By popular demand (well, my wife and stepdaughter), I'm reprinting my notorious column about former Senator (and apparent (?) presidential candidate) Fred Thompson.
Fred Thompson: The Republicans' "Great Pumpkin"
Wednesday, June 27, 2007 11:04 AM
Because of the terrible loss suffered by Republicans in 2006 and the current "massacre of the conservatives" (people like John Kyl, Lindsay Graham, Trent Lott, and many others), I've had to do a lot of rethinking about politics.
I find the present situation as distressing as anything I've ever encountered. It appears to me that the Party is hell-bent on becoming a permanent minority. The scary thing that people who differ greatly with me on certain issues (especially immigration) don't dissent from my assessment of the Party's bleak future.
I've been resisting the temptation to write a column critical of Fred Thompson and his "Townhall Essay Campaign." That's where he writes one pedestrian piece after another to delight the easily amused "base."
Some people for whom I have genuine affection support Fred -- or at least they support some mirage they assume must be him. Honestly, I'm not really in the business of intentionally offending people, so I've stayed away from Fred. However . . . I've asked people to read the Wikipedia article (go to http://wikipedia.com and then fill in the name "Fred Thompson"). I realize "Wik" is not the last word on anything. Also, some readers have challenged the objectivity of the piece (as "Wik" notes).
However, the basic facts of the piece are not in dispute. They suggest that Thompson has more political baggage than the U.S. Airways warehouse containing "lost luggage." Someone recently asked Thompson what he regarded as his major accomplishments during his eight years in the Senate. His response was what journalists call "a long, pregnant pause." He didn't mention the Campaign Finance Reform Bill, which he strongly supported and which has been used in attempts to derail the campaign of John McCain.
When I look at the Thompson campaign, I don't see him as the Republicans' "White Knight." I certainly don't see him as the Second Coming of the Gipper.
Instead, I see someone more akin to the Great Pumpkin in "Charlie Brown." As you'll recall, each Halloween Charlie and his friends would wait with great anticipation the arrival of said Pumpkin. However, each year they waited in vain. Fred is the Republican version of the Great Pumpkin.
I see Fred Thompson as an old guy who looks and acts his age. He's John McCain without the history of heroism, the commitment to principle, and the feistiness.
Is Thompson truly ready to be the frontrunner in the campaign for the Republican nomination? Townhall.com, citing the dubious Rasmussen Poll, says Thompson is now [remember, this was last June] the leader in a national survey (27% to 23% over Giuliani). Of course, frequent visitors to Townhall recognize the site chooses its polls carefuly so as to reflect its own prejudices. Townhall used to be a full-time shill for the semi-pathetic Romney campaign, but some people there appear to be switching to Fred.
However, as I'm preparing this column, which may have something to offend nearly everyone, I'm listening to the latest Opinion Research Poll. Since you won't hear anything about it on Townhall, I'll fill you in.Opinion Research shows Giuliani with roughly 29% of the national support from Republicans. Thompson has about 19%, followed by McCain at 18%. Romney is in fourth place at about 14%.
Of course, Townhall will be singing a different story. It will be telling you (less frequently than in the past, perhaps) that "Team Romney" is vigorously enhancing its leadership in the meaningless "Ames Straw Poll." It will be telling you that Romney is doing well -- although not all that well -- in his neighboring state of New Hampshire.
On the other hand, it will not be telling you that the New Hampshire primary is looking less and less important to serious candidates [oops, I was wrong there]. It will not be letting you in on the fact that Mitt Romney has spent $21 million on his campaign -- and has almost nothing to show for it.
Also, Townhall will be telling you -- wrongly -- that the McCain campaign is cratering, that he's essentially through as a presidential candidate. What Townhall won't be telling you about its corporate views is that they reflect the triumph of hope over reality.
McCain continues, against all odds, to do well in national polls, which show him running neck-and-neck with Thompson -- and far ahead of Th's beloved "Romney." Apparently, tens of thousands of people visit Townhall on an average day. What I'm suggesting here -- modestly, of course -- that they'd be much better informed if they visited Campaign2008VictoryA.
TH will seek to propagandize you. I won't. It's just that simple.
Showing posts with label Wikipedia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wikipedia. Show all posts
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
SOLVING THE ABORTION ISSUE: A GIANT JIG-SAW PUZZLE
Solving abortion or any moral and political problem is not a matter of who shouts the loudest. It's a question of "mental computing." In the words of the always superb magazine The Economist: "At first glance, the task . . . looks impossible . . . The secret, as with any computing task, is to break the problem into smaller, more managebable chunks." The Economist is not talking about abortion, but its point is relevant to that subject.
