To Ron Paul Supporters: A letter and article from Walt Thiessen, followed by a letter from Christine Smith
November 30, 2007
To Ron Paul Supporters: A letter and article from Walt Thiessen, followed by a letter from Christine Smith
Endorsement from Walt Thiessen, founder and webmaster of Nolan Chart LLC:
I am pleased and honored to give my endorsement to Christine Smith for the Libertarian nomination for President of the United States. The values that Christine holds and honors mirror my own in so many ways. That’s why making the decision to publicly make this endorsement is one of the easiest things I’ve ever done.
As a Ron Paul supporter, I fervently hope that he gets the Republican nomination in 2008, but what if he doesn’t? He has made it clear that he will not seek a third party nomination. If that happens, we need someone willing to take up the cause of Liberty. The difficulty is that such a candidacy has to emerge now, while Dr. Paul’s campaign is still progressing.
That’s why I urge everyone who has given to Dr. Paul’s campaign to also give to Christine Smith’s campaign. Even if you can’t give the same amount of money to both campaigns, give what you can, even if it’s less. It costs money to travel around the country and build support toward a nomination (even the Libertarian Party nomination), and Christine Smith needs money right now so she can still be a viable candidate later on. She is being invited to speak at events around the country right now, but campaign finances are forcing her to turn some of them down. What a tragedy! It shouldn’t happen, but it is happening nonetheless. Your donation will help her get through this most difficult time so she can be ready to take up the mantle of Liberty leadership if Dr. Paul’s campaign doesn’t lead to the Republican nomination.
You can be assured that Christine has the energy, the spirit, the knowledge, and the desire to this very difficult job of campaigning. All she lacks is the funds.
Won’t you help?
Walt Thiessen, founder and webmaster
Nolan Chart LLC
Dear Ron Paul Supporters:
I thank Mr. Thiessen for his endorsement and his excellent article (see link above).
Last night, because of the GOP debate, I was both happy and disappointed.
Happy, because Ron Paul was able to again advance liberty with his uncompromising get out of Iraq message &
happy because he was the only candidate to eloquently clearly state tax cuts happen only with spending cuts, and express other principled statements of the platform so many of us appreciate and agree with. I particularly liked it when he said, “The real question you have to ask is why do I get the most money from active duty officers and military personnel?” That put everything into perfect perspective.
But also I was disappointed, again, because Ron Paul seemed to be given so very little time to talk.
Then, I woke this morning to an email message from a devoted Ron Paul supporter, Walt Thiessen. After all the hard campaigning I’ve been doing this past week, receiving such a nice note from another one of Dr. Paul’s supporters was a pleasant and welcome surprise.
Ron Paul supporters have been the most enthusiastic political campaigners I’ve ever witnessed. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting many at the 5 Libertarian Conventions I’ve already attended.
I think it’s fantastic to see such political enthusiasm and fervor for the only major party candidate who speaks for liberty! Frankly, I never thought I’d see the day when a GOP candidate shared so much libertarianism with the whole country. That’s something for all to be grateful for.
And though we all hope Ron Paul gets the GOP nomination (and do not want to think about the alternative), Mr. Thiessen has chosen to also endorse me.
Needless to say, I was deeply touched, as I realize nobody wants to think about what happens if Ron Paul doesn’t get the nomination–and certainly not someone who is supporting Dr. Paul as strongly as Mr. Thiessen is.
Mr. Thiessen’s support for me now, while still being a devoted Ron Paul supporter, is very encouraging.
Yes, I’m a Libertarian presidential candidate and I want to see the LP survive and grow stronger, but I am also (and foremost) an advocate of liberty.
Thus, I appreciate Dr. Paul bringing libertarianism to the American people as no one has ever done before.
And I ask, will you join Walt Thiessen and the other Ron Paul supporters, who have decided to support my campaign?
Please contribute whatever you can, as my campaign is in critical need of funding right now.
