| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| Fred Thompson Slams Code Pink: : Collective suicide is no foreign policy. |
| 2007-03-16 |
| What Would Ghandi Do? Gandhi's Way Isn't the American Way: Collective suicide is no foreign policy. By Fred Thompson I feel bad for Nancy Pelosi, AND her neighbors. Anti-war activists from the group Code Pink have been giving her the same treatment the president gets at his Crawford, Texas, ranch. Camping on her San Francisco lawn, they’re demanding she cut off funds to the troops in Iraq. Besides coolers and mattresses, protesters have brought along a giant paper mache statue of Mahatma Gandhi, who is pretty much the symbol of the anti-war movement. Code Pink was founded on his birthday, and when Saddam Hussein was being given a last chance to open Iraq to U.N. weapons inspectors, posters appeared around America asking “What would Gandhi do?” And that’s a pretty good question. At what point is it okay to fight dictators like Saddam or the al Qaeda terrorists who want to take his place? It turns out that the answer, according to Gandhi, is NEVER. During World War II, Gandhi penned an open letter to the British people, urging them to surrender to the Nazis. Later, when the extent of the holocaust was known, he criticized Jews who had tried to escape or fight for their lives as they did in Warsaw and Treblinka. “The Jews should have offered themselves to the butcher’s knife,” he said. “They should have thrown themselves into the sea from cliffs.” “Collective suicide,” he told his biographer, “would have been heroism.” The so-called peace movement certainly has the right to make Gandhi’s way their way, but their efforts to make collective suicide American foreign policy just won’t cut it in this country. When American’s think of heroism, we think of the young American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, risking their lives to prevent another Adolph Hitler or Saddam Hussein. Gandhi probably wouldn't approve, but I can live with that. — Fred Thompson is an actor and former United States senator from Tennessee. And the next President of the US if I have anything to say about it - we are launching a Draft Fred Thompson effort in my area. Already peeling off Guliani, Romney and McCain money and volunteers -- but only if Fred enters the race. He sat in for Paul Harvey today and was fantastic. You really need to HEAR this guy. Audio links: Quicktime or windows media |
| Posted by:OldSpook |
| #28 Thompson and Baker have had a very tight protege-mentor relationship going way back. Baker wasn't my cup of tea then and still isn't. Too much of that Brent Scowcroft/Jim Baker feel for me. But Thompson doesn't seem like a Baker clone. And Baker was good enough for Dirksen, so who am I to kvetch? |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2007-03-16 20:23 |
| #27 Baker knows the money men. Price of being a politician in TN. And I dont see it as Baker being a svengali so much as Baker repaying Thompson for all he has done - Thompson's legal work made Baker's career. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2007-03-16 20:17 |
| #26 Baker is doing the behind the scenes work for Thompson. That's the one blemish so far. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2007-03-16 20:00 |
| #25 Fred will jump in the race in fall, after everyone else has torn each other to shreds... I like him, and could easily vote for him and his principles as I've heard them. He does look, sound and act Presidential (without Breck hair)...his wife (#2, I believe) is also a comfort for anyone worrying about him straying. She's a much-younger knockout |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-03-16 19:33 |
| #24 Bad news, several states have voted to have their primaries on February 5th, 2008. I would rather 6 or 8 debates than a race to be the state that decides the winner. But then, this is America 2007, what do I really expect ? Empty heads, empty gestures, empty words. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2007-03-16 18:52 |
| #23 Thompson was an aid to Howard Baker, then? |
| Posted by: eLarson 2007-03-16 17:58 |
| #22 He also took down Nixon - Thompson cpind the phrase "What did the President know and when did he know it", as well as bringing to light the tape recording system in the whitehouse. Unlike Hillary who did jack else. |
| Posted by: Glatle Crens4336 2007-03-16 17:39 |
| #21 In 1977, Thompson took on a Tennessee Parole Board case that ultimately toppled Tennessee Governor Ray Blanton from power on charges of selling pardons. Sputter, choke, Bill Clinton is lucky Fred wasn't on his ass. |
| Posted by: Icerigger 2007-03-16 17:01 |
| #20 Thompson has my vote. |
| Posted by: Icerigger 2007-03-16 16:58 |
| #19 Sorry about my stuttering. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2007-03-16 16:50 |
| #18 Thompson is liked in Tennessee. Republicans in Tennessee are trying to get him to run. He is the only possible candidate that sounds like a conservative. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2007-03-16 16:49 |
| #17 Thompson is liked in Tennessee. Republicans in Tennessee are trying to get him to run. He is the only possible candidate that sounds like a conservative. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2007-03-16 16:49 |
