HUMAN EVENTS Endorses Fred Thompson

Excerpt:

The 2008 presidential election is the most unusual and most important in many years. It's been more than five decades since such a race didn't feature an incumbent President or Vice President. Since World War II, America has not had a presidential election at a time when the stakes were higher. Conservatives have to win this election, and to do so, we have to identify a candidate around whom we all can rally.

We begin by recalling the profound words of Ronald Reagan at the Conservative Political Action Conference Feb. 15, 1975: "A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency or simply to swell its numbers." We believed that then, and we believe it now. The issue for us -- and for the conservative community -- boils down to which of the candidates is most representative of the fundamental conservative principles we believe in. The answer is Fred Thompson.....

We make this endorsement on the basis of much research, having interviewed Sen. Thompson and some of his opponents, as well as examining what they have all said and done. We conclude that Thompson is a solid conservative whose judgment is grounded in our principles.

In his Senate years, Mr. Thompson compiled an American Conservative Union lifetime rating of 86.1, which is higher than both Sen. John McCain (82.3) and Rep. Ron Paul (82.3). The Club for Growth has praised Thompson as someone who has a strong commitment to limited government, free enterprise and federalist principles.

On the issues that matter most to conservatives, Sen. Thompson's positions benefit from their clarity. He is solidly pro-life. He said that he was in favor overturning Roe v. Wade because it was "bad law and bad medical science." As the National Right to Life Committee said in its endorsement of him Nov. 13, 2007, "The majority of this country is opposed to the vast majority of abortions, and Fred Thompson has shown in his consistent pro-life voting record in the U.S. Senate that he is part of the pro-life majority."

Thompson's record is solid on voting to preserve gun owners' rights, cut taxes, reduce government spending and drill for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He has voted consistently against gay marriage. Thompson is by no means perfect. He strongly supported the McCain-Feingold bill, did not support the impeachment of Bill Clinton on perjury and more than once voted with the trial lawyers against limitations on liability in defective product and medical malpractice cases.

We like the way Thompson unhesitatingly attacks the liberal ideologues and their activists such as MoveOn.org and the ACLU, and the way he reaches out to those we knew as the Reagan Democrats.

The question now is whether Sen. Thompson will do what he has not yet done: Take the advantages he is given by his intelligence, his principles, his political skills and this endorsement and make the best use of them.

Source

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ELSEWHERE

Noah has lost his ark: There is an amusing article by Timothy Noah in the NYT which tries to "explain" neoconservatism. I myself think that the only explanation needed is the old observation about the zeal of the convert. Converts to a cause tend to be much more zealous, outspoken and energetic (and in some cases more extreme) than those who espoused the cause ab initio. And the neocons started out as Trotskyists (extreme Leftists) so their zeal upon conversion was all the greater for that. Rather amazingly, Noah accuses neocons of being addicted to Hitler comparisons. He has managed to dredge up a few such comparisons -- reasonable ones -- but ignores the flood of such comparisons (generally highly unreasonable) emanating from Leftists! But Noah now seems to have drifted away from the fairly centrist position he once held. He notes that most of the neocons are Jewish and proceeds from there to the old antisemitic slur of "double loyalty" -- the claim that that Jews cannot be relied upon because of their prime loyalty to Israel. That is the sort of language that the Left have reverted to these days.

Guantanamo detainees 'have no right to sue Pentagon': "A US appeals court ruled that four former Guantanamo prisoners, all British citizens, had no right to sue top Pentagon officials for torture and violations of their religious rights. The decision by a three-judge panel to dismiss the lawsuit was issued on the sixth anniversary of the arrival of the first detainees at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba."

The Latest Version of Hillary Clinton: "Going into the New Hampshire primary, Hillary Clinton implored voters to keep a level head and not get carried away with a passing crush. Unable to match Barack Obama's inspiring oratory, she sniped, "You campaign in poetry, but you govern in prose." But after winning Tuesday, she was all gooey sentiment: "I felt like we all spoke from our hearts, and I'm so gratified you responded." Head, heart-what does it matter, as long as she wins? If it took a show of tears to elicit sympathy from New Hampshirites, Sister Frigidaire (as she was known in her youth) was prepared to engineer a melting thaw. And it worked. The only thing sufficient to summon a wave of emotion, though, was the prospect of losing. The Clintons often manufacture shows of feeling-remember when Bill, caught smiling after the death of Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, feigned tears when he noticed a TV camera? Or when Hillary, after coming in third in Iowa, gave a victory speech sporting an eerily immovable smile? But they're always completely sincere in their self-pity or anger, both of which were on display after the Iowa debacle".

Voter ID requirement may survive: "The Supreme Court appeared unmoved yesterday by arguments that an Indiana law requiring voters to present photo identification imposes an unconstitutional burden. Some justices, however, appeared to search for a middle ground on the divisive and partisan political issue. And the court's questioning during an hourlong oral argument broke quickly along its own ideological divide. But the justice most often in recent years to play the decisive role - Anthony Kennedy - made it clear that he did not share the challengers' view of the burden that producing a photo ID imposes. "You want us to invalidate a statute on the ground that it's a minor inconvenience to a small percentage of voters?" Kennedy asked Washington lawyer Paul Smith, who argued the case on behalf of the Indiana Democratic Party, American Civil Liberties Union, and other Hoosier community groups and individuals."

Army tosses Abu Ghraib conviction: "The Army has thrown out the conviction of the only officer court-martialed in the Abu Ghraib scandal, bringing an end to the four-year investigation and drawing complaints from human rights activists of a Pentagon whitewash. Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan was cleared this week of any criminal wrongdoing by Maj. Gen. Richard J. Rowe, commander of the Military District of Washington. Jordan was instead given an administrative reprimand, a blot on his record. Barring any startling new information, the decision means no officers or civilian leaders will be held criminally responsible for the prisoner abuse that embarrassed the U.S. military and inflamed the Muslim world. Jordan, 51, of Fredericksburg, Va., was acquitted at his court-martial in August of charges he failed to supervise the 11 lower-ranking soldiers convicted for their roles in the abuse, which included the photographing of Iraqi prisoners in painful and sexually humiliating positions. But he was found guilty of disobeying an order not to talk about the investigation, and the jury recommended a criminal reprimand, the lightest possible punishment."

Episcopal Church tries to ban anti-homosexual bishop: "The Episcopal Church banned a California bishop Friday from practicing for two months after he led his congregants in seceding from the national church. Bishop John-David Schofield drew sharp criticism from the U.S.-based denomination when he urged his conservative diocese to sever its ties to the church in early December in a fight over the Bible and homosexuality. Clergy and lay members of the Diocese of San Joaquin became the first full diocese to secede from the denomination on Dec. 6."

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, EYE ON BRITAIN and TELSTRA/BIGPOND.

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"Why should the German be interested in the liberation of the Jew, if the Jew is not interested in the liberation of the German?... We recognize in Judaism, therefore, a general anti-social element of the present time... In the final analysis, the emancipation of the Jews is the emancipation of mankind from Judaism.... Indeed, in North America, the practical domination of Judaism over the Christian world has achieved as its unambiguous and normal expression that the preaching of the Gospel itself and the Christian ministry have become articles of trade... Money is the jealous god of Israel, in face of which no other god may exist". Who said that? Hitler? No. It was Karl Marx. See also here and here and here.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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