Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Sarah Palin:

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Federal officials said yesterday that no one will be allowed to camp overnight on the Mall before the presidential inauguration and that spectators will be barred from staking out spots on the parade route until 7 a.m.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

A source tells us the ex-Republican presidential candidate and part-time actor, who did 142 episodes of "Law & Order," is offering to rent his luxury one-bedroom condo in Washington, DC, for five days. The price: $30,000.

"It has a balcony overlooking the inaugural parade route, the Navy Memorial and the US Capitol, and comes with a reserved parking space."

View Poll

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

There might be a few swing voters open to the message, but it has to be constant, deliberate and consistent. As per usual both Fred Thompson and even Joe the Plumber are far better advocates of mainstream conservatism than McCain has been himself.

Inexplicably Fred stopped doing these long form messages when it was really necessary for him to, you know, actually win a primary. Not that I'm bitter...

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Tommy Christopher co-hosts "Unusable Signal",on BlogTalkRadio, Tues through Thurs at 10pm, and Fri, and Sat at 11pm. (Eastern) Click here for the Unusable Signal homepage.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

[Q] Hi this is, Tom [inaudible] quick question, [inaudible]. They mentioned Osama Bin Laden being granted habeas corpus rights and Rudie Juliani even said that he found it (inaudible) amazing I guess what I'm wonder is do you have any idea what Juliana and John McCain think is the worst thing that could happen (inaudible)He goes in front of a judge, and boom! What happens?

Well what would happen there is that you have ample ground to hold him and if (inaudible) none of this would even happen until Osama bin laden wound up either in Guantanamo or in the United States if we brought him back. If we brought him back if anyone (inaudible) Juliana or John McCain (inaubile) that they believe our (inaudible) osama bin laden saying there were no grounds whatsoever to hold him it is a ridiculous argument that distracts from the larger issues that we all have raised here

Congressman that's great now let me just add to that that there is (inaudible) which will respect osama bin laden and so that the hypothetical question that's being raised here is "hey if you capture him alive " he he is transported out of wherever he is (inaudible) captured (Guantanamo ) and then you can raise the question about Guantanamo. But I agree with congressman smith that I have no doubt that there will be no problems (inaudible) responsible for murdering 3,000 people

As you point out there is a authorization of the use of force to kill bin laden not occurred 7 years later under George Bush in fact our efforts in that regime have been (inaudible) and it was Barack Obama who made the point very forcefully (inaudible) that when he is president and we have actual intelligence about high (inaudible) al quida targets like bin laden and the host government is unable or unwilling to act that he will act and take the part in (inaudible) John McCain criticizes that approach and yet he suggests that others have a long (inaudible) approach-that's completely a distortion of reality of barrack obama's approach and it reveals a great deal about John McCain's approach

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Fred Thompson is the latest to stump for McCain:

Former GOP presidential candidate and close McCain friend, Fred Thompson, is set to join the presumptive GOP nominee during his visit to North Carolina next week. Since losing the South Carolina primary on Jan. 18, Thompson has been absent from the limelight-even choosing to drop out of the race via written statement.

McCain is set to make a timely visit to the Tar Heel State, where primary voters go to the polls on Tuesday, and hopes to scoop up some media coverage. He is set to hit Charlotte on Monday and deliver a speech at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem the next day.

In recent weeks, McCain has campaigned with both Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. While there was a lot of VP buzz when the AZ Senator was joined by Romney and Huckabee, expect a lot less around Fred-the former TN Senator even told Fox News last week that a number 2 slot is "not in the cards."

Which means of the top four candidates that didn't win the nomination, all of them have or will be on the straight talk express. It's favor currying, it's showing party loyalty, and unity, and it's definitely part of politics, no matter how we all feel about the end result.

It's also something to think about for the Democrats in the heat of a contentious primary of their own. It's hard to imagine now, but in October, Hillary will be stumping for Obama or Obama will be stumping for Hillary.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

With Fred Thompson dropping out of the Republican primary race this week the nearly universal sentiment in the media was "Great hopes for the next Reagan and all we got was - Fred".

When I heard of Thompson's bail, I immediately thought of Chris Nandor, who you all met here, the singer/songwriter behind the CNN-YouTube Republican Debate opening song back in November, chairman of the 39th District Republicans in Snohomish County, WA, blogger, Perl programmer/author and Fred Thompson supporter.

