Mike Huckabee is praying right now and taking the first jet to Florida.

In all seriousness, this does give Huck an opening in Florida, because many of Thompson's voters may find him to be the only other acceptable social conservative in the field.  You combine their percentages in Florida and it's enough to win; is really it unthinkable that social conservatives in the panhandle and elsewhere could make up 26% of the vote?

I'm not suggesting Huckabee will win Florida (I have no idea who will), but Thompson's dropping out has to make Florida more of a four way race than a three way race.
Shadow, Hamden, CT (Sent Tuesday, January 22, 2008 2:49 PM)

You watch too much Chris Matthews.  While Chris thinks the Panhandle of Florida is a bunch of bible thumpers, it actually has more moderate Republicans who would be support Giuliani or McCain.

Would all the non-conservatives please stop telling us how McCain is our candidate.  The only good thing he's done is back the president in the fight against terrorists.  He's a lib/media hack who let the Mexican hordes pursue their reconcista, allows the libs to tax us into oblivion and and their ACLU judges to open our courts to Muslim terrorist sympathizers.  I too hope that Romney will see the light and select Fred as his running mate.  He has the best policy initiatives.  

I wonder why Thompson ever started to run, if he did.  He waited so long and was going on the Guiliani idea of skipping the first states to wait for bigger ones later on.  That doesn't work with someone who really doesn't work all that hard.  

Is there no compassion left in the world? Good luck Fred...God bless you!

Thanks for helping to all of the Fred Thompson supporters.  Please turn your conservative and Christian views to Governor Mike Huckabee.  He is the best choice for our President!!!

We support him 100%

Dan Campbell
Sgt., USMC

Earth to fredhorn, Mark and Robert,
Fred has more brains in one cheek (on the backside since you probably need a lot of things spelled out for ya) than the three of you excrements combined.
 

Wow. Only saw that coming from the very start.

Hey Boley,
   You're backing the dims led by the floppin-est mackeral couple this side of a hot sidewalk with their two whippin boys along for the ride.  You gotta a lot of nerve.  Its good though that you listen to conservative radio.  You might actually learn something one day.

###News Alert### Fred to endorse Jeb Bush.

Yes the hard right will have to "suffer" with a Romney candidate while one must assume the hard left just can't seem to figure out which one of their empty suits can fill their BJ void.

Thompson was a good man. Romney is the one who can lead this country in the future. Romney is the real deal and everyone is starting to get nervous! Romney has the most delegates, and he continues to raise in the polls nationally. Romney and Thompson 2008!

There goes the one true conservative. Now look who the Republicans have to pick from. Huckabee with that ridiculous tax plan; Paul who needs some form of therapy; Romney, who right now is probably picturing himself as president with his father and Dr. King at his side; McCain whose immigration policy is a slap in the face to the GOP and lastly Guiliani (who needs to say more)

Why Fred dropped out:

Quote "I think the economy is doing real good!"

Quote "Ugguh huhhh Hmmmnn, now let me get this straight, if we quit spending money in Iraq, we would have more money to spend on domestic problems, Ugghh Huuuh"

Oh well I guess I'm stuck voting for Hillary and all the night time comedy shows. Good luck Fred and best wishes to your mother.

Fred "the Loser" thompson played his role to perfection. He has split enough conservative votes from Huckabee to help his pal Mccain win in SC. Mccain claiming momentum is a shame. Donot write off Huck yet. He will teach a lesson to the people who think they can steal/buy an election.

He never really looked like he had a chance to me, but I did like where he stood on immigration, I looks to me like he was leaning toward McCain, but their positions are so opposite I can't figure out why he supports McCain.  Unless it's just to get a VP position offer. Honestly I am a little scarred of McCain-I'ts not all about foreign policy anymore, we don't need another head honcho so focused on the war and terrorism that they aren't watching our economy doing a nosedive.  McCain makes me feel like I drank too much coffee.

He made that rambling speech Saturday night when it was too soon to concede and far too early to claim victory. (that never came)I was wondering than if this was his swan song. In all fairness, I think McCain benefitted from Fred being in the race in SC. Had he withdrawn a week earlier, Huckelberry would have made a better showing in SC and maybe would have won.

