Presidential candidate/grumpy old man Fred Thompson, whose work ethic is definitely out of sync with the Type A media people who stand in judgment of us all, is getting a bit of a reputation:
His absences in early-voting states have been noticed. Thompson hasn't been in South Carolina in more than a month, he scrapped a recent trip to New Hampshire and then canceled a news conference Saturday in Florida.
"You can name a lot of places that I haven't been, and you can name a lot of places that I have been several times," Thompson said in an interview with The Associated Press.
"I've been to Florida three or four times," he said. "The mainstream media, with all due respect, likes to concentrate on the process game on a daily basis, and I can't get caught up in that. I'm going to do it the way I want to do it."
Which means barely campaigning at all.
Thompson's lethargic approach is getting results, though probably not the results he's hoping for. His support with likely Republican voters peaked at 28% in September and has been sliding ever since. He now sits at 19%, behind Giuliani and just ahead of Romney and McCain, both of whom are gaining fast. Well, maybe not Romney, the Stepford Candidate, who's pretty much stalled even though he works 20 hours a day and has spent, like, a billion of his own money on TV ads.
Against Democrats, Thompson doesn't do much better, losing to just about everyone but Dennis Kucinich and Joe Biden, who I didn't even realize was still running.
And now he's finally gotten serious with a seriously good proposal about illegal aliens:
1. Enforcing the existing laws. This is a no-brainer. Too bad it's impossible for W, who makes the Three Stooges look statesmanlike in comparison.
2. No amnesty. Another no-brainer that runs contrary to liberals of all stripes, including the vast majority of Democrats and RINOs like McCain, Rudy, and W.
3. Cutting off Federal funding to "sanctuary cities" that refuse to cooperate with immigration authorities. Local municipalities are free to do what they want; they're also free to suffer the consequences.
4. Stepping up enforcement. This works, in no small part because once you do this, illegals start to voluntarily self-deport. A win-win situation!
These proposals and more make Fred a much more palatable candidate. He's lookng almost as good as Tom Tancredo!
http://www.nysun.com/article/65166
http://www.fred08.com/virtual/Immigration.aspx
Posted by: Squidley | 10/24/2007 at 10:04 PM