Fred Thompson sounding more like a candidate
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By Charlotte Eby | Saturday, August 18, 2007 |
DES MOINES — Republican Fred Thompson brought his folksy style to the Iowa State Fair Friday, telling a crowd he thinks the American people will give him a shot if he jumps into the presidential race.
“I think they’re going to open the door and open their hearts and their minds to what we have to say and to who we are,” Thompson said.
The former U.S. senator from Tennessee has yet to formally join a presidential contest that already is being fiercely fought and appeared ready to throw away the conventional calendar.
“I know the rules of the game have changed by all the Washington Beltway pundits and all the politicians,” said Thompson, perhaps best known for his acting career and turn as a prosecutor on the television drama “Law & Order.” “But I wasn’t there when they made those rules, so I’m not abiding by them, and we’ve got plenty of time.”
In his address to fair-goers, Thompson said the country has yet to come to terms with the threat it faces in what he called “the global war against radical Islamic fundamentalism.”
“We’re dealing with folks that want to bring us to our knees and bring Western civilization to our knees, and we have to be stronger and tougher and more united than they are — the way Americans have been all throughout our history,” he said.
Thompson also called himself “unabashedly” pro-life and in favor of gun rights.
While striking some serious tones, he also entertained the crowd with the details of his upbringing “in a little country town in middle Tennessee,” the child of a used car dealer.
“My folks didn’t have much formal education at all, but they valued it very highly,” Thompson said.
After making his way through law school, Thompson took a job as a federal prosecutor where he prosecuted “everything from moon-shiners to bank robbers.”
“My old granddaddy wondered why I was persecuting those independent businessmen in the hills of Tennessee,” Thompson said, bringing chuckles from the audience.
Later, in his election to two terms in the U.S. Senate, he won by wide margins in a state that Democrat Bill Clinton carried twice.
“I didn’t do that by just getting all Republican votes, and I didn’t do that by compromising my conservative principles,” Thompson said.
His tenure in Congress, he said, came at a time of balanced budgets, reduced taxes and welfare reform.
Jay Iverson, a Republican from Ankeny, already has decided to support Thompson in the Iowa caucuses in January.
“So far, he seems to be the only true conservative,” said Iverson, who lists national security and the war in Iraq as his most important issues.
Pat Firnhaber, a Boone Republican, said she wants to see Thompson shake up the current GOP field.
“I’m hoping he offers some stronger, different views than the other scripted candidates,” she said. “I want him to distance himself and have more of an independent thinking about what needs to be done about health care, immigration, the war in Iraq.”
Thompson’s visit to the state put the Iowa Democratic Party on offensive. They sent out a statement accusing Thompson of changing his stances on abortion and tax policy to pander to extreme conservatives.
“Every day brings a new position for Thompson in his never-ending quest to hide his true record from caucus-goers,” party spokeswoman Carrie Giddins said
Charlotte Eby can be contacted at (515) 243-0138 or chareby@aol.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.
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