| #16 Thompson is liked in Tennessee. Republicans in Tennessee are trying to get him to run. He is the only possible candidate that sounds like a conservative. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2007-03-16 16:49 |
| #15 Persona&l message to those people with posters "What would Gandhi do?": Given Gandhi's sexual tastes, I strongly recommend you not to come within a mile from my daughters. |
| Posted by: JFM 2007-03-16 16:39 |
| #14 I remember during the late Nineties catching a hearing on TV where Fred Thompson was speaking. I said at the time "That is your next President!" Well, I'd still take him as the "next, next President." He doesn't have the traditional hair, but he seems to say what he means and mean what he says, which means more to me anyway. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2007-03-16 13:31 |
| #13 Thompson/Giuliani would be a solid ticket to vote for...but still too early to count out the Code Pinko Kucinich/Sharpton tsunami. |
| Posted by: Phineter Thraviger 2007-03-16 13:00 |
| #12 Hmm, I wonder if Rudy would accept second fiddle: Thompson-Giuliani '08. Thompson gets the Republicans back in the fold, Giuliani picks up Italian-Americans and New Yorkers. If they are elected Thompson can sit back and look presidential and Rudy can rip the president's critics a new asshole from time to time. Now THAT'S a campaign I'd give money to! |
| Posted by: Jonathan 2007-03-16 11:57 |
| #11 I have a quote from Ghandi but no links, "Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of it's arms as the blackest". |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2007-03-16 10:58 |
| #10 Hmmmmmmm...sounds like Ghandi had "issues"? Didn't see it in the movie as I remember. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-03-16 10:45 |
| #9 Hell, while I am dreaming: Vader/Thompson '08! |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-03-16 09:51 |
| #8 Good Analogy. I beleive Sen Thompson is doing the Paul Harvey thing in just the manner that Ronald Reagan did the GE speeches. Run Fred, Run! Thompson/Watts '08 (I can dream, can't I?) |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2007-03-16 09:46 |
| #7 Asking for a solid guy with a real set of marbles is probably too much at this time. We may have to let the Dems in the white house for four years so they can screw things up royally before the sheeple are ready to vote for a man. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2007-03-16 08:44 |
| #6 JOE 2008 Don't expect Thompson to enter the race anytime soon. He's smart enough to wait while the others destroy eachother. Do expect Paul Harvey to take lots of vacation. Thompson reminded me of nothing so much as Ronald Reagan making speeches at GE plants. I expect him to milk that venue. None better. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2007-03-16 07:14 |
| #5 A hero to me is when someone risk their own life to save others. |
| Posted by: Clinesing Bucket8193 2007-03-16 06:36 |
| #4 Joe, can I ask for a favor, pretty please? I just can't read your stuff, the caps create this blank state of mind (firewall for input) and I just can't pass your messages through that filter. Say, can you use bold instead? It' simple, you just enclose whatever you want to highlight with <b> Something </b> tags. Thanks! |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2007-03-16 04:35 |
| #3 POTUS Fred may have his work cut out for him > SPACEWAR > Japan -low frequency earth quakes around world may portend a future, more serious or catarophic event(s), i.e. SSSSSHHHHHHH Year 2012 and "QUAKE HEARD AROUND THE WORLD"; + LUCIANNE > OSLO Confab > Scientists warn that as Global Warming intensifies, EARTH's FLORA, etc. MAY GET GREENER AFORE WILTIN' AND DYIN'. See also EARTH CLINIC.com > Alleged rise in worldwide MRSA boils + BEES: [NATURE's] NATURAL GEIGER COUNTERS. * FARK > 30 thirsty camels rampage thru local Muslim community. Muslims demand immediate marital divorce??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-03-16 02:33 |
| #2 Thanks for fixing the formatting. The proxy I connect thru doesnt allow formatting code sometimes to appear correctly. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2007-03-16 01:23 |
| #1 On the Sunday News shows: Host Chris Wallace went down the litany of questions and Thompson hit all the right notes from a conservative voter's perspective: Pro-life; Scalia-like judges; against gay marriage; opposes gun control; supports the President's surge in Iraq. [comment: also believes border enforcement comes first -- before we worry about the ones here we have to stop more from coming in] Thompson's record in the Senate from 1995 through 2002 sustained his answers: His lifetime American Conservative Union rating is 86 (out of 100) and his lifetime Americans for Democratic Action (the liberal quotient) rating is a measly 5. Add in his presence in front of the camera as well as his folksy way of speaking, and it's no wonder conservatives are pressing him to get into the race. http://fred08.com/ Man the internet sure as hell moves things fast. Video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Snw7_6mJf5c and here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN3z4mqRn7I And WATCH THIS ONE Fred Thompson: Its the Soldier http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq9HHJjlEyo |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2007-03-16 01:07 |