That's exactly what I'm trying to do with the hideously complex and controversial issue of abortion.
My abortion columns will total at least four in number. It's important for those concerned with sharply reducing the number of abortions in the US (and perhaps overseas) to at least read quickly through all the columns. Doing this series is at times mind-boggling. Column 2 (this one) will come up around noon Wednesday. Column 3 will come up later today (Wednesday afternoon or early evening). Please send your comments, as several people have done.
(In column 1, I'm changing the numbers and the cost related to women who have abortions mainly because they're poor. Of the women who have abortions, more than one-in-five cite lack of money. My solution is to give them money to prevent abortions.)
I appeal to good people, including Dr. Laurence White and Larry Perrault, both important figures in Houston politics and thought, not to settle for a pro-life position that is little more than an assertion of moral superiority. Frankly, people who are against MOST abortions, and I'm one, shouldn't be pro-life for the sake of being pro-life. We need to get beyond extremist rhetoric (e.g., comparing the U.S. to Nazi Germany and calling embryos "infants"). Those approaches exacerbate the problems involved with abortion.
If you haven't read Dr. Laurence White's letter to Mike Huckabee (and Larry Perrault's comments), please take a look at: http://www.mikehuckabee.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Blogs.View&Blog_id=350
If you're deeply interested in this issue, please read the following (plus the footnoted material if you have time), which is authoritative: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_the_United_States
If you want to see Biblical references RELATED TO ABORTION, the pickings are rather lean. The key passages are in Exodus: "22: And if two men strive and smite a woman with child, and her child be born imperfectly formed, he shall be forced to pay a penalty: as the woman’s husband may lay upon him, he shall pay with a valuation. 23 But if it be perfectly formed, he shall give life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe." This text, the Septuagint. written around 250 B.C., which is even before my time.) On the subject of abortion, Jesus left no recorded words. The New Testament of the Holy Bible is silent on the issue
In the History of the West -- and especially in the important writings of early (18th century) legal scholar William Blackstone -- the concept of "quickening" (the first detectible movements of the embryo, which occur about midway through a pregnancy). In discussions of when (and if) abortion should be permissible, quickening plays an important role.
If you'd like to stay away from ancient philosophical questions regarding quickening and go the more contemporary discussions, take a look at: First Fetal Movement : Quickening, from the American Pregnancy Association, as well as Fetal movement: Feeling your baby kick, babycenter.com.
That's exactly what I'm trying to do with the hideously complex and controversial issue of abortion.
My abortion columns will total at least four in number. It's important for those concerned with sharply reducing the number of abortions in the US (and perhaps overseas) to at least read quickly through all the columns. Doing this series is at times mind-boggling. Column 2 (this one) will come up around noon Wednesday. Column 3 will come up later today (Wednesday afternoon or early evening). Please send your comments, as several people have done.
(In column 1, I'm changing the numbers and the cost related to women who have abortions mainly because they're poor. Of the women who have abortions, more than one-in-five cite lack of money. My solution is to give them money to prevent abortions.)
I appeal to good people, including Dr. Laurence White and Larry Perrault, both important figures in Houston politics and thought, not to settle for a pro-life position that is little more than an assertion of moral superiority. Frankly, people who are against MOST abortions, and I'm one, shouldn't be pro-life for the sake of being pro-life. We need to get beyond extremist rhetoric (e.g., comparing the U.S. to Nazi Germany and calling embryos "infants"). Those approaches exacerbate the problems involved with abortion.
If you haven't read Dr. Laurence White's letter to Mike Huckabee (and Larry Perrault's comments), please take a look at: http://www.mikehuckabee.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Blogs.View&Blog_id=350
If you're deeply interested in this issue, please read the following (plus the footnoted material if you have time), which is authoritative: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_the_United_States
If you want to see Biblical references RELATED TO ABORTION, the pickings are rather lean. The key passages are in Exodus: "22: And if two men strive and smite a woman with child, and her child be born imperfectly formed, he shall be forced to pay a penalty: as the woman’s husband may lay upon him, he shall pay with a valuation. 23 But if it be perfectly formed, he shall give life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe." This text, the Septuagint. written around 250 B.C., which is even before my time.) On the subject of abortion, Jesus left no recorded words. The New Testament of the Holy Bible is silent on the issue
In the History of the West -- and especially in the important writings of early (18th century) legal scholar William Blackstone -- the concept of "quickening" (the first detectible movements of the embryo, which occur about midway through a pregnancy). In discussions of when (and if) abortion should be permissible, quickening plays an important role.