Thank you to those of you who choose to support both of us. I am both pleased and grateful to be your second choice.
Christine Smith
Libertarian Candidate for President
Nov. 29, 2007
PAID FOR BY CHRISTINE SMITH FOR PRESIDENT
Federal election law requires political committees to use best efforts to report the name, mailing address, occupation, and name of employer of individuals whose contributions exceed $200 during an election cycle. An individual may not contribute more than a total of $2300 per election to the committee. Federal law prohibits contributions to the committee from the general treasury funds of a corporation, labor organizations or national banks (including corporate or other business entity credit cards), from any person contributing another’s funds, from a Federal government contractor, or from a foreign national who lacks permanent resident status.
Contributions are not deductible for Federal income tax purposes.
PAID FOR BY CHRISTINE SMITH FOR PRESIDENT
Rush Limbaugh: Fred is the True Conservative
November 30, 2007
Rush Limbaugh said something to the effect that there was only one true conservative at Wednesday night’s debate, and that was Fred Thompson. Here’s a report from RedState:
On today’s Rush Limbaugh program, Rush made a very interesting observation. Rush stated that of the top 5 Republicans running for the presidency, only one was a true conservative. Rush then stated that the conservative was Fred Thompson. He pointed out that Huckabee, Romney, and Guiliani all had answers which showed they were moderates. Rush did not even state McCain was a moderate, because anyone who listens to Rush knows his opinion on McCain, and that he does not believe McCain is conservative. Rush does not make an endorsement in any primary, but if Rush is saying Fred Thompson is the only conservative in the race, that is good enough for me.
That’s great news. Rush sees what Americans across the country have seen. Fred possesses the consistent conservative philosophy and ideas that will win the White House next year. On immigration, tax relief, and Social Security reform Fred is leading with bold ideas. He’s not as slick or funny as some of the other candidates, but he’s solid. He says what he’s going to do and he does it.
In order to spread Fred’s consistent conservative message he needs your help. Please contribute so ads can continue to run in the early states. Write letters to the editor talking about Fred’s ideas. And use Phone for Fred to call voters in early states. With your help we can win.
UPDATE: Rush posted the transcript on his website (emphasis mine):
RUSH: It was fascinating to me, as I said, to watch this because it hit me upside the head — even though, as I say, I instinctively knew this — that all of the top-tier candidates, because of these questions… See, there’s always a silver lining in everything. There’s always an upside. Some of you might not think of this as an upside or a silver lining, but the genuine moderate as opposed to conservative aspects of three of the top-tier, four of the top-tier candidates were on full-fledged display last night. There was one candidate who did not display any moderateness or liberalism or have any of his past forays into those areas displayed, and that candidate was Fred Thompson. Now, this is not an endorsement. You know, I don’t endorse during primaries. I just point out: These are things I noticed, and I’ve told you during the course of this one campaign year that one of the things that’s bothering me, is I’m a Reagan conservative, and I believe in conservatism. It’s in my soul and it’s in my heart, and I know it is the best way for us to manage our affairs to ensure the most prosperity for the most, to continue our freedom, to protect our country.
Conservatism sees people and sees potential. Liberalism looks at people and sees victims. Liberalism looks at people and sees incompetence, and, “We gotta help ‘em out and keep ‘em forever dependent so we’ll always have power.” Conservatives don’t want to use the government to empower themselves. They want to get government out of the way to empower other people. So, to me it matters, and we have a campaign now where most of the candidates are not genuine conservatives. They may be saying they are, but in their past they have done some things that are not conservative in any way, shape, manner, or form — and I think a lot of those things are being overlooked even by friends of mine in the conservative media because the obsession is Hillary. “Well, we gotta have somebody who can beat Hillary, and we can’t have the perfect candidate,” and so we gotta make the choice here based on who’s best equipped to win and beat Hillary. I understand that, and whoever the nominee is, I’m going to support them. So don’t misunderstand here. But I don’t like seeing “conservatism” being watered down as the way it’s defined. I don’t want people who are not conservative being said to be representatives of the “new conservatism.” There is no “new” conservatism. There is conservatism, and you either are or you aren’t.