I have no idea where and how his delegate votes will go---that is why I asked.I don not know if they sell the names or just turn them over---that is why I asked.

good night sweet prince! GAG!!!

Horray!  Good riddance to that embarrassment to Reagan.  Now, Reagan can stop turning over in his grave in disgrace.  RIP Reagan!

Now Thompson can sit back and wait for McCain to make him his running mate. He's played interference for McCain (against Romney) and now expects a payback if McCain's the nominee.

so he wastes a good chunk of south carolina's vote that should have went to mike huckabee and quits. i hate politics sometimes

"I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort. Jeri and I will always be grateful for the encouragement and friendship of so many wonderful people."

Who's most likely to benefit among the Republican Candidates from Fred Thompson's exit?

http://www.youpolls.com/details.asp?pid=1610

.

Sad, one more Conservative out of the race - now we're just down to one - Romney.

"I believe my party has gone astray. I think the Democratic Party is a fine party, and I have no problems with it, in their views and their philosophy."

-- John McCain

Sad he didn't get more traction. I guess he didn't get as big a boom coming in after the build up as Arnold S. did in CA's governor race. He'd be a good President. As for the people on here who only throw third grade insults, ewll you've got lots of class, all of it third.  

THEY AREN'T SELLING THE NAMES!!! They shouldn't be selling anything-but we know how that works-at some point He will throw his support to another candidate and then the delgates he had can either follow his lead or choose at the convention another candidate-hopefully it won't be McCain-don't know why he likes him, they stand so different on immigration, taxes,etc. The only thing i can see them voiceing together is something like "MCCAIN AND THOMPSON SHARE 104 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE BETWEEN THEM!!!"

Jamie, SLC - take heart that there are no murdered Jesuit nuns or priests where RR now resides.

Just another has been and a want to be, A Washington self serving paper hanger shall not be the next President, I'll bet a case of tall necks on that!! Look out for the Independent, its time for them to throw in the hat???

HRC is a ringer. Watch her fall!

Freddie thought that when he got in the race that people would just give him the job, cause gee whiz, his wife wanted to live in that purty white house.  He didn't know that he would actually have to WORK to get the job.  When he found out there was work involved, he couldn't find the exit fast enough.  Good riddance.

I keep hearing and reading "true conservative". Will someone give me the 'true' definition of this terminology? I realize many people who identify themselves as conservatives see the world in only black and white, so please give me the final definitive say on this in 'black'.

Hey Dennis, I listen to conservative radio just to hear how screwed up your side really is. Poor Rush... he's even alluding to the possibility of not even voting if McCain or Huck wins the nomination. Now that's a brilliant strategy!

Hey, if he orders his comatose 'dittoheads' to do just that then we 'libs' will never be able to say that El Rushbo didn't do us any favors. LOL...

I hope Thompson endorses McCain. What a dig that would be since he has been touted as the 'true conservative' by the talking-head squad and by endorsing McCain he will have broken an unwritten rule. They all hate McCain. The endorsement will give that sorry Mark Levin a coronary... hope he has it on the air!

Thank you God another Republican bites the dust. Let's pray that we don't have to look at that wrinkled face again it's enough to make a Shar-Pei wince. Let's catch some Z's Fred & set yourself down in the rocking chair & watch yourself some Law & Order. Forget all this nonsense about saving the Repub's, only God can make order out of this mess George Dub has made. You guys may have to suck it up if it is still a U.S. of America tomorrow it looks like it about to topple. Hey Dick Cheney is it "Happy Haliburton" time yet? yes the party over time to go home to the foreclosure and no heating oil in the mansion & my two bedroom cottage.  

***  I keep hearing and reading "true conservative". Will someone give me the 'true' definition of this terminology? I realize many people who identify themselves as conservatives see the world in only black and white, so please give me the final definitive say on this in 'black'. --The Edge, Macon, GA  ***

I doubt there is an agreed-upon definition of conservatism.  But it is not difficult to find the prevailing themes.  The commenters’ references to Fred Thompson as the “true conservative” suggest that the other (top-tier) presidential candidates are not conservative at heart (having recently come to conservative positions) or are not conservatives as to certain crucial issues (e.g., McCain’s support for lawbreaker-rewarding legalization/amnesty is subversive to the bedrock American principle of the rule of law).

