Fred Thompson Peters Out In South Carolina

The Whistler • January 20, 2008

Fred Thompson, who put all his chips into a victory in South Carolina, has come in a disappointing and distant third place to John McCain and Mike Huckabee. As I write this some 88% of the South Carolina votes have been counted.
He did manage to beat out Mitt Romney, but given that Romney had pulled out of South Carolina and basically conceded the state to McCain, that doesn’t really mean much. Thompson campaigned long and hard in South Carolina, Romney didn’t.
As the voting down south wrapped up, Thompson gave a speech that, while it wasn’t one, sure sounded like a concession speech. As we move forward in the primary process, I think it’s a speech Republicans should be listening to. Thompson says the GOP not only needs to step up and lead this country, but deserve to lead this country as well. Not simply because they’re Republicans, but because they adhere to the principles this country and the conservative movement were founded upon (video split into two segments).

As Thompson fades from the race, principled conservatives have lost their only really good choice in the field of Americans. That’s a sad commentary on the state of conservatism in the GOP today.
Going forward, I hope that whoever the eventual GOP nominee is will adhere to the conservative principles that made the GOP great, but I don’t hold out much hope. In McCain, Romney and (riding on their coattails now) Huckabee we have three candidates who at no point in their political careers could ever be described as principled conservatives. They are two wish-washy moderates and a bible-thumping populist who will undoubtedly be a lot less conservative than they sound now once they hit the general election.
Primaries, remember, are all about pandering to the base. The candidates move to the center for the general elections.
For my part, I’m going to continue supporting Fred Thompson throughout the rest of this primary season and in all of his future endeavors. I think he’s a tremendous patriot and asset to this country, and would be valuable on the ticket of the eventual GOP nominee. Certainly any candidate willing to pick up Thompson as VP would move up in my, and a lot of other conservatives’, estimation.
Whether or not that will be enough to make me want to support them will depend on the candidate.
Regardless, I sincerely hope that Republicans do not force themselves to love whoever the eventual GOP nominee is. I think we should hold that nominee accountable to principle, and not cut him any slack simply because we want to beat the Democrats. As Thompson noted in his speech above, Republicans need to deserve to lead this country.

Tags: Domestic Issues, Politics

http://Array skh.pcola

Whatever video hosting site the big red “R” represents is the slowest, shittiest server site ever. I have 3.5 MB/s DSL, and that crap won’t load for me, period. Sucks.

I’m with Rob. If any of you knew me, you would think that I wear a cape and call myself Captain Conservative. I am staunchly right-wing, but I will absolutely not vote for any of the field except Thompson. You all can hem and haw about how Romney is a true conservative, how McCain is principled, or how Huckabee is an ex-fatass evangelical retard (which would be the only fact in your rebuttal), but they all are RINOs who present a greater threat to conservatism than 4-8 years of Hillarity or Osama. Even with a Congressional veto-proof majority, the Democrats can’t do as much damage as a RINO Repug who is willing to compromise his core ideology for political expediency.

As far as SCOTUS appointments go, Bush has been successful in getting his way…that is not the historical norm for presidents, even with like-minded majorities in Congress. There are too many ways to torpedo a nomination. The simple fact is that there are many Repug congress-critters who are RINOs and will throw their lot in with the execrable Dhimmis for a $1,000 earmark. Don’t even act like there is unity in the conservative ranks of Congress…my party left me a long, long time ago. There is no chance of me becoming a leftard, but I will vote for one if that is what it takes to send a message to the nominally-conservative Republicans that I will no longer vote by default. That is a losing proposition, and anybody who votes for that socialist asshole Romney or that disingenuous, lying bastard Huckabee is only fooling themselves.
pparets

WETBACK: Thanks for that great clip from NETWORK! I had forgotten how good it is… and how prophetic!
anonomisly

Fred should stay in the race, for Huckabee delenda est. That would be harder to do without Fred in the race.

Rob, don’t fall for the campaign spin. Romney actually did campaign hard in South Carolina, he also probably spent more money there than any of the other candidates.
WETBACK

Here pparets: THIS CLIP IS FOR YOU

Thought you needed a good laugh.
WETBACK

Man it breaks my heart comprehending what you are typing here, and I thought that Fred would drag his feet to the end, catching a snooze when ever he could because he was pre-selected by the “JEWS” to hold Rudy’s hand to the end.

I haven’t giving up on my prediction just yet, hang in there Fred. Have a shot of Screaming Nazi, tomorrows another day.
Lestat

Nice fantasy, but Hillary will lock down all conservative commentary quicker than a cat coverin’ crap. She will silence Glenn and Rush faster than pp would, and will go a lot farther to stifle any opposition opinion. With her in the White House, there will be no national dialogue. The last time, Clintonco used the IRS and stolen FBI files to silence their oppostion; do you really want that?

Nice fear mongering, but there is no evidence of this.

The biggest problem the country has with media is that it is being purchased by just a few corporations. This stifles dissent and creates a climate where all commentary is the same. The FCC should reinstate the policy restricting the amount of media one corporation can own.
pparets

Sorry, Rob: While I understand your point of view, a democrat in the White House for the next 8 years – aided and abetted by a larger democrat majority in the Senate – guarantees a liberal Supreme Court for the next 30. I, for one, am not willing to take that chance.
WETBACK

Who do you think the black folk will favor Bubba or Obama?

