Rev. Dobson's going after Fred again, in an email to his suporters:

"Isn't Thompson the candidate who is opposed to a Constitutional amendment to protect marriage, believes there should be 50 different definitions of marriage in the U.S., favors McCain-Feingold, won't talk at all about what he believes, and can't speak his way out of a paper bag on the campaign trail?" Dobson wrote....

Dobson and other Christian conservatives support an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would bar gay marriage nationally. Thompson has said he would support a constitutional amendment that would prohibit states from imposing their gay marriage laws on other states, which falls well short of that....

U.S. News and World Report quoted Dobson earlier this year as questioning Thompson's commitment to the Christian faith — comments Dobson contended were not put in proper context. Dobson in this week's e-mail writes that suppositions "about the former senator's never having professed to be a Christian are turning out to be accurate in substance."

At a recent campaign appearance in South Carolina, Thompson said he got his values from his parents and “the good Church of Christ.” But he said he does not belong to a church or attend church regularly at his home in McLean, Va., just outside Washington.

“I guess I’m one of those people who feel a little uncomfortable getting too inside your person and personality, but I understand it’s necessary,” Thompson said, as reported by the Spartanburg (S.C.) Herald-Journal. “I’m doing the best I can with it, because I don’t hold myself out to be a perfect person. I’ve not always met the standard that I’ve set for myself, but I know that I’m right with God and I’m right with the people I love, and the people I love are right with me.”

UPDATE : It was pointed out in the comments that James Dobson isn't a "Reverend." He's just a dude. I thought he was a "Reverend." My apologies.

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As most of you know, RealClearPolitics maintains rolling averages of the latest primary polls, both nationally and in the early primary states.

Given their methodology, taking first place in their South Carolina stats actually means something.

UPDATE : If Mitt's the nominee, the GOP might have trouble holding on to the Deep South. Tied with Hillary in Alabama? Not good.

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Wired has a great article on how technologically savvy Fred Thompson is:

[Thompson's] tech acumen showed up again last week when -- after months in an unofficial shadow campaign -- Thompson announced he would kick off his official run for the White House with a webcast this Thursday. "By announcing via webcast, Fred is able to take his consistently mainstream conservative message directly to the voters who are already responding to that message with a strong upwelling of grassroots support," Bill Lacy, Thompson's campaign manager, said in a statement....

Thompson's highest-profile tech legacy in his congressional record is the establishment of an information-sharing and security infrastructure across the federal government. Thompson was the prime Senate sponsor of a bill called GISRA (Government Information Security Act), signed into law in 2000. It forced government agencies to conduct annual security audits and report the -- usually embarrassing -- bottom line results to the public.

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Posted at NRO:

Is it just me, or does Thompson come across as a guy who just doesn't give enough of a hoot to pander? There was nothing artificial about him, nothing prepackaged. Not only does he not smell of desperate effort to be liked by the audience, he seems like he's equally happy with winning or with going home to a happy life with Jeri, the kids, and playing an authority figure in whatever upcoming television project Dick Wolf has. This does not seem like a man who will flip-flop depending on political winds; if you don't like him... he really doesn't seem to care.

Posted by: Ragnar at 11:12 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Fred's getting good news from Arizona:

Arizona is the home state for John McCain, but Fred Thompson is the strongest GOP Presidential candidate in the state at this time.

A Rasmussen Reports telephone survey found that Thompson leads Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton by seventeen percentage points, 51% to 34%. Thompson will be formally announcing his candidacy this week.

FORT WORTH – Rep. Duncan Hunter of California will go down as the official winner of the first-ever Texas Republican straw poll.

But what followers of politics will be talking about is former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson's second-place finish.

His strong showing cements the actor turned presidential contender as the conservative alternative to front-runners like former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Arizona Sen. John McCain...

Not bad for a candidate who didn't make any personal overtures to Texas voters because he wasn't officially in the race.

His band of Texas "Fred Heads" picked up the slack, calling more than 3,000 potential delegates before the straw poll began. And only the ubiquitous backers of Rep. Ron Paul of Lake Jackson bested the Fred Heads' enthusiasm during the event.

In other news, the FredHeads have some "FRED 2008" bumper stickers available for FREE. First come, first served.

Posted by: Ragnar at 09:16 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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That's what the FredHeads are hearing...

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Somehow I've been put on the left-wing Media Matters e-mail list (thanks a lot readers, ha-ha). Today I got an e-mail from them whining about that hard-hitting journalist John King not challenging Fred Thompson on his abortion stance.

But other than the general stupidity of the Media Matters article, isn't it telling that they decided not only to attack Fred but also to send out mass e-mails about it? It's almost as if they were afraid of something.....

UPDATE: Sock puppets for the DNC fear the Fred?

UPDATE II: You expected me to read a MM article? Post corrected with less stupid.

Posted by: Rusty at 05:07 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Footage from the Iowa Straw Poll:

If you listen closely, you can hear a small group of FredHeads chanting "Fred Thompson!" in between the chants of "Ron Paul!"