I truly wondered what happened with the campaign that wasn't - outside of the media hype and destruction - and I sent Chris an email asking how it looked from a Thompson supporter's view. This conversation happened with some back and forth emails over the past two days.

Me: What's your reaction to Fred Thompson dropping out?

Chris: Thompson obviously had no chance to win a majority of delegates going
into convention. However, Huckabee, Giuliani, and Paul have no chance
to do that either, and none of them has a chance to be a running mate
of someone else, nor to win at a brokered convention (the party would
split in two or three large pieces if any of them got the nomination;
it won't happen).

Romney and McCain obviously have the only real chance to win a
majority of delegates going into convention, but if neither of them
does, which is likely, the question is, can either of them win a
consensus AT convention? So many people hate McCain and Romney, it's
unclear.

I think one of them can, but if not, then that left Thompson as a
potential consensus candidate, similar to Lincoln in 1860, who was
third in the delegate count, but who was the only one of the four who
wasn't hated by more than half the delegates.

Of course, it is more likely that either McCain or Romney will be able
to pull a consensus together. But depending on who the delegates are,
what their feelings are, it is quite possible they won't.

All that just to say that on the one hand, it seems a bit foolish for
Thompson to drop out, because he still has a chance to win at
convention. But on the other hand, he might stand a better chance to
win at convention if he isn't actively campaigning. :-)

Me: Also, what do you think contributed to Thompson being so lackluster on the campaign trail? That obviously had an effect, rightly or wrongly. We shouldn't vote personality, but we do...

Chris: As to lackluster, I didn't think he was. I realize he seemed that way
to many people, but I think much of that was the media. They wanted
him to be something he isn't. He would get on the stump and talk
about federalism and the voters would be listening and nodding their
heads in approval and the media would be falling asleep.

Obviously not all the blame goes to the media -- at root, it is still
the candidate's job to win despite whatever the media is doing -- but
I think that's a big part of what happened.

Me: Who will you support now or will you remain neutral until the General?

Chris: Right now I am still considering voting for Thompson.

So, a thoughtful supporter agrees that a candidate didn't catch the attention of the media. In the run-up to Fred actually announcing pundits all jumped on the bandwagon. Recall Tweety Matthews:

Can you smell the English leather on this guy, the Aqua Velva, the sort of mature man's shaving cream, or whatever, you know, after he shaved? Do you smell that sort of -- a little bit of cigar smoke? You know, whatever

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

This was totally expected, but still, it's a sad day for conservatives.

"Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for President of the United States. 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," Thompson said in a statement.

Now conservatives will have to choose between two economic liberals (McCain and Huckabee) one former social liberal (Romney) and one current social liberal (Giuliani).

Early polls in Florida are indicating that most Fredheads are defecting to Romney. We'll know soon if that holds true.

UPDATE:

Pat Ruffini at Townhall says, according to his poll, Thompson voters go to Romney, by a large margin:

Romney 74%
Giuliani 15%
McCain 7%
Huckabee 5%

Carl Cameron is now saying that the entire Fred Thompson phenomenon was something of an accident, and buoyed by the general dissatisfaction at the GOP field:

Those insiders have now lifted the conditions on our conversations. From March to August of 07 through postponed announcement days, staff changes, firings, resignations and general disarray the Thompson camp was stunned by the incredibly positive response and didn't really know how to manage it. The trial balloon soared mighty high and he found himself being dragged into a race that he was not even sure how to run.

He took third in Iowa and Third in South Carolina, after which his aides openly suggested the #2 slot on the ticket. The circle has been closed, and Fred Dalton Thompson is waiting to see if he gets the call from the eventual nominee.

Which explains a lot about why his campaign never went anywhere.

Bizzyblog has thoughts "on now what?"

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

The desperate flailing of a dying candidate? No doubt. But the results in the South Carolina GOP primary this past Saturday indicate strongly that they had their desired effect. In a squeaker, Huckabee lost to John McCain by a margin of 33-30, with Thompson finishing a distant third with 16 percent of the vote. Those 16 points almost certainly came directly out of Huck's hide. "Fred Thompson, John McCain's lap dog, came down here and definitely hurt the Huckabee vote, no doubt about that," said David Beasley, the state's former governor and Huckabee's local campaign chairman, in the aftermath.

