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 am married now, have two children at home. I spend a lot of time thinking about the kind of world that they're going to grow up in, spend a lot of time talking to my wife about that," he said. "And I think the country's different. I think we have challenges now that we didn't have in 2000."
He said that in the years since he left public office and focused on his acting career, he has maintained his interest in what is going on in the world.
"It's ultimately up to the American people what they think about me," Thompson said. "I've never desired to hold the office, particularly. In fact, not at all. But at this stage of things, I sometimes think that I do desire the opportunity to do some things that only a president can do."
He said his ambivalence until now about the presidency ultimately might make him a better leader and, thus, a better fit for the White House than others.
"If a person craves power for the sake of power, if he craves the office for the sake of holding the office, he's got his priorities mixed up," Thompson said. "It's a desire to do something, not to be something."
The Southerner with Hollywood star power and mostly conservative Senate credentials fares well in national popularity polls. But he would enter the race some six months after the top-tier trio. He trails them significantly in money and organization, raising questions about whether he can turn buzz on the Internet and in Washington into actual votes when the primaries begin in less than eight months.
Undaunted, he belittled the notion that candidates can only be competitive if they have had a campaign organization in place for months and if they raise upward of $100 million this year.
"I don't know who made those rules. I don't know who the experts are. I'm too late to follow those rules even if I wanted to, and I don't want to," Thompson said. "At the end of the day, the people have to be receptive to you and your message. It doesn't matter how many campaign advisers you've got or how much money you can spend. If it's meant to be, it'll be."
© 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
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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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