Guilt By McCain-Feingold Association

In the rush to anoint former Senator Fred Thompson as the favored conservative 2008 presidential candidate, let it not be forgotten that Thompson voted for McCain-Feingold. Worse, according to Mark Salter Thompson's efforts were crucial to the law's passage:

"If McCain-Feingold passes, it will not have happened if it weren't for Fred Thompson," said McCain's chief of staff, Mark Salter, on Wednesday evening.

I remain determined to not yet make up my mind about supporting any of the prospective 2008 presidential wannabees.

Comments

[conservativegrunt]

I fought against the McCain-Feingold "Shut the Citizens Up and Protect the Incumbent Act" as a member of the National Rifle Association and National Right to Life Committee. McCain-Feingold would not have passed without Fred Thompson. I also fought against Spencer Abraham's open borders amendment in 1996. Fred Thompson and Spencer Abraham served together in the Senate (1995-2001). While Abraham has been labeled an open borders icon that received an award from La Raza, Thompson's immigration record is as open borders as Abraham's. Americans for Better Immigration (ABI) career grades for Thompson and Abraham are identical on every subject and include:

Overall Career Grade = C

Subject & Grade
Reduce Chain Migration = C
Reduce Visa Lottery = C-
Reduce Unnecessary Visas = F
Reduce Fraud: Refugee & Asylum = C-
Reduce Enticement - Illegal Immigration: Amnesties= D
Reduce Illegal Immigration - Anchor Baby Citizenship = No Vote
Reduce Illegal Immigration – Other Awards = A+
Reduce Illegal Immigration – Border Enforcement = A+
Reduce Illegal Immigration – Interior Enforcement =C+

See Fred Thompson's Report Card here:
http://grades.betterimmigration.com/testgrades.php3?District=TN&VIPID=743&retired=1

See Spencer Abraham's Report Card here:
http://grades.betterimmigration.com/testgrades.php3?District=MI&VIPID=401&retired=1

Also, a review of their immigration profiles indicate that Thompson and Abraham worked together on immigration issues in the senate. Thompson was a strong supporter of Abraham's open borders immigration amendments. See immigration voting profiles for a complete record of votes. A few examples include:

Voted to strip legal reforms from 1996 bill
Sen. Thompson helped defeat legal immigration reform when he voted for Senator Spencer Abraham's amendment to remove the legal immigration reforms from S.1664, the Immigration Control and Financial Responsibility Act of 1996. This vote effectively killed any chance of Congress considering the Jordan Commission recommendations on easing legal immigration levels.

Voted for a foreign worker bill with no anti-fraud measures in 2000.
Sen. Thompson voted for S.2045, the Abraham foreign worker bill to nearly triple the number of foreign high-tech workers. On the heels of the release of a GAO report finding no proof of a high-tech worker shortage and evidence of abuse in the H-1B program, Sen. Thompson voted for this foreign worker bill that contained no worker protections or anti-fraud measures. The bill passed the Senate 96-1.

As Committee member, produced H-1B doubling bill in 1998
Sen. Thompson was a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee that created the Abraham H-1B doubling bill in 1998, S.1723. He voted with the 12-6 majority to send the bill to the floor of the Senate without safeguards for American workers.

Tried to kill voluntary pilot programs for workplace verification in 1996
Sen. Thompson voted IN FAVOR of the Abraham Amendment to S.1664. He was part of a coalition of pro-business conservatives and liberal civil libertarians who tried to use the amendment to kill the establishment of voluntary pilot programs in high-immigration states. The programs were intended to assist employers in verifying whether people they had just hired had the legal right to work in this country. Such verification is considered by many experts to be an essential tool for withdrawing the job magnet from illegal aliens. The verification system established by S.1664 did not involve an ID card. Rather it provided that when new workers wrote down their Social Security number on an application, employers could phone into a national verification system to help assure that the number was a real number and belonged to the person giving it. In earlier smaller pilot programs, businesses had hailed the verification system for making it easier for them to avoid hiring illegal aliens. Sen. Thompson was unsuccessful in stopping the voluntary verification system. The Senate tabled the by a 54-46 vote.

View Fred Thompson’s Immigration Voting Profile: http://profiles.numbersusa.com/improfile.php3?DistSend=TN&VIPID=743

View Abraham’s Immigration Voting Profile: http://profiles.numbersusa.com/improfile.php3?DistSend=MI&VIPID=401

Thompson was wrong on McCain-Feingold and wrong to support Abraham's open border policies. Thompson's record indicates that he does not make the right decisions for America.

"To sin by silence, when they should protest makes cowards of men" - Abe Lincoln

[Matt]

He may seem the frontrunner to the far-right base, but he won't swing a soul from the moderates or the left. Simply saying you'll leave civil unions to the states won't placate those in favor of equal marriage rights for homosexual couples, and saying Roe v. Wade ought to be overturned (instead of just proclaiming himself Pro-Life) paints a target on his forehead for Pro-Choice individuals of both parties. We'll see how he does, but I really don't see him picking up the necessary moderate votes to win an election past the primary--if he can even swing that.