RICHMOND, Va., June 3, 2007
Thompson: I Never Wanted The Job
Former Senator Says Country's New Challenges Lead Him To Consider Return To Politics
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Play CBS Video Video Capitol Bob On '08 Candidates CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer speaks with Julie Chen about Al Gore and Fred Thompson, two men who have not announced '08 campaigns, but are stirring up support.
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Former U.S. Senator Fred Thompson speaks during an interview with the Associated Press prior to a fund raiser in Richmond, Va., June 2, 2007. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
"I think that everybody was kind of sitting back, taking it easy and thinking that, you know, peace and prosperity were going to kind of last forever. I think we know better than that now," the former Tennessee senator told The Associated Press.
"We live in a more dangerous (time of) things that threaten our very existence, things that threaten our peace, things that threaten our economic stability."
In an interview Saturday night before speaking to the Virginia GOP, Thompson would not talk in detail about why he believes he might make a good president, and he struggled to name his greatest accomplishment in the Senate.
During his 1994-2002 Senate tenure, he was considered a reliably conservative vote. But he had few significant legislative achievements and he established a reputation as a less-than-hard worker.
"That's one rap that you can cure," Thompson said.
Defending his record, he said he managed the homeland security bill in the full Senate and added: "There were a lot of things. ... It doesn't always have to do with putting your name on a piece of legislation. There was an awful lot of bad legislation that I helped to stop, for one thing."
But, he said with a smile, "We'll have a chance to get into all that when I start telling everybody what a wonderful person I am. But we're not quite at that stage."
At least not yet.
After flirting with a candidacy for months, the former senator and actor known to millions as the tough prosecutor on NBC's "Law & Order" took the first formal step toward the race for the GOP nomination Friday in establishing a preliminary campaign committee.
Thompson, however, said he still was not ready to commit to a 2008 campaign.
"We've not made a final decision on it. But obviously we're thinking pretty seriously about it," he said. "Everybody who has an opportunity to make even a small difference in the course of the direction of the country has got to look at that very seriously."
Among his considerations, he said, was making sure "the man fits the times."
Despite his coyness, Thompson is all but certain to join the crowded GOP field led by Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney. Thompson's entrance could come as early as July.
Fundraising was expected to begin in earnest Monday. Headquarters are planned for Nashville, Tenn., and the Washington, D.C., area. A campaign team is forming. Tentative visits to Iowa, New Hampshire and other early primary states are in the works.
A Washington Post poll published Sunday found that Giuliani remained the front-runner, but suggested his popularity could be showing signs of stalling because of his support for abortion rights and gay rights. Thompson's candidacy could quickly turn the contest into a four-way battle, according to the poll.
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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See all 48 Commentsthats good, since you won't be getting the job
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Switching Sides: Inside The Enemy Camp
But then in 2000, well before his arrest, something happened which would make Abas question everything he believed in: a fatwa, a religious edict, was issued by Osama bin Laden.
"It should be understood that killing Americans and Jews anywhere found are the highest act of worship and the highest form of good deeds in the eyes of Allah," Simon quotes bin Laden.
Abas and his fellow commanders were ordered to read the fatwa to their men and make sure they carried it out. The others obeyed, but Abas refused. It was his moment of truth. He firmly believed that jihad was to be fought only on the battlefield in defense of Islam; he had always been taught that the killing of civilians had nothing to do with holy war and that it was forbidden.
The fatwa justified killing non-Muslim civilians everywhere.
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The US Goverment Campain Fund (taxpayer expense)
To run his compain. ? ? ?
Where is that money - really going to end up at ? ? ?
Lastdance
This guy looks like the undead.
This sums it up well:
What a load of bull ***. Next he will say that God annointed him to run also .. just like King George the Younger. How dillusional can the Republican candaidates get before America sees them for the wackos they really are? Maybe next, Republican presidents will state they are direct descendents of God.
He is a mediocre TV actor who was an inattentive, lazy senator. What we don't need is more style and less substance. America needs someone with intelligence - that someone is not Freddy Thompson.
Posted by afmca at 08:52 AM : Jun 04, 2007
What a load of bull ***. Next he will say that God annointed him to run also .. just like King George the Younger. How dillusional can the Republican candaidates get before America sees them for the wackos they really are? Maybe next, Republican presidents will state they are direct descendents of God.
He is a mediocre TV actor who was an inattentive, lazy senator. What we don't need is more style and less substance. America needs someone with intelligence - that someone is not Freddy Thompson.
Posted by afmca at 08:52 AM : Jun 04, 2007
What a load of bull ***. Next he will say that God annointed him to run also .. just like King George the Younger. How dillusional can the Republican candaidates get before America sees them for the wackos they really are? Maybe next, Republican presidents will state they are direct descendents of God.
He is a mediocre TV actor who was an inattentive, lazy senator. What we don't need is more style and less substance. America needs someone with intelligence - that someone is not Freddy Thompson.
Posted by afmca at 08:52 AM : Jun 04, 2007
He is a mediocre TV actor who was an inattentive, lazy senator. What we don't need is more style and less substance. America needs someone with intelligence - that someone is not Freddy Thompson.
Peter Van Giesen, a code enforcement officer for the town, said that up to 20 cars a night were found with people parking near a park
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/4/2/93415/04852
Mr. Chaney said that while he looked for work, he did not reveal his situation to his son, who was going to school on a basketball scholarship, because he did not want to become a distraction.
We have record numbers of American workers, poor, middle class and marginally affluent falling down the rabbit hole of structural unemployment and we never hear the story of what happened to them.
We all must make our small sacrifices to keep this global economy up and running. It's unpatriotic to complain that your new job as a Wal Mart greeter only pays 7 bucks an hour.
Once prosperous Americans have become statistical ghosts that haunt the propped up, outsourced, smiley faced Bush economy. Down and out ( but still mobile) nobodies on the outside, gazing in wistfully at the middle class communities they once called home.
Well so was reagan but....
he initiated this selling of america via NAFTA.
talk more thompson. Use the keywords -
tell us that our kids are not worthless to the future of our country. Tell us they should have the advantage of corporate job profits and teaching and they are just as valuable humans as any foreigners. Tell us that our history and past DO count. Tell us that we are appreciated for our charity via tax dollars that are siphoned off for privatization and the good of the "global" nwo. Tell us that we count and you understand how we feel about losing everything we've worked for. Tell us we are not being just "downsized" but "exterminated" as middle class americans. Tell us our kids deserve education as much as others who never invested a dime into this countries evolution. Tell us american history, language and culture are not extinct. Tell us we can keep our homes and put our tax dollars where we chose. Tell us we are not irrelevent.
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