You can be 80%, but it depends on what the other 20% are, and I’m just telling you that last night, it was Huckabee and Rudy and Mitt Romney, because of these questions, who were all faced with the reality — and everybody watching saw it — that they’ve got some governance in their pasts that is not conservative, and this is something that just hit me. While everybody is talking about Fred Thompson, “He’s too lazy. He’s too lackadaisical. He doesn’t seem to have whole lot of energy.” Fine and dandy. I’m not going to argue with people about your perceptions of attitudes and so forth. I will say this. I don’t think anybody would get into this mess running for the presidency, the media and all of these things. You can’t imagine what these people go through. You wouldn’t want to go through it, and I can’t imagine somebody put themselves through it if they really don’t want it.
You know, one of the arguments about Fred Thompson is, “Well, I can’t see the fire in his belly.” Well, he’s got a different personality than the others. We’ll just have to see how all this shakes out. But those are the high points that I took.
Thanks to Brian and Mandy for getting me the transcript. Now, if someone has the audio…?
UPDATE II:Here’s Rush talking about those moderate candidates and the conservative, Fred Thompson.
Thanks go to Scott Foshie, Kenneth Hoffer, Michael Jump, and Brian Whittaker for sending me the audio.
Fred File Back Online
November 30, 2007
As you probably noticed the Fred File has been down much of the day. That was due to a problem with our web servers. Only the weblog was effected. Our crack team of web geeks have been working hard all day to get the weblog back online. We’re up, but from looking at the time stamps you’ll see over a day’s worth of posts are missing. Due to technical issues beyond our control they’re gone along with the comments that went with them.
My first instinct was hoping Google’s cache could help. But I haven’t had any luck finding Fred File posts that were published after 12:00 pm on Wednesday. The two I really want back are the debate liveblogging and Rush Limbaugh’s good words about Fred. Yahoo’s cache has the first hour of liveblogging which helps. If you can find those posts and help me reconstruct them it would be appreciated. E-mail me at shackbarth–fred08–dot–com.
I apologize for denying you your Fred File fix and for not being able to recover your comments.
Fabrizio: Fred Has “A Much More Realistic and Feasible Goal”
November 30, 2007
In the American Specator Lisa Fabrizio writes about the present political situation in the fight for life:
Can one be pro-life and not in favor of a Constitutional Amendment which seeks a federal ban on abortion? The easy answer is that one can and probably should be both. But at this time in our history, the amendment process is, sadly, a pipe dream. Imagine trying to get two-thirds of both houses of our Democratic Congress to even propose such an amendment. Then further fantasize that three-fourths of the states would ratify it in the present political climate. This is an all-or-nothing approach that in all probability would save no lives.
Thompson correctly points out that working for the repeal of Roe v. Wade, then making the fight a state-by-state process, is a much more realistic and feasible goal. A states-rights argument should not only appeal to federalists, but ought to be seen as the best current solution by all who cherish life. I’m with the folks who say that abortion is murder, and in this country, murder and its consequences have always been defined by each individual state. And this is where the battle lines must be drawn.
One reason is that dealing with state legislators would be easier than battling their federal counterparts who are in the grips of lobbyists and other special interest groups; the locals are closer to the people they represent and therefore more accountable to them. Another, and probably more important, reason is that the pro-death faction fears this route the most.
They know that, should the question of abortion descend from the dark tower of judicial tyranny and land where it belongs, in the hands of the people, their “cause” is in trouble. Most believe that we are only one pro-life presidential Supreme Court nominee away from this. Planned Parenthood’s Laura Lambert called the Court’s recent decision to uphold the Partial Birth Abortion Act (PBA) “a clear signal to those who seek to dismantle the 34-year-old decision that the court will be receptive to ever more intrusive efforts to limit access to abortion… This expansive approach to a state’s right to restrict and limit abortion is one of the most disturbing parts of the opinion.”
