Fred Thompson: What was that all about?
Fred, what are we missing with this little visit in Iowa? Is this how you impress the folks of Iowa? Snub them once, then snub them outside? What are we missing?
A presidential candidate who’s faced questions about his faith likely left a roomful of Iowans of faith with more questions.
Republican Fred Thompson stopped by the annual banquet of the Iowa Christian alliance in Clive last night.
The alliance is pushing for a federal amendment to ban same sex marriage.
Thompson has refused to say he’d push for the idea.
He’s also a twice-married man who admits he doesn’t usually go to church.
A Thompson staffer told us the candidate would answer questions outside the event so he wouldn’t disturb the dinner guests.
But when Thompson went outside, he got into his truck and drove away, without talking about his faith or any other topic
I am sure Mr. Thompson has an explanation. It will be interesting to hear it. Before he “officially” decided to run for president, he assured us all that he would have answers, so all the more perplexing to see him running from chances to provide answers. What better debate primer for a presidential candidate is there than a meeting with average American citizens? Do you think we will ever see the “Ask Fred Anything” meetings like those of Governor Romney? It sounds like Fred keeps his pick-up truck running to make these quick exits.
Is it no wonder that several of the Sunday news shows are beginning to marginalize Fred Thompson’s chances? Earlier this week in a comment left in one of our posts, I wrote that the polls are lagging indicators. As such, we will begin to see Fred Thompson’s national poll numbers falling in the next two weeks to reflect this last couple of weeks.
~ Vic
“The sickly, weakly, timid man fears the people, and is a Tory by nature. The healthy, strong and bold cherishes them, and is formed a Whig by nature.”
— Thomas Jefferson to Lafayette, 1823
September 30th, 2007 at 8:19 pm
Well, I’ll bet you are wrong on the polls. I’ll be back in two weeks to let you know too
Fred is just getting started so we’ll see, but I do see a recent poll in Iowa that came out yesterday showing Fred is moving up and only 8 points down. Here comes Fred!
Good luck to Mitt. We are not enemies and I don’t trash other Republicans. I just support the consistent Conservative one.
Go Fred!
September 30th, 2007 at 8:19 pm
I lived in Iowa for five years. They don’t like to be snubbed.
Fred’s arrogance will not be rewarded.
You’re right, Vic, about poll numbers as lagging indicators. Fred’s numbers will begin to crash. He’s already falling in SC. Check out this story: New SC Poll has Romney Leading
http://nyformitt.blogspot.com/2007/09/new-sc-poll-has-romney-leading.html
September 30th, 2007 at 8:43 pm
Hey Kerrhome, you are right. Fred Thompson will do fine. He is just getting started. We don’t need to trash each other. Let’s concentrate on the issues, and let everything fall where it will. Good luck
September 30th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
Kerrhome…
Here comes Fred!???????????? We’ve been waiting all year long for him to come! Will you still be saying “Here comes Fred!” after Mitt wins the nomination? I cannot for the life of me figure out why Fred is supposedly so popular other than his Law and Order show. I listened to one of his speeches a month ago and almost fell asleep because he was sooooo boring. There is no fire within. He is probably the most disorganized candidate from either party. Here is my promise to you: Fred will NOT win the nomination. I will be back in February to let you know too!
David DeLatte
September 30th, 2007 at 9:01 pm
Fred COULD win, but he can’t if unimpresses to power brokers in Iowa. This won’t help. He needs to get things in order to win these guys over, otherwise it is clear sailing for Mitt in Iowa.
September 30th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
A bit different topic, but it was fun to see the latest ARG poll in South Carolina! I know that ARG sometimes has different results than other polls, but hopefully it shows what’s ahead.
September 30th, 2007 at 9:56 pm
We have all heard the expression: “First impressions are lasting impressions”……But that is slightly inaccurate, what really is true is that…..”FIRST IMPRESSIONS ARE THE “ONLY” IMPRESSIONS!”