If you'd like to stay away from ancient philosophical questions regarding quickening and go the more contemporary discussions, take a look at: First Fetal Movement : Quickening, from the American Pregnancy Association, as well as Fetal movement: Feeling your baby kick, babycenter.com.
Someone's going to ask me something like the following: "You say the Bible is mostly silent on abortion, but what about the admonition "Thou shalt not kill?" The idea that abortion (after quickening) might be homicide is an old one, but murder is a legal question. Some of my fellow Christians tell me that capital punishment is murder. However, our legal system does not in any sense defense the execution of people who commit murder as in any way itself "murder."
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has indicated that abortion is not murder. Also, Justice Blackstone said in the 18th century that in modern society (he meant Great Britain) abortion (after quickening of the foetus) is not viewed as murder, but rather as what he called a "heinous misdemeanor." The passage from Exodus seems to foreshadow Blackstone's view.
Frankly, discussing abortion as murder is a great way to make rhetorical points that help ensure the problem will never get solved. Moreover, half the people in America who regard abortion as a form of manslaughter (or even murder) believe it should be permissible in almost all cases.
At some point, I'll put up a link to a blogger called "The Libertarian," a Ron Paul-site that has an excellent debate between pro-choice and pro-life people (including yours truly). The exchange is intense, but highly civilized, and points up the divide between social conservatives and libertarian conservatives. Basically, the libertarians say abortion should be none of the government's business, while the conservatives say it is society's moral duty to protect the unborn.
The overall goal -- the humane approach -- should be to reduce the number of abortions and, relatedly, increase the number of adoptions. It should not be to make debating points.
More to Come . . .
It's fascinating to me to see the people who visit this site. In the last 24 hours, I've had visitors from Boulder, CO; Washington, DC; Orange, TX (twice), Rockville, MD; Elizabethtown, PA; Waianae, HI (twice, hi Sanity); Port Angeles, WA (a frequent visitor); Detroit, MI (twice); Branch, MI (twice); Atwood, IL; New York, NY; Caldwell, NJ; Ventura, CA; Nothridge, CA; Portand, OR; Anchorage, AK; Little Rock, AR; Colorado Springs, CO (hi Adam); and Austin, TX (twice); among many others, including several locations overseas. You're all very welcome here. Please feel free to leave comments and suggestions. Please note the comments to my columns on abortion and the one on gays and evangelicals.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Sarah Palin Called "Giant Killer" by RealClearPolitics
NOTE: WELCOME TO VISITORS FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY (AND THE WORLD) WHO ARE EXCITED BY THE PROSPECTS OF GOV. SARAH PALIN ON THE REPUBLICAN TICKET. I'M ESPECIALLY PLEASED TO SEE THE VISITORS FROM ALASKA, INCLUDING ANCHORAGE, AS WELL AS THE CAPITAL CITY OF JUNEAU AND THE ALMOST LEGENDARY CITY OF NOME. IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN HEARING ABOUT IMPORTANT COLUMNS (AND NEWS) ABOUT GOV. PALIN, PLEASE LEAVE ME YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS. MINE IS TALKTOP65@AOL.COM. ALL THE BLOGGERS LISTED TO THE RIGHT AS "4 PALIN" OR "PRO-PALIN" OR "PALIN FAN" -- AND THERE ARE MANY NOW -- ALSO WRITE ABOUT HER, SOME OF THEM FREQUENTLY. TWO SITES THAT OFTEN PROVIDE NEW INFORMATION ABOUT THE GOV.'S ACTIVITIES ARE: HTTP://PALINFORVP.BLOGSPOT.COM & HTTP://PALINTOLOGY.COM/ "NOW, SHE BELONGS TO AMERICA."
As Labor Day approaches, people around the country are going to get a lot more interested in politics. I hope that each blogger who supports Sarah Palin for V-P will recruit ONE friend or acquaintance (blogger or non-blogger) to join the Movement to get Sarah on the ticket.
Your own strong support for her will attract others. Ask people to read the Fred Barnes article ("The Most Popular Governor") in The Weekly Standard. The Wikipedia entry on Sarah is accurate and also a good tool for getting individuals interested in the Governor. (You can find links on my blogrollto all the articles mentioned in this piece.)
This effort can be successful. Consider the Les Kinsolving article. He read about Sarah and immediately thought, "This woman would make a great V-P choice." The same thing happened with the very popular (and moderately outrageous) "Mayor Sam" blog.