"It's like having an extra man on the field," said neutral Republican strategist Greg Mueller, borrowing a timely football analogy. "The fact that this has not gotten down to two or even three people has helped McCain immensely. The more the other candidates stay in the race, the more they keep harvesting votes from each other."

"It's pure mathematics," observed GOP consultant Chris LaCivita, who is also uncommitted in the race. "You've got three competing for one group and one competing for the other," he said of the split competition for conservatives and McCain's sole claim on moderates.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

As Frank Davies wrote in the Mercury News: "The Fred Thompson campaign was great - until it started."

Fred Thompson, who flirted with the title of heir apparent to the Reagan legacy, inspired hesitant hope and enthusiasm early last summer when rumors surfaced of his potential candidacy. The field of GOP candidates offered no option for true conservatives which did not require some form of compromise and discomfort. Thompson, in his folksy, charming manner, reservedly "offered" (almost sacrificed) himself as the conservative candidate - a peasant-leader tack which might have resonated with a public dissatisfied with aristocratic leaders.

The 4th of July was the crest of the Thompson wave. Rumors circulated that he would announce his candidacy on that day, in full blaze of red, white and blue glory. Even if a bit obvious and egregious, the prospect was ... folksy and charming. And then, the moment passed. It seemed that Fred couldn't muster the conviction to enter the race.

But then he did enter the race - on a day and in a manner which I don't recall at the moment.

While Thompson showed a spark of life in the South Carolina debate (James Joyner quipped that he should have been checked for performance-enhancing substances), an evening does not make a campaign (though, of course, it could break one). Thompson's slight surge only profited him a solid 4th place finish in the South Carolina primary.

And then there was the South Carolina concession speech that wasn't:

Again, the electorate is left wondering whether Thompson is actually still in the race. Such a dismissive, relaxed approach to political office is perhaps refreshing, but hardly inspiring. Thompson's gamble was inartfully played, and he failed to capture the moment at the dawn of his campaign. Having misstepped in July, Thompson never regained his footing.

The candidate is now expected to return to Tennessee in order to tend to his ailing mother. While there, he will surely take stock of his options as a presidential candidate. While he might attempt to extend his gambit until super Tuesday on Feb. 5, he would be unlikely to score sufficient delegates to elevate him to the "king-maker" status which John Edwards is seeking among the Democrats. Rather, Thompson may be expected to announce his withdrawal from the comfort of his native (folksy) Tennessee.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

I was wondering when any of the GOP candidates would hit on this, it seemed to be just awfully low hanging fruit in a primary when any edge could make the difference. Well today Fred hits it, as reported by Redstate:

The Fred Thompson for President, South Carolina bus tour reached Spartanburg today, where the Law & Order TV star candidate fielded questions at Papa's Breakfast Nook from Charlotte, N.C.'s WBT-AM radio talk show host Jeff Katz.

Asked his opinion of the Second Amendment and the Solicitor General's request that the DC Circuit Court remand the appeal back to the trial court for "fact-finding", the lawyer turned Senator from Tennessee said the Bush Administration was "overlawyering" and stated that he opposed remand and that the case should move forward to the U.S. Supreme Court.

And he has it exactly right, which is one of the reasons that despite his current perception, he is the only real conservative in the race, and as such, should have been the one that got the NRO nod instead of recently-saw-the-light Mitt Romney.

Fred's still third back in the pack for South Carolina though, but at least he isn't cracking on confederate flags.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

I do think it's a fair statement, but it makes me wonder where Fred has been all this time. Is he finally getting serious about campaigning? Or, as Hot Air wonders, is he merely trying to help out John McCain.

I was not able to catch the debate but did catch the after action standard Frank Luntz focus group on Fox. They all loved Fred's performance on the debate. Maybe he's not quite dead after all. I'd be very happy to hear it, but at this point it would be one of the biggest turnarounds in presidential politics. Fred scored only 1% in New Hampshire and has pulled all efforts from Michigan. He is now focusing everything in South Carolina. But the leader in South Carolina is John McCain. So Fred attacks Huckabee. Makes perfect sense.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments