Fred's Friend In The Senate

CBS News' Brian Goldsmith Interviews Tennessee Senator - And Thompson Supporter - Lamar Alexander

(CBS)  Political Players is a weekly conversation with the leaders, consultants, and activists who are shaping American politics. Just before Fred Thompson announced his presidential campaign this week, CBS News' Brian Goldsmith talked with Tennessee Senator and former GOP presidential candidate Lamar Alexander about Thompson's brand of politics - and whether he would represent a change from President Bush.

CBSNews.com: When you ran for president in 1996, it was widely reported that you made the decision to run pretty shortly after the 1992 election. And when you look back at the last several winning campaigns, the candidates have generally planned their races for that long. Are you confident your friend, Senator Thompson, can make up for that much lost time?

Lamar Alexander: Well, I believe that he can. And I believe perhaps he uniquely can because of his own special presence, his star-power, so to speak. I think it's important to remember that we're still more than a year away from the election. And with the intensity of the media today, we chew up and spit out personalities a lot more rapidly than we used to.

And I think Fred Thompson may just realize that the American public will get very tired of any personality, no matter how attractive, if they have to put up with that person for too long a period of time. It makes me think of Colonel Parker and Elvis Presley back in the '50s. When Elvis was hot, Colonel Parker wouldn't let him make more than one movie a year because he wanted people to want more than they got.

And I think Fred's sense of timing and his recognition that too much exposure can damage a candidacy may turn out to be one of his greatest strengths. We'll see. But his sense of timing is obviously different than that of those who've run before.

CBSNews.com: What hole do you think Senator Thompson fills in the existing field?

Lamar Alexander: Conservative and, second, a commanding presence. I happen to think we have some other good Republican candidates as well, especially Governor Huckabee and Governor Romney and Mayor Giuliani. But among political figures today, Fred looks and acts more like a president than anyone else. And that's important.

George Reedy, who was Lyndon Johnson's press secretary, said that a president's job is, first, to see an urgent need and, second, to develop a strategy to meet the need and, third, to persuade at least half the people he's right. Ronald Reagan was very good on that third point. And Fred Thompson would be as well.

CBSNews.com: When you ran for president, you were renowned for your disciplined and consistent campaign messages. But the lack of that has been a criticism of the Thompson effort so far, that he hasn't developed the kind of compelling rationale that he needs. What do you think is the core Fred Thompson campaign message?

Lamar Alexander: I would expect he would do that over the next couple of weeks. So I should let him do it rather than try to do it for him.

But, based on his history, I know that as he looks at our country probably his preeminent principle is federalism, that we ought to expect more from our states and our cities and ourselves than we do from Washington, D.C..

And overseas it would be strength. He was one of the early voices warning against the dangers of terrorism. And today he's waved a strong red flag about the danger of Iran. So strength abroad and federalism at home would be what I've gleaned from his time as a senator and his life experiences. And we'll see what he says over the next couple of weeks.

CBSNews.com: Speaking of his time as a senator, you're now serving in his seat. What do you think were his biggest Senate accomplishments?

Lamar Alexander: Well, probably the best known Senate accomplishment was the Department of Homeland Security. He was the Chairman of the Government Operations Committee and he managed that bill. And that was his piece of legislation in 2002, which was his last year in the Senate.

I think, in addition to that, he's known for being willing to stand up and say, "You don't need a federal law for every problem in this country." He was one of the few, maybe the only one, who voted against the so-called Drug-Free School Zone Act. I was opposed to it as well and people would say, "Why would you oppose a thing like that?"

Well, the answer is it's not Washington's responsibility to decide if a school is free of drugs or guns. It is the job of the parents and the teachers and the community. And when we do it from Washington, we give the idea to them that they don't have any responsibility. So he's been fairly consistent in that. He showed that in a number of his votes in the Senate.

CBSNews.com: Do you think the revelation that before his time in public office, when he was a lobbyist, that he did work for an abortion rights group in the '90s, is going to dent his consistent conservative mantra at all?

Lamar Alexander: I don't think so. I've talked with several of the leaders in the conservative movement and they like him very much and are very comfortable with his long-held pro-life position.

[jwhitmann]

Fred Thompson

Just another former Senator from Tennessee
who didn''''t serve in the military
like another former Senator from Tennessee
and a former governor from Arkansas.

LOL



GKC99

Fred Thompson avoided the draft the same way Clinton and Gore avoided the draft

Works both ways

LOL

[lars008-2009]

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature, and has no chance of being free unless made or kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. John Stuart Mill

It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it. Robert E. Lee

A self-respecting nation is ready for anything, including war, except for a renunciation of its option to make war. Simone Weil

If there must be trouble let it be in my day, that my child may have peace. Thomas Paine

Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realise that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events. Winston Churchill

One ought never to turn one''s back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Winston Churchill

[lars008-2009]

We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately. Ben Franklin

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Ben Franklin

We make war that we may live in peace. Aristotle

It is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war. John F. Kennedy

There''s a graveyard in northern France where all the dead boys from D-Day are buried. The white crosses reach from one horizon to the other. I remember looking it over and thinking it was a forest of graves. But the rows were like this, dizzying, diagonal, perfectly straight, so after all it wasn''t a forest but an orchard of graves. Nothing to do with nature, unless you count human nature. Barbara Kingsolver

They have not wanted Peace at all; they have wanted to be spared war -- as though the absence of war was the same as peace. Dorothy Thompson

There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet the enemy. George Washington

I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain. John Adams

[pwrslm]

Still, the same ignorant comments from the same ignorant people.

You guys just bots in china, right? Paid twenty cents an hour...we got your numbers.

Lol, what pathetic fools.