Several months ago when Adam (http://palinforvp.blogspot.com/) started the "Draft Palin" effort, the Movement consisted of . . . Adam. Now, there are dozens of people actively supporting her on-line, and we're getting significant press attention -- in Anchorage, in Pittsburgh, in DC, in Washington state, and elsewhere.
The Republican Governors Association has featured her on their website. Tony Snow got asked about her at the White House Briefing. There's serious discussion about her being on "Good Morning America," "The Today Show," and "Oprah."
Some of the people with the most-visited blogs in America -- are you listening Cindy? -- are looking hard into promoting Sarah's efforts. We're also reaching out to blogs that reach large numbers of conservatives from various minority groups, including African-Americans and Hispanics.
The goal is to make the eventual Republican nominee "an offer he can't refuse": to have the best possible candidate on his ticket. That person is Gov. Sarah Heath Palin, the most popular state official in America.
It is possible for YOU to have a real say in the future of your country. A key way to do that is to let your voice be heard -- EARLY IN THE PROCESS -- of choosing the leaders of our nation. Sarah's record of accomplishment suggests she's just what America needs. But first, she needs your support.
Stephen R. Maloney
Ambridge, PA
Exactly how powerful a force is Sarah Palin becoming on the national scene? This week RealClearPolitics, an important political publication, called her a "giant killer." Here's an excerpt from Reid Wilson's piece:
"In 2006, former mayor Sarah Palin (R) beat a sitting governor [Frank Murkowski] in the Republican primary in Alaska, then beat a widely popular former governor [Tony Knowles] in the general, and not by a small margin. Someone is having some fun now, matching Palin up with embattled Alaska Senator Ted Stevens. The results? Palin beats Stevens 59%-36%.It's not bad when, after just half a year on the job, you boast 84% approval ratings and just 5% disapproval ratings, as Palin does."
http://time-blog.com/real_clear_politics/2007/08/giant_killer.html
As Labor Day approaches, people around the country are going to get a lot more interested in politics. I hope that each blogger who supports Sarah Palin for V-P will recruit ONE friend or acquaintance (blogger or non-blogger) to join the Movement to get Sarah on the ticket.
Your own strong support for her will attract others. Ask people to read the Fred Barnes article ("The Most Popular Governor") in The Weekly Standard. The Wikipedia entry on Sarah is accurate and also a good tool for getting individuals interested in the Governor. (You can find links on my blogrollto all the articles mentioned in this piece.)
This effort can be successful. Consider the Les Kinsolving article. He read about Sarah and immediately thought, "This woman would make a great V-P choice." The same thing happened with the very popular (and moderately outrageous) "Mayor Sam" blog.
Several months ago when Adam (http://palinforvp.blogspot.com/) started the "Draft Palin" effort, the Movement consisted of . . . Adam. Now, there are dozens of people actively supporting her on-line, and we're getting significant press attention -- in Anchorage, in Pittsburgh, in DC, in Washington state, and elsewhere.
The Republican Governors Association has featured her on their website. Tony Snow got asked about her at the White House Briefing. There's serious discussion about her being on "Good Morning America," "The Today Show," and "Oprah."
Some of the people with the most-visited blogs in America -- are you listening Cindy? -- are looking hard into promoting Sarah's efforts. We're also reaching out to blogs that reach large numbers of conservatives from various minority groups, including African-Americans and Hispanics.
The goal is to make the eventual Republican nominee "an offer he can't refuse": to have the best possible candidate on his ticket. That person is Gov. Sarah Heath Palin, the most popular state official in America.
It is possible for YOU to have a real say in the future of your country. A key way to do that is to let your voice be heard -- EARLY IN THE PROCESS -- of choosing the leaders of our nation. Sarah's record of accomplishment suggests she's just what America needs. But first, she needs your support.
Stephen R. Maloney
Ambridge, PA
Exactly how powerful a force is Sarah Palin becoming on the national scene? This week RealClearPolitics, an important political publication, called her a "giant killer." Here's an excerpt from Reid Wilson's piece:
"In 2006, former mayor Sarah Palin (R) beat a sitting governor [Frank Murkowski] in the Republican primary in Alaska, then beat a widely popular former governor [Tony Knowles] in the general, and not by a small margin. Someone is having some fun now, matching Palin up with embattled Alaska Senator Ted Stevens. The results? Palin beats Stevens 59%-36%.It's not bad when, after just half a year on the job, you boast 84% approval ratings and just 5% disapproval ratings, as Palin does."
http://time-blog.com/real_clear_politics/2007/08/giant_killer.html
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