Fred - A Straight Talker?

I've made no secret of my support for Fred Thompson. I haven't been rabid about it as that's not my way. I've seen too many overeager and over-the-top supporters of candidates or causes in the past and it's never been pretty. It doesn't make much difference what party or cause they're supporting, they're a little scary. I don't want to be anything like those folks.

As mentioned in some earlier posts, some folks are against Fred Thompson. That's perfectly all right. It's their right to be that way. But their dislike has shown itself in less than savory, honest, or ethical ways. Outright falsehoods have been used in an effort to discredit him, but most people are already savvy about them and ignore it all as nothing more than the same old political BS.

On the other hand there are quite a few folks out there, columnists, bloggers, and commenters alike that see something in him that appeals to them.

From Star Parker:

In a Washington Post poll done last week, only one in five Republicans say they are "very satisfied" with their candidates. And although the Democratic field is more settled (almost half of Democrats say they are "very satisfied" with their candidates), the negative ratings for their front runner and likely nominee, Sen. Hillary Clinton, remain at almost 50 percent.

So, Fred Thompson, a seasoned actor, may really know how to respond on cue. With Act One, Scene One played out, he may enter the stage in Scene Two and wake up the audience.

[...]

Anyone who has been reading what I have written these last few months knows my incredulity that the massive entitlements crisis facing this nation has not been part of the campaign discussion. It's been like hearing the social director of the Titanic announce shuffleboard times as the ship is going down.

It sounds like Thompson is ready to put the facts on the table before the American public and, yes, fasten your seatbelts, tell the truth.

He's going to talk about Medicare and Social Security and what we need to do to tighten our belts and get our lives back under control. And he's going to talk about national security and weigh in as a traditional values candidate.

This kind of honesty and candor is only possible with a candidate for whom the truth is more important than the job. And it sounds like Fred is ready.

A candidate that's not going to pull punches and blow smoke up our butts and tell us what we want to hear? Sounds like my kind of guy.

And from Bob, commenting on a post that linked to Star's column:

I'm ready to hear from a candidate who will actually answer the questions that people ask him. Straight and not in "lawyer speak". I'm convinced that the reason the President sounds the way he does when he speaks is that he's been so totally tied up in knots by the "handlers" that he can't say much of anything. Reagan didn't put up with that and I doubt that Fred will either.

From my reading about his campaign for the US Senate, he went against all of the usual campaign advice and did it his way. He went from being very far down in the polls to winning by a landslide, showing that the pollsters and political pundits were wrong. It's possible he can do it again, except this time for the highest political office in the nation.

I've heard a few folks make snide comments about him being an actor. “How good a president can an actor be?” Most of them forget that Ronald Reagan was an actor long before he got involved in politics, and he made a damn fine president.

I think that Fred might, too.