Working the field, part IV — Thompson

I know that I’ve already done one hit piece on him, but that was before I formalized the idea for the “Working the field” series. So, here we go again …

Fred Dalton Thompson (one source said his name is Freddie Dalton Thompson, but we’ll let that go)

Four years, to the day, younger than Bill Clinton. Their shared birth date is also the date I married my ex-wife. Hmmm … I suppose it’s too much to say that that should count for anything. Oh, well …

Fred Thompson took over Al Gore’s Senate seat in 1994, and then won a full term in 1996. His seat has since been taken by Lamar Alexander.

Thompson spent quite a good deal of time as a lobbyist since 1975, so think of that what you will. It has never, though, been his main focus in life. I wouldn’t hold that against him. Even his notorious lobbying for an abortion group I can forgive … all told, what he did amounts to nothing but lobbying for a loosening of regulations allowing referrals to clinics that perform abortions, so long as they aren’t primarily abortion clinics. This has relatively little to do with abortion, per se. While I don’t like it, I’m not sure that any more abortions happened because of what he did.

Overall, Thompson professes a pro-life position. He does want to see Roe v. Wade repealed, but he then wants to have states resolve the issue on their own. This becomes very close to being a pro-choice position, since there will be states that fail to ban abortion, and nothing can stop people from crossing state lines.

The more that I watch the Thompson campaign, the more I think that he’s more or less phoning it in. Asked recently about oil drilling in the Everglades he said he wasn’t aware of oil reserves there … even though the issue did come up while he was in the Senate. While I don’t expect him to remember everything … he might have brushed up on the local politics before visiting Florida. Nor did he remember the 2005 Terri Schiavo situation. I have been accused of being too hard on him over memory lapses like this, but I have a very hard time overlooking his ignorance of a Senate committee he chaired in 1997 which recommended blackout dates for political speech heading into election years.

I cited this George Will column before, but it bears reading. James Dobson has said that he won’t be supporting Fred Thompson for various reasons.

… and I’m actually beating up on him more than I meant to. Maybe I should find something positive to say …

Oh, here we go! I really liked “Hunt for Red October.” “Wiseguy” went downhill after the first season with Sonny Steelgrave and Pat “the Cat” Patrice, but Thompson’s portrayal of Knox Pooley was one of the bright spots after that first season. I know that most people talk about “Law and Order,” but I don’t watch a lot of TV these days, and haven’t ever watched “Law and Order” to be able to comment on it. But I’m sure he was good …

Seriously … on the plus-side: I do believe that Thompson would work to overturn Roe v. Wade as a bad ruling, and that isn’t nothing. He has voted against same-sex marriage, although he would not push for a Constitutional amendment. His gun control positions are reasonable.

Ultimately, the biggest problem I have with Fred Thompson is the theatrics of his entry into the campaign. He danced back and forth about announcing and not announcing, thus generating “buzz” without actually having to do anything. While other candidates have been campaigning since January, he has been pointedly not campaigning, thus keeping his name in the news, and gaining valuable name recognition without having to do a single blessed thing.

That kind of theatrics might work with an easily-entertained electorate, but it doesn’t show anything about leadership.

At least, it doesn’t show anything good.

I was fed up with Thompson before he even declared. We all knew that he was going to declare, but he kept it hanging for some reason — and I’m sure that it was for the free news coverage he got for not declaring. The fact that he could show up for Jay Leno, and not for a debate, merely cinched the deal. He doesn’t take this seriously, and it’s about time that serious conservatives treat him the same way. This is a Presidential primary. Before going out on campaign stops, you should read up on the local issues, and should have at least some idea what your previous positions were.

As for character issues … there has been much speculation about how deeply Thompson holds his religious views. A Church of Christ publication speculates as to whether he’s a member, but makes no final conclusion. Rather amusingly, a pastor offered a $100 reward if anyone could prove that they’d seen Thompson in church. Thompson, ultimately, says that he goes to church when he’s visiting his mother, but isn’t active in a church in Washington, where he lives most of the time. For evangelicals, this could (and should) present a problem, since we believe that fellowship is important for an active and growing faith.

A lot of conservatives, including some good friends of mine, were looking forward to Thompson getting into the race. I’m really, really not sure why.