Thompson's 12th Commandment

Roger Simon asked Fred Thompson if he is an 11th Commandment man — Never speak ill of a fellow Republican — Fred responded:

I am more of a 12th Commandment man: Don’t speak ill of them until they speak ill of me. And then really speak ill of them.

Thompson is starting to go after fellow Republican candidates. His stump speech contains a not so subtle dig at Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, warning that Republicans must “stay with our principles” when it comes to choosing a nominee.

According to the Perry Bacon Jr., Thompson's new theme is a return to the revolution:

The newest GOP hopeful will emphasize his roots in the so-called Republican Revolution in 1994, when the party swept to power and took control of both houses of Congress for the first time in decades. Thompson was in the class of 1994 that handed the Clintons a major defeat with a message of small government. His aides will also emphasize that the same year Thompson was calling for taking power away from the federal government and shifting it to states, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was endorsing New York's Democratic Governor Mario Cuomo and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was moving left in his unsuccessful first foray into politics, when he ran against Ted Kennedy for the Senate. "It's only a fair question to ask every candidate in the race what were you fighting for in 1994," said Todd Harris, Thompson's communications director.

Fred should be cautious here. He was part of the 1994 Republican Revolution, but his most significant Senate achievement involved the passage of the so-called campaign finance reform. According to the New York Times, Thompson helped lay the groundwork as chairman of an inquiry into fund-raising abuses surrounding the 1996 election by investigating Republicans as well as Democrats, then championed the ill-advised McCain-Feingold legislation. Thompson's efforts were crucial to the passage of McCain-Feingold.

Comments

[Hill Billy]

Revolution? Kinda' stealing that one from another candidate, eh Fred?
So much for integrity, but I hoped you'd do better on the issues.

[ARRA Editor]

Posted lead-in & link to your story which will display tomorrow morning. I am glad that Fred Thompson has politics in perspective by following both the 11th and 12th Commandment.

However, I am disappointed in a couple other GOP presidential candidates who skipped the 11th and went directly to the 12th. Even more disappointedly they are the ones flouting their "Christianity." It made me wonder if they were raised in or worked in rigid congregations where pastors hit first and spoke not so softly later. Definitely, not a Christ like pattern.

[Jenn]

Hmmmmm. I'm still not sure where I stand on Fred. On any of them for that matter. I like Fred's non-nonsense attitude though. And he's not McCain.