UPDATE: It would appear that Freedom Folks is not too happy with the changes in the Thompson camp either.
Apparently, it “gives…pause” to The Astute Bloggers too.
Wes Thorp questions the Thompson move to Abraham too.
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UPDATE: Really, it’s just another random thought on my part…
Do you think CafePress.com will have to get rid of this product line?
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UPDATE: Just more of a question on my part, really. I wonder how Newt Gingrich will take the news of Spencer Abraham joining the Thompson camp. Newt has been pretty of an FDT campaign in ’08.
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UPDATE: A protester was removed from a Fred Thompson event in Houston, TX by police, after calling the candidate’s conservative credentials into question. (Hat tip to MM reader)
The woman questioned Thompson as he talked to reporters. She asked him why he was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and noted that the organization supported the North American Union with Canada and Mexico.
After the woman interrupted Thompson by questioning his conservative credentials, the likely candidate said, “Don’t fuss at me. You asked me a question. Let me answer it.” He told the woman, “I try to learn as much as I can from all viewpoints.”
Later, she shouted at Thompson as the news conference ended. Police officers took her outside a fenced area near the hangar, and stood with her until the former Tennessee senator departed.
Spencer Abraham certainly won’t do anything to bolster the questioned credentials for conservatives.
What is it with Thompson? He is picking up John McCain’s leftovers. Now, he is bringing in Spencer Abraham, an open borders advocate. Geez!
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Hat tip to Michelle Malkin on posting on this.
It seems that Fred Thompson has brought former-Senator Spencer Abraham onboard his “testing the waters” staff as his acting campaign manager.
Thompson spokeswoman Linda Rozett said acting campaign manager Tom Collamore, former vice president of food and tobacco giant Altria, still will advise the campaign. Collamore has helped organize the campaign for Thompson, who has not officially jumped into the race…
Replacing Collamore will be Randy Enright, who has served as Florida regional political director for the Republican National Committee, and Spencer Abraham, the former senator who lost his bid for re-election in 2000 to Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow.
Enright also was executive director of the Republican Party of Iowa and the Republican Party of Florida.
Rozett said Enright and Abraham both would be in charge of Thompson’s campaign. Enright is heading the political operation and Abraham doesn’t yet have a title, Rozett said.
Michelle reminds us of the following:
In my 2002 book Invasion (p. 71, 76), I noted the open-borders obstructionism of former Sen. Spencer Abraham (R-Michigan), who fought to block the implementation of two different tracking databases–one for foreign student visa holders and the other for all temporary visitors (which was mandated by Section 110 of the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act). Abraham led efforts to starve the first database of funding and crusaded several times to kill Section 110 altogether. On September 11, 2001, neither of those databases was in place. To this day, they remain incomplete.
Debbie Schlussel provides more insight on “Jihad Spence: Fred Thompson’s Pan-Islamist Campaign Manager“, as she puts it.
I know Spencer Abraham. He wrote one of my recommendations for law school. And the Spencer Abraham that I and all of America have since experienced is bad news for everyone except CAIR, ADC, MPAC, ISNA, and all Islamists who want to endanger America.
In 2003, I wrote the definitive column on Spencer Abraham a/k/a Spence a/k/a Edward Spencer Abraham (which was quoted in The Washington Post), and I re-publish it below, with several additions I’ve made, updating it. At the time Spence was still Energy Secretary, but he left to become a lobbyist for Islamist countries. (Read more…)
Fred! This is not what we would call good strategy. Spencer Abraham is a severe liability for you with conservatives with whom you want to connect, including me – especially me!
What gives? I thought you were a conservative of the Reagan-mold?
Good night! Now, who can I vote for in ’08?!
Others posting on this topic: Hot Air, Buttle’s World, Weblogs
August 2, 2007 at 4:18 pm |
My first thought as I read the news (rumors) about Fred hiring Spencer Abraham was that the friend who sent this email was playing a joke since he knew how much I supported Thompson. As I continued to read I realized it was not a joke, but just a Democrat smear tactic of some kind or else a huge mistake. As I continued to research realized it was not a joke, a suspected Democrat smear or rumor. While I’m still having trouble actually believing it, I’m not sure if I will even vote in 2008 for the first time since I’ve been old enough to vote. If this turns out to be true, anyone want to buy a Fred Thompson 2008 baseball cap? I won’t be wearing it anymore.
August 6, 2007 at 10:13 pm |
Fred Thompson and Spencer Abraham served together in the Senate: 1995-2001. While Abraham has been labeled as an open borders icon that recieved an award from LaRaza, Thompson’s Americans for Better Immigration (ABI) Reduction Report Card Grades are identical to Abraham’s on every subject and include:
Americans for Better Immigration – Reduction Report Card for Thompson and Abraham.
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&VIPI D=743&retired=1
See Spencer Abraham’s Report Card here:
http://grades.betterimmigration.com/testgrades.php3?District=MI&VIPI D=401&retired=1
Also, a review of their immigration profiles indicate that Thompson and Abraham worked closely on immigration issues. 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
August 9, 2007 at 10:12 pm |
[…] Thompson, if he ever announced, would be the man to turn our border problems around. But, my mind has been changing, as of late, that he could/would walk-the-walk. Now, the forecast looks […]
November 2, 2007 at 1:27 pm |
Grade card? Who is doing the grading would be my first question. Quit allowing the media to pick our President.
I will be the first in line to vote for Mr. Thompson.