And on the other side Huckabee or Keys?

Just who the damn there, controls this media anyway?

I say, when will reality set in?
http://www.liberatenow.net/ Will Winters

Regardless, I sincerely hope that Republicans do not force themselves to love whoever the eventual GOP nominee is.

This is what I truly fear. The Republican field is VERY weak this election year. The field has no steller candidates. McCain and Romney are the only viable candidates at this point and the public at large don’t seem to have much passion or interest in them…
robert108

So, we’ll have Stalin in the form of Hillary. Nice.
robert108

The biggest problem the country has with media is that it is being purchased by just a few corporations.

Wrong, corporation-hater. It’s the output of all the so-called “journalism schools” which is severely tilted to the left. Hillary has already said she wants to stifle conservative talk radio, and her past tactics show her to be relentless in her pursuit of anyone who disagrees with her. She is a disciple of Saul Alinsky, who recommended that Marxist work from within to destroy our culture and freedom. She is truly the worst thing that could happen to this country, and Obama(another Alinskyite) is almost as bad; he just doesn’t have the machine that Clintonco has.
Seth Williams

Don’t sound so put down. We’re still a long way from a nominee. He had a respectable showing, and better than a lot of polls had him a week ago. That’s a positive thing, if you don’t buy into the dismissive pap and early coronations given by the main-stream media.

Does it look tough? Yeah, but a tough guy would know it’s foolish to quit before super tuesday when your message still has a chance of getting traction with voters.
robert108

Sorry, Matt. If 4 years of another Clinton in the White House is what it takes to get the GOP back on track so be it.

Nice fantasy, but Hillary will lock down all conservative commentary quicker than a cat coverin’ crap. She will silence Glenn and Rush faster than pp would, and will go a lot farther to stifle any opposition opinion. With her in the White House, there will be no national dialogue. The last time, Clintonco used the IRS and stolen FBI files to silence their oppostion; do you really want that?
anonomisly

I hope Fred stays in the race, but his winning at this point is a long shot. I think it’d be dishonest to suggest otherwise.

He won’t win, but could pretty much guarantee Mike “Vertical” Huckabee doesn’t get the nomination neither by staying in the race..

Huckabee delenda est.
Osama Obama

It’s boundless ignorance that gives birth to statements like “I’ll teach those Republicans to act like Republicans by letting Democrats win elections.” The lesson Republicans learn is that if you want to win elections you act like Democrats. This is what the primary process is for. You work hard to get the ideal candidate to represent you out of a group of people who are sympathetic to your concerns and then they go on to face the candidate that another group of people who are hostile to your concerns have selected to best represent them. Rob is one who forever ignores the dramatic impact the Democrat Media has on the political debate and public opinion. Republicans must win the national debate and they must do so from behind the 8 Ball of the DMSM. Expecting a handful of politicians to do all the work for the entire party is unreasonable.
http://www.mattsconservativecorner.blogspot.com/ Matt

I have to disagree with you. We have to support the nominee because Senator Clinton would be a disaster. We can’t afford to lose.
pparets

ROB: Thanks for putting that video on the front page. What a couple of f–king A-holes!
http://sayanythingblog.com/readers/author/realitybasedbob/ realitybasedbob

Primaries, remember, are all about pandering to the base. The candidates move to the center for the general elections.

So if that actor guy is as you might say: the one and only true red conservative in the race, and primaries are about pandering to the base and the actor can’t get better than a distant third… what does that say about the gop base?

What does it say about the gop fringe who actually support the actor, too much cow bell?
pparets

Rob: Did you catch the shameful behavior of Chris Matthews and his people, MSNBC, while Fred was giving his remarkable and moving speech to his campaign workers? You could hear Matthews and his crew laughing in the background and when the camera went back to him, Matthews said, “What was that all about?” to more guffaws. What an A-hole!!
[Drudge has the incident on his site.]
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

Whatever video hosting site the big red “R” represents is the slowest, shittiest server site ever. I have 3.5 MB/s DSL, and that crap won’t load for me, period. Sucks.

It’s still in beta, so it’s a bit buggy, but believe me the service is revolutionary. It’s Red Lasso, and they provide you with raw video from all the various networks that you can clip down to what you want.

It’s fantastic, and their playing issues will get fixed shortly.
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

You’ll like the stunning political analysis from the info babe they had working tonight too.
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

I hope Fred stays in the race, but his winning at this point is a long shot. I think it’d be dishonest to suggest otherwise.

By the way, I put in the video of Fred’s speech that I meant to have in earlier.
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

Sorry, Matt. If 4 years of another Clinton in the White House is what it takes to get the GOP back on track so be it.

I’m voting with principle.
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

Well, to each their own.

I just don’t see how electing a Republican who is only marginally better than a Democrat is going to help that situation much.
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

Pparets, I posted video of Olbermann and Matthews laughing at Thompson on the front page.

SayAnythingBlog.com

Fred Thompson Peters Out In South Carolina

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