Fred Thompson on Charlie Rose

I don't want to go all Hewitt about this, but wowzers that's good stuff.

Wow. that was great. I have been fairly uninformed about the candidates, feeling like there were so many areas of concern that I couldn't imagine any ONE candidate really being able to tackle them, but this guy, he's something! I loved his ending statement about offering himself up to be the best president, or being content to going back to being the happiest guy you've ever met. He supports parental responsibility, and personal responsibility based on integrity and character. I don't think the answers to our social ills will ever be solved in the political arena, but on the individual level. I would love to work for that guy at the White House, he seems like he'd be a great boss!
TM

Thanks for the extended clip; I missed that one at the time of broadcast. My impressions:

PRO:

1. Thompson’s breadth and depth of knowledge caught me by surprise. He instills a great deal of confidence in that respect. I must admit I had previously viewed him as a “presence” without a great deal of “substance”. No more; the guy is clearly a heavyweight.

2. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that Thompson’s platform is not a random grouping of pandering policy positions, but truly appears to a spring from a coherent and well-thought-out political philosophy tied to the conservative strains of the Founders’ blueprint.

CON:

1. Is this a man of faith? If he has a faith, it certainly is not at the core of his being, or a driving force behind his run. A Charlie Rose interview is about as close as you’ll get to a blank canvas for a candidate; yet Thompson didn’t take an opportunity to mention personal faith even once (only mentioned “God” twice, in connection with the Founders).

2. America “not in decline”?!? That is just a politically expedient answer. How could a follower of Christ conclude that our nation’s culture is not in decline? I don’t know about you, but I’m looking for someone who will tell it like it is -- we ARE in decline. We are ultimately tracing the path and fate of the Roman Empire. Our moral decay is quickly approaching irreversible; our economy increasingly serves the wealthy and powerful at the expense of the poor; we are more concerned with empire than righteousness. In short we are running directly away from the Gospel of Jesus. That is indeed “decline”. We desperately need a President whose agenda is authentically Christian.

I’ve got great respect for you Michael, but you’ve got a long way to go in convincing me that Thompson is a Christian leader on a par with Huckabee. I’m just really having trouble elevating the agenda of the Club for Growth over that of Lord himself.

What difference does it make whether Thompson has faith? We're supposed to elect presidents based on their intelligence, judgment and qualifications, not whether they pass some sort of arbitrary litmus test on religion.

The faith issue is WAY down the list compared to the other criteria I mentioned. If a guy doesn't have the intelligence, judgment or qualifications for the job, faith alone isn't going to change that.

Lest you think that religion is such a big deal, please remember that Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush are among the most devout Christians of the modern era. And both were failures as presidents.

"...not only does he happen to hold the right positions on issues, he holds those positions for the right reasons, grounded in sound principles."

And that his why the liberals fear him most! He has an uphill battle, having to fight the democrats and the media even more so than the other republican candidates.

Huckabee is not the "Jesus" candidate. No one as deceitful as Huckabee can ever be the Jesus candidate. Clinton made claims of being a Christian Leader. Do you think Bill Clinton is a poster boy of the christian faith? Huckabee's form of compassionate conservatism is the same as Bush's and will lead to the same place. Amnesty for illegals, open borders and poor military standing in the world.

If you think that credentials as an ordained minister exempt a man from sin, then you should study history a little bit better because it is replete with men of the cloth succumbing to temptation.

These perilous times require a leader that has the grounding of fundamental principles of governance as his guiding rod in policy decisions. Not the populist opinion of the day.

Huckabee's Gitmo stance is just the latest his laundry list of populist policies.

If you truly want to reclaim the moral fiber of this great nation, then this great nation needs to get back to the principles it was founded upon. Federalism ranking highest among those. The centralization of power within our federal government is responsible for the moral decay of this country.

I have trouble finding anywhere in the Bible where the Lord himself sets forth his agenda of political policy. Maybe I'm reading the wrong parts. Everything written in the bible is directed at personal interactions and personal responsibilities. Only thing I've ever read in the Bible that approaches anything along the lines of governance of a group of people lays the foundation for federalism. Distribute the power to the people. Those closest to the problem are best able to deal with the problem.

Huckabee's lack of knowledge and understanding of any policy both foreign or domestic is frankly frightening.

But hey, you vote your way and I'll vote mine.