I haven’t posted in quite a while, but I will try to do better.
George Will wrote a blistering column today about Fred Thompson which, for me, summed up many of the things I don’t like about Thompson. First on the list is that he’s a protege of John McCain and was involved with that awful campaign finance legislation. Indeed, that seems to be Will’s primary objection as well:
Thompson said he had advocated McCain-Feingold to prevent, among other things, corporations and labor unions from “giving large sums of money to individual politicians.” But corporate and union contributions to individual candidates were outlawed in 1907 and 1947, respectively.
Ingraham asked about McCain-Feingold’s ban on issue ads that mention a candidate close to an election. He blamed an unidentified “they” who “added on” that provision, which he implied was a hitherto undiscussed surprise. But surely he knows that bills containing the ban had been introduced in previous sessions of Congress before passage in 2002.
[….]
Thompson, contrary to his current memories, was deeply involved in expanding government restrictions on political speech generally and the ban on issue ads specifically. Yet he told Ingraham, “I voted for all of it,” meaning McCain-Feingold, but said “I don’t support that” provision of it.
Oh? Why, then, did he file his own brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold McCain-Feingold, stressing Congress’s especially “compelling interest” in squelching issue ads that “influence” elections?
Well, I suppose his objection is larger; Thompson seems to have some recollection issues when it comes to things he’s said and done in the past. You really should read the whole thing.
Even apart from his support for McCain-Feingold, Fred Thompson leaves me cold. If it comes down to a choice between him and Hillary, I suppose I’ll choose him, particularly if the House stays under Democratic control. But the Republican I like best these days is Rudy Giuliani, in spite of the amateurish foreign policy piece. He generally radiates competence, which I think we need.
This is a fairly lame post after such a long absence, but I’ll try to do better over the weekend, provided nothing comes up.