The next logical step is to roll back decades of indoctrination and convince people that abortion is indeed the murder of a human person. Why? The answer lies in the majority opinion in Roe v. Wade. Justice Blackmun wrote, “If this suggestion of personhood is established, the appellant’s case, of course, collapses, for the fetus’ right to life is then guaranteed specifically by the (Fourteenth) Amendment.”
Overturning Roe is key. That means we need a President who will appoint strict constructionist judges. As President Fred Thompson will do that. He will appoint judges in the Scalia, Thomas, Roberts mold who won’t legislate from the bench.
As well as appointing good judges we need a President with a history of defending human life. Fred has a 100% pro-life voting record and is endorsed by National Right to Life. He has opposed federal funding and promotion of abortion, voted to ban partial-birth abortion, and supported President Reagan’s Mexico City policy. We know a Thompson administration would continue on that course.
Morning Briefing: 11.28.07
November 30, 2007
36 Days until the Iowa Caucuses
41 Days until the New Hampshire Primary
52 Days until the South Carolina Primary
62 Days until the Florida Primary
- Hot Air:
Two new ads. I like the second half of the first clip — he really is the most stalwart conservative among the big four, a point he should be hammering at every turn.
- Wall Street Journal:
For much of this year, Republicans have been pushing their ideas for tax reform as much as their proposals for tax cuts. Mr. Thompson, for instance, has just unveiled his full tax plan, which calls for extending President Bush’s 2001 cuts, reducing the corporate tax rate and permanently repealing the estate and alternative minimum taxes. All of that would cost the government revenue in the short run and add to deficit worries.
But the new wrinkle Mr. Thompson has just added is a proposal for a voluntary flat tax. Taxpayers would have the option of paying a flat income tax, with two rates. For joint filers, that would be 10% for incomes up to $100,000 and 25% above that.
As that suggests, the Republican tax message has, to some extent, been bifurcated. To the Republican base, candidates offer tax cuts. To the center of the electorate, the message has been as much about simplifying the tax code, on the grounds that it is inefficient and widely hated.
- Curt at Flopping Aces:
As Allah noted, the man is putting out alot of ideas. Meanwhile the MSM and the political pundits in Washington have chosen to dismiss the man as lazy. I don’t see it.
I have delayed putting my support behind one candidate up to now because I wanted to get a feel for each candidate, listen and read their proposals, watch them on the stump and so on. I’ve done a lot of that and thanks to Mike have even gotten firsthand accounts of their visits to his state (being in California doesn’t provide for a whole lot of handshaking time with the candidates).
But a week ago I made my decision and decided to wait until the right time. I figure that time is now so, for those who care,
I support Fred Thompson for President of the United States.
- Fred answers a global warming question in Ames, IA.
Fred on The Sean Hannity Show
November 30, 2007
Blogs for Fred Thompson posted the audio of Fred on The Sean Hannity Show. Catch what made Sean say, “That’s one of the greatest lines in politics I’ve ever heard.”
What They’re Saying about Fred–MySpace Edition
November 30, 2007
Here are some positive comments from Fred’s MySpace page:
- Scott:
Every SMART person with ANY understanding of warfare and international relations agrees that the war on terror will not be over with one campaign or even a victory in Iraq, but will truly take decades to acheive.
Thompson is the only candidate to consistently understand and state the same and speak of plans to LEAD America and WIN that war.
That is why Fred Thompson will get my vote in the primary and then in the general election of 2008!
- Illinois for Fred Thompson:
I check everyday to see how much the friend count on the page goes up and everyday is better.
2008 GO GET ‘EM FRED!!!! - My Grand-Babies Own My Heart:
Just saw you on Fox News. You have so much class. My prayers are with you. You truly are what this country is in need of. Cannot wait until you win…
If you have a MySpace page add Fred as your friend. Then leave a comment. It might make the Fred File.
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