Fred’s performance reminds me of sprinters crouched down with both hands on the track, feet in the starting blocks, getting ready to run the 100 meter dash. The track official fires the starter pistol, five sprinters explode out of the starting position and rocket down the track, the six one stands up, lights a cigar, peers down the track, shrugs his shoulders and walks out of the stadium.
Fred, if you don’t want to do this, its O.K. We need someone who wants to break the tape at the finish line. If you’d rather be home in McLean taking up fly fishing, we understand.
September 30th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
Why are you wasting space here putting down Fred Thompson? Is negative attacks the ONLY think Mitt has going for him?
Go to Fred Thompson’s blogs and you find discussions about ideas, issues, problem and solutions. Oh yeah, and about FRED! You DON’T see attacks on other candidates. I’ll bet you can’t find a single post, let alone a lead article that puts down Mitt.
Please stick to the issues. How embarrassed are you going to be when you have to start blogging about how great Fred is (or Rudy or one of the other potential nominees) 8 or 9 months from now when the nomination is decided and it’s not Mitt?
October 1st, 2007 at 10:37 am
KerrHome:
I agree, that we are all friends. I have never felt otherwise. The post I placed is not at all “trashing” another Republican (I did not write the story). If I had to sum up the post in two words, it would be “rhetorical question.” A simple question (see title) for Fred Thompson. It was not I nor this blog that created the story. It was FT.
FT’s leaving the scene in a rush is itself a form of communication. That is why I asked the rhetorical question. His desire to rush away without answering any questions is definitely contrary to what any candidate running for office would ever do.
That is a form of communication. What is it that FT is attempting to communicate to the voters in that meeting and to the voters who would eventually read stories from the press that were there?
October 1st, 2007 at 12:31 pm
The campaign staffer promised the media access to the candidate after the dinner. Thompson did not deliver. I see several possible explainations:
(a) The staffer was speaking off the cuff and wasn’t able to get the message to Thompson.
(b) The staffer was speaking off the cuff, got the message to Thompson, but Thompson had previous plans and so overruled him. Someone forgot to apologize to the media.
(c) The staffer misunderstood the agenda and so didn’t bother sending a message to Thompson.
(d) The Q&A afterwards was originally planned, but was later dropped. The staffer was not informed of the change.
(e) Thompson didn’t want to talk about the issues, so he played games with the news media.
(e) is very unlikely. A politician does not play games with the news media unless he has a death wish.
This is a story of the gaffes that occur in the early stages of a campaign. The other major candidates made plenty of un-forced errors early in their campaigns. They have since ironed out most of the kinks. Thompson chose to enter the race late. As a result, his campaign is just now making these mistakes. Unforturnately for him, the voters are starting to pay attention.
That is just part of the price he has to pay for coming to the game late.
October 8th, 2007 at 11:19 am
I find it disconcerting that at the close of Q3 MITT would have only had $500,000 in the campaign bank if he had not written a huge check to the campaign, and Thompson apparently raised 9.5 million from other people in the last three weeks.
I also find it disconcerting that Thompson went from nowhere to #2 in the latest IOWA poll in the same time period.
Mitt is obviously not connecting with the numbers of rank and file Republicans that he needs to.
You can knock the opposition and their weaknesses all you want, but if you fail to connect yourself with the votrs all you’re going to do is drive those voters somewhere else, this is NOT a zero sum game, the voter has several options, time is a-wasting!
October 16th, 2007 at 9:01 am
Yesterday, Bob McCarty Writes learned that officials with the Republican Party have issued an Amber Alert for Fred Thompson. A GOP spokesperson made the announcement and confirmed an Associated Press report that the former U.S. senator from Tennessee was missing from the campaign trail and had canceled at least one scheduled event in New Hampshire over the weekend. Later in the day, we obtained a copy of a video tape — http://youtube.com/watch?v=GSKjUVn84JU — containing an urgent plea for citizens of New Hampshire to be on the lookout for the former Tennessee senator and star of Law and Order star. Anyone who sees the former Law and Order actor is asked to contact the Republican Party Headquarters in Washington, D.C., toll-free at the number below: 1-888-FIND-FRED (888-346-3733)