 years between his divorce and his 2nd marriage. In between he dated Lorrie Morgan. Whoop de doo.

He has been in politics a long time and has continued to be fairly vocal about politics here in Tennessee so his "star" status is fairly nebulous here.

What I will talk about is the fact he is a "true blue conservative" which is going to appeal greatly to those Republicans who feel let down by the current batch spending money like drunken sailors and is a dangerous opponent to liberalism. He will dismantle Roe v. Wade. He will bankrupt or defund every program they can label "entitlement".

I would MUCH rather stick to those important and pertinent issues than whether or not he has a trophy wife.

Don't fucking accuse me of being a Freeper or a fan of a conservative politician. I've been involved in Democratic politics longer than you've been breathing.

[Clark2008]

58. I won't - because I agree completely with your assessment

of Thompson.

I'm a Dem-voting Tennessean, as well.

But... I used to be an independent until Bush and I voted for Thompson. I thought Frist was vile, however, so that tells you what I thought of the difference between the two.

[TwilightGardener]

59. Well, don't get on my case about "defaming " someone--

I report what I hear and read, and I still think that if he were to enter the race, some "lady problems" are going to bite him in the ass. And by the way, I'll slander any Repug I wish to--that's what they do to Dems. Fire with fire, an eye for an eye. No one is immune, everyone in the race has a big ol' fat target on their backs. I don't care, beyond a little natural human sympathy, that his daughter died. This does not make him a sympathetic figure to me, especially since he thinks that Chimpy's doing a heckuva job over there in Eye-rack--unconscionable! Apparently the loss of his daughter doesn't seem to make him sympathetic to the fact that parents of our soldiers are losing THEIR children for the Neocon Exxon-Mobil Oil Plan. The 'Pugs, I'm sure, don't care that Edward's son died--he is, after all, a "faggot" and fair game for any dirt they can hurl. I am sure Thompson's phony "good-ol-boy" act will fly with the ignorant masses, just the way GWB's "beer-drinkin' buddy" shtick did. I will do all I can to fight it. So yeah, if I can't stand the guy, if I think he's a sorry sack of shit, I'll say so. If his balloon-titted gold-digging trophy wife disgusts me, then I'll say so (how much money/paper sacks would it take to sleep with that thing, anyway?). Don't lecture me on what sort of issues I should stick to--it's the low road all the way, baby!

[mnhtnbb]

Self delete . Dupe

[mnhtnbb]

13. Criminy. Maybe he'd draw Martin Sheen into the field!

[TwilightGardener]

16. George Clooney in '08!

[mcscajun]

17. He's not just an actor. He has a long history in politics.

He was one of the counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee; you'll see him in archival footage that was used in the film "JFK". He also asked one of the key questions during those hearings: "Mr. Butterfield, were you aware of the existence of any listening devices in the Oval Office of the President?" Thompson's acting career started by playing himself in a minor film "Marie" based on actual incidents in a case he brought against the Tennessee Parole Board and the Governor of Tennessee (the producers couldn't find anyone to play him convincingly). He served in the US Senate for nine years before resuming his acting career, and at one point was ranking minority member.

More recently, he was one of those introducing Bush at the Republican National Convention in 2004. He'll be a serious contender if he decides to run; a lightweight he is Not.

[jobycom]

20. I didn't know the part about him being a Watergate counsel.

That does give him a firmer anchor in national politics than I realized he had. He still has the danger of being labeled an actor, but I agree that he's not a lightweight. Still, a generation or more thinks of him as an actor, and he'll have to counter that image immediately, or he'll be taken less seriously.

[TwilightGardener]

23. Hillary was in the Watergate hearings too.

[Poiuyt]

25. I think that one aspect of his career that could be troubling for people is the

way that he has flip-flopped back and forth between being a politician and being an actor. Politician, actor, politician, and now an actor again. Perhaps he could be painted as having commitment problems.

[TwilightGardener]

28. I thought he didn't run for re-election to the Senate

because of, uh, "family issues". There's a reason why his name hasn't popped up until now. Not sure if there's a bimbo eruption waiting to happen--maybe it's "Rudy syndrome"--once you've had 3 wives and been caught cross-dressing, everyone else looks like boy scouts by comparison. They're ALL coming out of the woodwork now, thinking that hey, if Rudy has all these skeletons and he's the front-runner, then why not me? Witness Newt, for God's sake!

