Will He Or Won't He?
Published by BG on Wednesday, May 09, 2007 at 1:36 PM.Duh. Of course he will.F. Thompson sharpens strategy - Politico.com
File this under "obvious," but if I'm a Republican candidate in this pre-election cycle, and I've had a chance to observe how the others in the race are doing, I'm eschewing economics and substantive discussions about Social Security to go pander to the Christian Right too. First off, after James Dobson's assertions a few weeks back, he's got to bend over backwards to get the Christian Right back on board. Dobson may not be a full-fledged kingmaker, but he's got enough pull with the Christian Right to steer a sizeable portion of that bloc to or from anyone he chooses.
So the side benefit to an evening of pandering to the Christian Right? You don't have to talk about anything of substance. Thompson, obviously, will state his opposition to abortion, and will talk about "judicial activism" and "legislating from the bench" and how he'll make sure that our American values are protected and blah blah blah...
Look, it doesn't take a whole heckuva lot to bring the Christian Right around. Promise a few of their powermongers a seat in the Grover Norquist weekly, talk about "people of faith," sympathize with their victimhood of the majority, and use the word "Liberal" as an invective as often as possible.
Ideas like "family values" and "judicial activism" are inherently meaningless, but the Christians like to hear them anyway.
I particularly enjoyed this quote from the article as well, describing the jockeying for position by Republican operatives to get the call from the campaign:
Gee, I really hope Chip asks me to the Prom. He's so dreamy...
Thompson's really enjoying this free ride of his in the press, but I hope he declares soon enough so the substantive vetting of his ideas can occur. There are a lot of people who see him as the Reaganesque figure they crave for the party, but I'm not entirely sure the hawkish tough guy bravado is going to play as well in 2008 as the right would like. I also think he's going to have to work hard to distance himself from his neoconservative connections, including the guys responsible for selling this war, promoting the surge, and developing this administration's radical theories of unchecked executive branch power.
He's going to have to declare soon enough. I just hope the questions about how closely his policies correlate with neocon theory are asked, and that he's forced to either stand on the associations he's developed, or repudiate them publicly to distance himself.
Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson acknowledges his coming-out speech in California last weekend didn't live up to expectations, advisers say, and he is planning a tighter and sharper message dubbed "Stump Speech 2.0" for a Saturday night event to be attended by key conservative leaders.
Friends working on the speech say it will include more of a call to arms than the entertaining but unfocused after-dinner address Thompson gave to an eagerly expectant audience Friday night at the Balboa Bay Club and Resort in Newport Beach, Calif.
Saturday's event will be a crucial audition in Northern Virginia, where Thompson will be the keynote speaker at a dinner of the Council for National Policy, an organization of conservative leaders. Organizers say he will be introduced by Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, who is among the most important voices of evangelical Christians. Friends helping Thompson with the speech say it will have more of a discussion of values issues than the Orange County outing and will emphasize the importance of confirming conservative judges. "It will be more of an effort to get people excited about the fact that conservatives can win in 2008," said a person close to Thompson. "People found out last weekend that he didn't walk on water, and he was a little rusty."
File this under "obvious," but if I'm a Republican candidate in this pre-election cycle, and I've had a chance to observe how the others in the race are doing, I'm eschewing economics and substantive discussions about Social Security to go pander to the Christian Right too. First off, after James Dobson's assertions a few weeks back, he's got to bend over backwards to get the Christian Right back on board. Dobson may not be a full-fledged kingmaker, but he's got enough pull with the Christian Right to steer a sizeable portion of that bloc to or from anyone he chooses.
So the side benefit to an evening of pandering to the Christian Right? You don't have to talk about anything of substance. Thompson, obviously, will state his opposition to abortion, and will talk about "judicial activism" and "legislating from the bench" and how he'll make sure that our American values are protected and blah blah blah...
Look, it doesn't take a whole heckuva lot to bring the Christian Right around. Promise a few of their powermongers a seat in the Grover Norquist weekly, talk about "people of faith," sympathize with their victimhood of the majority, and use the word "Liberal" as an invective as often as possible.
Ideas like "family values" and "judicial activism" are inherently meaningless, but the Christians like to hear them anyway.
I particularly enjoyed this quote from the article as well, describing the jockeying for position by Republican operatives to get the call from the campaign:
"A lot of people who aren't involved are throwing their name out, hoping they'll get called," said a top Republican consultant who has not been called and didn't want to throw his name out. Other strategists are taking the tack of trying to maintain a low profile, play hard to get and hope the phone rings and they get tapped.
Gee, I really hope Chip asks me to the Prom. He's so dreamy...
Thompson's really enjoying this free ride of his in the press, but I hope he declares soon enough so the substantive vetting of his ideas can occur. There are a lot of people who see him as the Reaganesque figure they crave for the party, but I'm not entirely sure the hawkish tough guy bravado is going to play as well in 2008 as the right would like. I also think he's going to have to work hard to distance himself from his neoconservative connections, including the guys responsible for selling this war, promoting the surge, and developing this administration's radical theories of unchecked executive branch power.
He's going to have to declare soon enough. I just hope the questions about how closely his policies correlate with neocon theory are asked, and that he's forced to either stand on the associations he's developed, or repudiate them publicly to distance himself.
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