Posted by: Ragnar at 09:44 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Apparently, Fred doesn't have any hard feelings against the FredHeads for their utter failure to win the Iowa Straw Poll for him. In fact, Fred says their efforts inspired him:

Well friends, the Iowa Straw Poll is done and there weren't many surprises. Except for maybe that small band of Fred Heads from Texas who drove up to Iowa. I enjoyed reading about their efforts to make a mark over the weekend!...

When I read about those kids from Texas it inspires me to keep working to get our message and our vision for America's future out to as many of our friends, supporters, and potential supporters as we can...

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And I thought I was a hardcore FredHead...

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The FredHeads are already making excuses for their failure to win the Iowa Straw Poll for Fred:

Through the course of the day, four volunteers handed out approximately 1,500 bumper stickers, 1,000 business cards and 900 premade buttons. We also manufactured and passed out another 500 buttons on-site and signed up almost 100 new Iowa FredHeads.

No, we didn't win the big game, but in our defense, we suspect the other candidates might have spent a little more than we did...

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The Texas FredHeads set out this morning from Oklahoma and have now rolled into Iowa.

It is now only a matter of time...

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Details at FredHeadsUSA.

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He'll be in Houston and Dallas on July 25th. More details here and here.

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Haystack on the DNC's frantic, anti-Fred push:

Don't you just love these guys? I mean, come on, when was the last time such scrams and rails were uttered by an opposition before an opponent had even thrown his hat in the ring? What, exactly, are these people worried about? I'll tell you. They're worried they will spend jillions of dollars, and he'll walk away with the election without even breaking a sweat.

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This from The Huffington Post:

FRED is in the building. The Wayfarer that is. Former Senator Fred Thompson makes his first Granite State visit on Thursday. Thompson will appear at a fundraiser for the NH Senate Republican Victory PAC. Senate Minority Leader Ted Gatsas got Thompson there by reaching out to volunteers working to draft Thompson. The Fredheads in New Hampshire are led by Steve Smith, who was NH Director, but is now "Head of the North Territory," which also includes New York, Connecticut, and Maryland...

Asked about Thompson's appeal, Smith says you hear the full range of reasons. Foremost, Smith says, Thompson's been a consistent unapologetic conservative and not compromised on a lot of the big issues.

"They can't tell you why they're supporting him, that's the great part. They just look at all the other candidates and they look at him and they say, 'thats the guy,'" opines Smith. "After the debates in Manchester, Fred was on Hannity and Colmes afterwards and he can reach out and grab the person in the living room and get his point across."

Posted by: Ragnar at 07:30 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Haystack posts an excellent write-up on Fred's solid track record on federalism.

The latest Rasmussen poll shows Fred FOUR POINTS ahead of Giuliani.

Last but not least, Fred is making a swing through the Eastern U.S. starting today.

Posted by: Ragnar at 12:50 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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...that hot chicks are for Fred Thompson.

If you would like to take part in our brand new super exciting Blog Sabbath Hot Chicks for Fred 08 poster contest, send yours to Vinnie because he needs the hassle.

Fatwas will be issued.

Update: Fatwas issued!

The much coveted, "I cut u neck fatwa", issued against Vinnie for playing along.

The, "Damn I'm good Fatwa", issued against Howie for being so effing cool.

The brand new, "Ya'll suck!" fatwa issued against the rest of you for being a bunch of non participating schmucks.

Posted by: Howie at 10:51 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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Ragnar should consider this a preemptive Fred Thompson link. Video: I've got a crush on Fred Thompson('s politics). Needs more babes. How about setting up a 'Hot Chicks for Thompson website'? Any one??

Update by Howie: Ask and ye shall receive.

Well, Whaddya Know? The real Women for Fred Thompson site here.

Posted by: Rusty at 02:04 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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Fred Thompson spoke today in London on foreign policy. The video below is about Iraq and is part two of a four part series recording parts of the speech. All four videos can be seen here.

The full text of the speech can be found here, but here's what I found to be most interesting:

Many in Europe simply have a different view from that of the United States as to the threat of radical Islamic fundamentalism. They think that the threat is overblown. That despite September 11th, and July 7th and other attacks in Europe and elsewhere, America is the main target and therefore the problem is basically an American one. The fact that no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq at a particular point in time resolves the matter for them. Also, they see no meaningful connection between terrorist groups and countries like Iran.

Admittedly, even some in America think that the threat is overblown, and that if we had not gone into Iraq, we’d have no terrorism problem.

However, most Americans feel differently. We understand that the Western world is in an international struggle with jihadists who see this struggle as part of a conflict that has gone on for centuries, and who won’t give up until Western countries are brought to their knees. I agree with this view. I believe that the forces of civilization must work together with common purpose to defeat the terrorists who for their own twisted purposes have murdered thousands, and who are trying to acquire technology to murder millions more.

When terrorists in their video performances pledge more and bigger attacks to come, against targets in both Europe and America, these are not to be shrugged off as idle boasts. They must be taken at their word.

As Borat would say, very nice. Is Rusty becoming a Fredhead? Only time will tell......

Posted by: Rusty at 12:09 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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