The list of principles found on Thompson’s web site (fred08.com)--Individual Liberty, Personal Responsibility, Free Markets, Limited Government, Federalism, Protecting our Country, Traditional American Values, The Rule of Law, Conserving Our Nation’s Resources--as those principles are defined there, is an excellent summary of conservative principles.

The principles of the Declaration of Independence are central to conservative thought.  Lincoln biographer Stephen B. Oates (“With Malice Toward None: The Life of Abraham Lincoln,” New York: Mentor, 1977, p. 198) said: “Lincoln himself resisted being categorized as anything but a Republican.  If he often called the Republicans a ‘conservative’ party, he meant that in a historical sense--that they held the same ground as the Founding Fathers when it came to slavery and the inalienable rights of all men to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”  I think that, similarly, a “conservative” might fairly be defined today primarily as one who maintains the same ground as the Founders respecting man’s inalienable rights and the principles of government and civilized society.  

John Courtney Murray said the framers of the American Constitution believed that “the freedom toward which the American people are fundamentally oriented is a freedom under God, a freedom that knows itself to be bound by the imperatives of the moral law.”  (Robert P. Hunt and Kenneth L. Grasso, eds., “John Courtney Murray and the American Civil Conversation,” Grand Rapids: William B. Erdmans Publishing Company, 1992, p. 267.)  The Founders’ political philosophy is best summarized by the motto adopted by the State of South Dakota: “Under God the People Rule.”  

Here is the conservative concept of government in the broad sense (David W. Hall, “Savior or Servant?: Putting Government in Its Place,” Oak Ridge: The Kuyper Institute, 1996, pp. 365-366): “The family, the church, and the state are the three primary and God-ordained governmental units....The family is primarily responsible for the care of children, the aged, one another, the inculcation of morals, and the erection of an estate for posterity....Similarly, the church has certain tasks which are her unique domain (i.e., to proclaim true doctrine, to administer the sacraments, to take measures for the spread of the gospel, and to discipline the morals of her members)....Likewise, the state has a unique calling–e.g., to punish evil, to tax in order to support lawful activities, to wage protective warfare, and to provide for the common good.... To each of these governing units belongs unique territory.  Each sphere may only adopt a supportive posture toward the others; they may serve other spheres, but never subvert.”

A conservative would seek to know--and to see preserved, or implemented--God’s all-wise definitions of church, state, and family.  A conservative would not concede that man is free to ignore the constitutive elements of these divinely-created institutions.  A conservative would not concede that man is entitled to overrule God as to any aspect of any of these institutions’ true meaning and structure.

You will usually find conservatives to be opposed to abortion, in defense of the right to life; opposed to judicial activism, in defense of the Constitution and democracy; supportive of strong measures against crime, in defense of the rule of law; pro-enforcement on illegal immigration, in defense of the rule of law and American sovereignty; opposed to the redefiniton of marriage, in defense of the institutions of marriage and family; supportive of capital punishment, in defense of innocent life; opposed to reverse discrimination/racial preferences, in defense of the equality; opposed to burdensome taxation and regulation, in defense of economic opportunity; supportive of military strength, in defense of peace and freedom; and opposed to hedonism, in defense of traditional American Judeo-Christian values.  (A conservative would, like George Washington (First Annual Message, January 8, 1790), stress the importance to “the security of a free constitution” of teaching the people “to discriminate the spirit of liberty from that of licentiousness–cherishing the first, avoiding the last.”)  

A conservative would endorse the statement of Daniel Webster in his August 1826 eulogy on Adams and Jefferson (“A Selection of Eulogies, Pronounced in the Several States, in Honor of Those Illustrious Patriots and Statesman, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson,” Hartford: D. F. Robinson & Co. and Norton & Russell, 1826, p. 233): “If we cherish the virtues and principles of our fathers, Heaven will assist us to carry on the work of human liberty and human happiness.”

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