Friday, October 05, 2007

FRED THOMPSON

Fred Thompson Addresses the Americans For Prosperity Conference

Fred Thompson approaches the lectern at the Americans For Prosperity Conference to the tune of Johnny Cash’s “I’ve Been Everywhere Man.” He begins with the joke, “Welcome to Washington. My first time in D.C., as a newly elected senator, I made a big mistake. I accidentally spent some of my own money.”

Some highlights from his remarks:

“I’m reminded of 1994. We were down in the dumps. Bill Clinton had kicked us pretty good. I wanted to step up, having never run for elected office before. We sensed that there was something wrong in the country. We took our case to ‘em. We talked about our first principles – things that don’t change with the times.”

Speaking of things that don’t change, Thompson uses the line, ‘a government powerful enough to give anything to ya is powerful enough to take away everything you have.’

“I hear a lot of folks talking about ‘lost revenue’ when it comes to tax cuts. When you have tax cuts, the revenue’s not lost. The taxpayer knows where it is, it’s in his pocket!”

“We are locked into a mandatory spending cycle that’s going to bankrupt the country if we continue on the same pattern.”

“We are blessed to be living longer than ever before, and we are blessed with the best health care in the world in this country. But we are turning our blessings into a curse for the next generation.”

The monitor shows a standing ovation to his conclusion. It wasn’t Thompson’s best speech – some stretches of silence - but I think he did what he needed. I can see why some folks – gah, I’m saying ‘folks,’ this folksiness is contagious – don’t like Fred Thompson’s style on the stump. It’s vague, general, casual and conversational. He meanders to his points, it’s not fiery, charged up. He’s rarely angry, more head-shaking exasperation with the flawed ways of Washington. But I think it works for him, and it works for people who don’t need the wonkish policy brief.

Jeri Thompson went up on stage as Fred was introduced, and it prompted the thought that it is a searing indictment of the sneering, smug perpetual adolescents of our national media that when a Republican candidate comes along with a wife with the glamour of Angelina Jolie, the press keeps hitting her as a “trophy wife.” Were Jeri Thompson a Democrat, she would be getting endless soft-focus profiles.

10/05 12:06 PMShare