Fred Thompson Mega-Thread (Merged)

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If somebody could post his voting record it would be interesting to review and discuss
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Ask and you shall receive. LINK

Keep that site in your bookmarks. You can look up the record of any politician and find out how all the advocacy groups rate them.
 
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Interesting but talk is cheap. I'm more interested in his actions at the momment.

Looks like he supported the creation of the department of homeland security and he supported the mandatory gun locks bill.

editted to add: I mis-read. Thompson voted to table the mandatory gun locks bill.
 
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He voted to TABLE an amendment by Barbara Boxer to make gun locks mandatory by my reading. Voting to table something means voting to kill it.
 
Frankly, most like him because of the roles he played on the screen and know little of his actual voting record. Dosen't hold a candle to Ron Paul on substance/record but on having the "image" and a real cute wife he scores big. Not saying he wouldn't be better than a lot of the other canidates but the field overall is pretty pathetic. As the saying goes, it is pretty easy to soar like an eagle when surrounded by turkeys. Too bad you couldn't morph Ron and Fred. That would be an incredible combination.
 
Exactly, people need to understand the context behind a vote before going off criticizing it. And I'm fine with him voting for the PA and forming the Homland security department. Neither is anywhere near a perfect function of government of course most things government are not. Still 9/11 made us rethink a lot of things.
 
He supported forming DHS because he believed it could streamline and clean up a totally dysfunctional system that costs taxpayers a lot of money and did nothing to even try to stop 9/11, despite various parts of Federal law enforcement and intelligence having at least some relevant information buried in their ranks.

He has since changed his opinion because it didn't work.

Do with that what you will, but as far as I can tell, he's being straight-up about the why's and wherefores.
 
Why reform Fred Thompson's opinions when Ron Paul is straight as an arrow right from the start? I have never seen him falter or hesitate when asked even the toughest questions.
Don't tell me he has no chance! Ignore the lies of liberal media if you can...Dr. Paul has ALOT of support.
 
Frankly, most like him because of the roles he played on the screen and know little of his actual voting record.
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Wait till Joe Sixpack gets a load of Ron Paul's voting record. He will drop below 1% in the national polls, oh wait he's below 1% already.
 
Boats, you are correct, he voted to table the mandatory gun locks bill. I will have to read more carefuly, especially since bills in America often are not what they sound like in the title or description and frequently include totally unrelated riders.

Not that anybody said anything that was out of line but I would appreciate it if everybody left Ron Paul out of this thread. The point here is just to become more familiar with Fred Thompson.

Regarding DHS and PA, they are both completely contrary to everything that is wholesome and American. I can understand having a change of heart and I can understand feeling under pressure to do something in the wake of 9/11 but it is what you do when you're feeling the heat that really matters so I can't really overlook or excuse these two.
 
This is interesting because it seems immigration reform is something that many Thompson supporters agree with. He voted to pass the American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act, 2000. Here's the highlights.

- Increases H-1B visa caps at 195,000 annually from 2000-2002

- Exempts from the H-1B visa limitation foreign workers who have received a graduate degree in the United States and work at a university, nonprofit research facility or governmental research facility

- Directs the additional revenue from visa fees to low-income scholarships and job training for American students and workers for highly skilled technological jobs

Oddly this bill gives more American jobs to foreigners while using money to train poor Americans to do the jobs that were taken away from them. The date stamp is 10/02/00 which is interesting because H-1B's are widely used in the tech industry which was already floundering by this date and making it hard enough for Americans in this field to find work.
 
Here's Fred's position on the Second Amendment, which I like.

May 10, 2007
Armed with the Truth

If you care about Constitutional law, and everybody should, the big news is that it looks as if the Supreme Court is going to hear a Second Amendment case some time next year. The event that sparked this legal fuse was a case brought by six D.C. residents who simply wanted functional firearms in their homes for self-defense. In response, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit struck down the District's 31-year-old gun ban -- one of the strictest in the nation.

Our individual right to keep and bear arms, as guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, may finally be confirmed by the high court; but this means that we're going to see increasing pressure on the Supreme Court from anti-gun rights activists who want the Constitution reinterpreted to fit their prejudices. The New York Times has already fired the first broadside.

