The Land of Ozz

It was really more like Sticky Fingers had Fred Thompson. Presidential candidate Fred Thompson made his rounds in the low country of South Carolina today with stops at a gun show and then a brief visit with supporters at Sticky Fingers in Summerville. I attended the rally at Sticky Fingers and got to hear Senator Thompson speak in person for the first time.

There were no ground breaking surprises in what Senator Thompson had to say today in Summerville, SC, but that is exactly the way he plans to keep things. Senator Thompson is grounded in strong conservative values unlike many of his republican opponents who could have easily switched parties and run on a democratic ticket due to their liberal views. Senator Thompson spoke of his strong support for the idea of appointing federal judges that will uphold the Constitution of the United States above their personal beliefs and prejudices. He ranked the presidential duties of appointing judges right up next to national security in terms of importance.

While appointing judges and national security rank high on Senator Thompson’s list of important presidential duties, it was the immigration issue that seemed to get the most attention today. This grates on my nerves a little since the immigration issues in this country have only been a big concern since September 11, 2001. A large portion of the general population of this country seems to have been put under some sort of hypnosis that makes them think that unsecured borders and illegal immigrants are closely tied to the events of 9/11. I will concede that immigration and border security are valid issues that a president should be concerned about, but in my opinion, these should not be the main issues that determine how people vote in 2008.  The root of the immigration issues did not crop up since 9/11 and will not be solved by the president alone. Unfortunately these issues seemed to be much more of a crowd pleaser than any other issues on the stump today.

I would like to have asked the Senator a few questions, but time and opportunity was not available for more than a few questions. I would like to have heard some specifics on the following:

• Given his experience in Hollywood and in Washington, elaborate on his publicly stated views on how he as president could help strengthen family values.
• What is the first thing he would do as president to help put money back into the hands of the American people the way SC did with the recent sales tax changes that netted my family of five almost enough tax savings to buy a month’s worth of groceries per year.

I have yet to see the heat get turned up on Senator Thompson’s lack of specifics regarding his Christian faith. Many of the front runners claim to be Christians and that may factor into the results here in the deep south when the primary day rolls around. Some big name players in the Christian community have questioned Thompson’s Christianity. I would certainly prefer that our president be a committed Christian. At the same time, I know plenty of self proclaiming Christians who are not qualified to be president of the United States of America. It is entirely possible that many of the presidential candidates are not true believers when they get out from in front of the camera. Regardless of how outspoken Senator Thompson is or not regard his faith, the fruits of his public service support his claims to uphold values that all of my Christian friends hold dear.

Senator Thompson has as good chance of winning SC in the up coming South Carolina Republican primary according to the most recent Rassmussen Poll. I hope my friends will follow my lead and vote for Senator Fred Thompson when the polls open in 2008.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 24th, 2007 at 11:37 pm and is filed under Local, News, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.