[nyckate]

ohhh - I don''t know - Freddie Boy looks like he''s got more than one foot in the grave - he didn''t look so bad on the Tonight Show - but yikes - he was on Hannity and up closer even with loads of tv makeup on he looked way way too old.

They say he''s going to grab the Reagan ''mantle'' - well let''s remember thatit turns out that Reagan had altzheimers while he was president. So if you vote for Freddie you really are voting for his wife to take charge of the US.

[lars008-2009]

it is fascist nazi terrorislam stupid%u2026.

non muslims of the world unite... fight against the tyranny of the fascist nazi terrorslam imperialist empire of the darkside...

I was a fanatic...I know their thinking, says former radical Islamist
By blaming the Government for our actions, those who pushed this "Blair''s bombs" line did our propaganda work for us.
More important, they also helped to draw away any critical examination from the real engine of our violence: Islamic theology.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=465570&in_page_id=1770
Bless the Beasts and Children
Fascist nazi terrorslam kills every man woman and child in the village again%u2026 typical mo for terrorslam%u2026
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/bless-the-beasts-and-children.htm

Our Prophet commanded us to fight the kaafirs when we are able and to attack them in their homelands and to give them three choices before we enter their lands: either they become Muslim and be like us, sharing our rights and duties; or they pay the jizyah (poll tax) and feel themselves subdued; or they fight, in which case their wealth, women, children and homes become permissible as booty for the Muslims.
http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=13759&ln=eng&txt=before%20islam%20arabia%20pagan

the truth about fascist nazi terrorislam...
http://www.terrorismawareness.org/what-really-happened/

[micma-2009]

Thompson, a career lobbyist, represents everything that is wrong with Washington. He''s the corporations and special interests wet dream.


If you like Bu$h, you''ll just love Thompson. If you like government by the corporation, of the corporation and for the special interests, he''s your man. He''s a multinational corporation posing as a human being.

[gkc99]

Thompson = WH0RE for big money.
Thomspon = draft-dodging chickenhawk.
Thomspon = Tinseltown phoney.
Thompson = fried chicken fake.

And all the neoconscum just suckie him up! Thompson makes Larry Craig look like an upstanding, thinking citizen!

[brundage3]

Al Gore is Viet a veteran.

One comment here said Clinton and Gore evaded the draft. Our countryi filled with we who want nearlyall tngs to be saidin the brieest frm It is no the news media who insit on "10 second ound bies."It is we who consume news and sitched fom wachin news with long stories to the short versions with mvre "frendly"banter among news anchors. SO.. we start talking in short bursts ourselves.

"Shorthand" talk is not accurate. Anger ENDS thought.

[micma-2009]

Thompson, a career lobbyist, represents everything that is wrong with Washington. He''''s the corporations and special interests wet dream.


If you like Bu$h, you''''ll just love Thompson. If you like government by the corporation, of the corporation and for the special interests, he''''s your man. He''''s a multinational corporation posing as a human being.

[micma-2009]

Thompson, a career lobbyist, represents everything that is wrong with Washington. He''s the corporations and special interests wet dream.


If you like Bu$h, you''ll just love Thompson. If you like government by the corporation, of the corporation and for the special interests, he''s your man. He''s a multinational corporation posing as a human being.

[myidoncbs]

Lamar claims, "Among political figures today, Fred LOOKS AND ACTS MORE LIKE A PRESIDENT than anyone else. And that''s important." [emphasis mine]

So, first and foremost, the GOP cares about looks, eh? What a revealing comment!

To me, Fred looks like a sick, tired old man. I seriously doubt that he will even survive long enough to be sworn in on January 20, 2009, in the unlikely event that he is elected.

We don''t need another Bush clone in the White House. We don''t need another actor in the White House, either.

[pwrslm]

doesnt take much intelligence to spam the same message 17 times, does it jwhitmann....

[jwhitmann]

Fred Thompson

Just another former Senator from Tennessee
who didn''t serve in the military
like another former Senator from Tennessee
and a former governor from Arkansas.

LOL



GKC99

Fred Thompson avoided the draft the same way Clinton and Gore avoided the draft

Works both ways

LOL

[jwhitmann]

Fred Thompson

Just another former Senator from Tennessee
who didn''t serve in the military
like another former Senator from Tennessee
and a former governor from Arkansas.

LOL



GKC99

Fred Thompson avoided the draft the same way Clinton and Gore avoided the draft

Works both ways

LOL

[jwhitmann]

Fred Thompson

Just another former Senator from Tennessee
who didn''t serve in the military
like another former Senator from Tennessee
and a former governor from Arkansas.

LOL



GKC99

Fred Thompson avoided the draft the same way Clinton and Gore avoided the draft

Works both ways

LOL

[jwhitmann]

Fred Thompson

Just another former Senator from Tennessee
who didn''t serve in the military
like another former Senator from Tennessee
and a former governor from Arkansas.

LOL



GKC99

Fred Thompson avoided the draft the same way Clinton and Gore avoided the draft

Works both ways

LOL

[jwhitmann]

Fred Thompson

Just another former Senator from Tennessee
who didn''t serve in the military
like another former Senator from Tennessee
and a former governor from Arkansas.

LOL



GKC99

Fred Thompson avoided the draft the same way Clinton and Gore avoided the draft

Works both ways

LOL

[jwhitmann]

Fred Thompson

Just another former Senator from Tennessee
who didn''t serve in the military
like another former Senator from Tennessee
and a former governor from Arkansas.

LOL



GKC99

Fred Thompson avoided the draft the same way Clinton and Gore avoided the draft

Works both ways

LOL

[jwhitmann]

Fred Thompson

Just another former Senator from Tennessee
who didn''t serve in the military
like another former Senator from Tennessee
and a former governor from Arkansas.

LOL



GKC99

Fred Thompson avoided the draft the same way Clinton and Gore avoided the draft

Works both ways

LOL