A few days ago, the Gray Lady published a fascinating account of the case -- fascinating but fundamentally flawed. In it, the central argument about the Second Amendment is pretty accurately described. Specifically, it is between those who see it as an individual right versus those who see it as a collective states' right having more to do with the National Guard than the people.

Unfortunately, the article falsely portrays the individual right argument as some new interpretation held only by a few fringe theorists. The truth is very different, as civil rights attorney and gun law expert Don Kates has pointed out recently.

From the enactment of the Bill of Rights in 1791 until the 20th Century, no one seriously argued that the Second Amendment dealt with anything but an individual right -- along with all other nine original amendments. Kates writes that not one court or commentator denied it was a right of individual gun owners until the last century. Judges and commentators in the 18th and 19th century routinely described the Second Amendment as a right of individuals. And they expressly compared it to the other rights such as speech, religion, and jury trial.

The Times has simply replayed theories invented by the 20th century gun control movement. Their painting of the individual right interpretation as a minority view is equally fanciful.

Kates writes that, "Over 120 law review articles have addressed the Second Amendment since 1980. The overwhelming majority affirm that it guarantees a right of individual gun owners. That is why the individual right view is called the 'standard model' view by supporters and opponents alike. With virtually no exceptions, the few articles to the contrary have been written by gun control advocates, mostly by people in the pay of the anti-gun lobby."

Kates goes further, writing that "a very substantial proportion" of the articles supporting individual gun rights are by scholars who would have been happy to find evidence that guns could be banned. When guns were outlawed in D.C., crime and murder rates skyrocketed. Still, the sentiment exists and must be countered with facts. All of this highlights why it is so important to appoint judges who understand that their job is to interpret the law, as enacted by will of the people, rather than make it up as they go along.

::Back::


posted by Fred Dalton Thompson on 5/10/2007 4:15:21 PM
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Boats, you are correct, he voted to table the mandatory gun locks bill. I will have to read more carefuly, especially since bills in America often are not what they sound like in the title or description and frequently include totally unrelated riders.
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I just looked that up. It seems to me that it is requiring people who transfer a gun to a non-gun-dealer (i.e. a private citizen) to also provide that person with a locking device (e.g. trigger lock or cable lock). It doesn't sound like it's requiring that the citizen then USE that device.

For example, when I go to my PD to get a "safety inspection" (AKA MI registration) of a pistol I just bought, they offer me a free cable lock. I think this law is what requires them to do that. I don't think I have to TAKE the cable lock, but they always offer it to me. In fact, I've been offered a free "locking device" with every firearm I've ever bought--new or used. Maybe this was that law.

If that is indeed the full scope of that law, then I don't have a problem with it b/c it's giving people the OPTION and materials to lock a gun, but not REQUIRING them to use it.
 
I like Fred because he strikes me as a straight talker who shares many of my political views. He seems to have a lot going for him due to his name recognition which will be worth millions in campaign dollars. I think a President Thompson would do a good job and articulate his policies well. A welcome change from the current state of things.

Ideologically, my first choice would be Duncan Hunter as he is even closer than Fred to my own views. I especially like his strong stance against illegal immigration and for a strong foreign policy. Unfortunately, Duncan has little chance of raising enough money or getting enough attention to get elected.

If Fred enters the race, I'll have to go with him for the win.
 
Why reform Fred Thompson's opinions when Ron Paul is straight as an arrow right from the start? I have never seen him falter or hesitate when asked even the toughest questions.
Don't tell me he has no chance! Ignore the lies of liberal media if you can...Dr. Paul has ALOT of support.
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Well put, Thompson shall not be getting my vote in any way. I will vote Paul or stay home in 08. I am tired of picking the lesser of two evils, and Thompsons support of the un-Patriot Act makes him as evil as our current prez IMO. Ron Pauls view mirror my own, hes the first real canidate I can support 100%.
 
Exactly, people need to understand the context behind a vote before going off criticizing it. And I'm fine with him voting for the PA and forming the Homeland security department. Neither is anywhere near a perfect function of government of course most things government are not. Still 9/11 made us rethink a lot of things.
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Yeah a lot of things like..
Freedom
Liberty
The Constitution
The Bill of Rights
 
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