[Lurking Dem]

35. Thompson is not a "bimbo" eruption waiting to happen.

Jesus, just because a guy is a Republican doesn't make him Satan.

His daughter died tragically. He had a son in law and a grandson who needed him.

You can hate his politics but let's not sink into defamation.

[Clark2008]

39. No - he didn't run again because of the sudden death of his daughter.

He had thought to run again and even announced as such, even though he had often said he didn't intend to spend a lifetime in the Senate.

But, when his daughter died, unexpectedly, he didn't go through with re-election.

Thompson's never had any "family issues" while in public office. He was single most of the time he was a senator. In fact, all of the time, if I remember correctly.

[TwilightGardener]

40. Not defaming anyone--

just that I read a while back on Freeperville that he's got baggage. And in a HuffPo article, he danced around his reasons for leaving the Senate. He didn't say, "My daughter died."

[Clark2008]

44. I didn't say that you did... I was just pointing to the correct answer.

:hi:

Welcome to DU, btw.

[TwilightGardener]

46. Thanks!

[mcscajun]

48. Certainly he's subject to that charge. He even resumed his acting

career before his Senate term was up. Admittedly, the Senate was in recess and he didn't miss any votes, but still.

Commitment issues, definitely.

[Botany]

21. Fred isn't this one of your men in the picture here?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

32. Well, L&O is in trouble

they moved the show to Friday nights, and they were last in the ratings during the February sweeps. Could be that old Fred has the lowdown on what is going to happen to the show. Wonder if he'd consider a run via Unity 08, co-star Sam Waterston's cause?

[Nikki Stone1]

33. Well, maybe L&O can get back to being a decent show. Thompson is terrible

And hopefully, he'll lose

[butterfly77]

38. This is the same old evil...

from the reagan and bush admin, if he runs expect some of the same characters that have shown up throughout all of these admin. Another thing you will hear day in and day out is how Reagan was the savior of the world, he said it this morning on foxnews. These people really believe this shit...

[Rydz777]

42. "I want to see my colleagues on the campaign trail..."

Who are these colleagues? He's no longer a Senator. Are there other actors out there "on the campaign trail." I'll grant that he has charisma of a sort, but what has he ever run. He seemed to have gotten bored with being a Senator and decided to go out and make money. He does have this going for him: his personal life seems to be messy but maybe not as messy as the other Republic candidates.

[jmowreader]

43. Fred Thompson in the race would worry me

I think that of all the Repukes out there who are talking about running for president, Chuck Hagel and Fred Thompson are the most worrisome.

Because they're not total reich-wing freeper choads, either one of them could win the election. And if they DID win, they would probably do a decent job.

I would LOVE for Newt Gingrich to run in the general, though...we could get Bob Shrum to be our guy's campaign manager and still beat Newt. Between the infidelity, the rather unique way he serves divorce papers, and the fact he's still named after a lizard, we got more than a fighting chance with Newtie on the ballot. Fuck, Diebold would send votes to the Democrats if Gingrich was running.

[TwilightGardener]

47. Fred fully supports the way Bush is conducting

the War of Terror, according to his interview on Fox. He's another reich-wing evil neocon, albeit in friendlier, folksier clothing--not a good guy. Designed to trick us all.

[Poiuyt]

54. Folksie charm. I think that's the key to his popularity

I don't think most Americans would like his politics, but then, most Americans don't vote based on issues anyway.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

50. he's actually a decent actor

hope he sticks to that job.
he would be a formidable candidate.

[Alacrat]

53. I've been reading other boards

The thought of Thompson seems to be getting a lot of repukes fired up. The general feeling seems to be he would be a front runner as soon as he announces. They all seem to love him. I don't like the idea of them having someone to rally around. So far most have said they wouldn't vote for JM or RG, if they were the nominee. IMO, This is Not Good.

[Jamastiene]

57. We should get Babs to run.

Then dare them to talk about Hollywood libruls getting involved in politics. Imagine the sound of it... "Barbara Streisand for President in 2008" has a nice ring to it.

[ChazII]

61. She would make an interesting candidate.

I'd love to see the Freeper threads on that topic. They would go insane.

[Jamastiene]

62. Their heads would explode with impotent furor.

There wouldn't be a single thing they could do about it. It would be fun. It would be :popcorn: worthy. :evilgrin: