Fred - On Meet The Press
So I was reading this review of Thompson’s performance this afternoon from PMSNBC cause I don’t subscribe to local channels via my satellite service I can’t watch meet the press, etc, which is actually a blessing even if occasionally like today I wanted to watch. Anyway, so I get to end of the article which seems like it was trying to stretch the performance into a negative one and I come across the final note about 30 “umms” and 9 throat clearings which pretty much confirmed to me I probably wasn’t reading an unbiased account. Following that I read another review over at Politico which was more friendly to Thompson. Eventually I finally found the full video over at Ian Schwartz’s site (good resource I might add) and watched for myself. It runs about 40 minutes if your interested.
Here’s a quick paraphrased recap, none of which is really news or a departure from prior statements.
Read
Iran: Be prepared to attack them try everything else first, including supporting those opposed to current government. Our options are something like not good, bad, and really bad, will not be a easy decision for the president.
Iraq: The world, friend and foe alike are watching closely. We finally have a group on the ground that seems to know what the hell their doing, our troops and commanders should be allowed time to continue to be successful, now is the worst time to be talking about timetables and jacking funding from underneath them.
Pakistan: Musharraf knows his country better then we do, while recent events are not encouraging we shouldn’t overreact until we understand what it is Musharraf thinks he sees and his reasoning for his most recent actions.
Torture: If and when specifically needed to protect America - you dam tooting!
Abortion: No constitutional amendment protecting unborn, Roe v Wade should be overturned and the matter left to states. Would not vote in favor of a state law criminalizing abortion even though opposes the practice. Does not want the federal government involved in supporting the practice in any way.
Schiavo: Less government involvement the better.
Gay marriage: Judges have turned marriage on it’s head, would support legislation to correct the problem judges are creating. If a state legislature and it’s governor decided to redefine marriage that would be ok even though FT doesn’t agree.
Philip Martin: Good friend ofwhich he’s not spoke with yet about the revelations of his cocaine dealing past. Not about to immediately throw a friend under the bus over what seems to be some bad decisions made some 20+ years ago.
Health: Legitimate issue, doing well, will continue to make available information and documentation or whatever else has been customary in the past.
I thought he did pretty darn well, certainly better then in the debates, gave direct and what seemed to me at least thoughtful, if not good answers on the few topics discussed. Didn’t surprise me at all that Tim didn’t ask a single question about immigration, it did surprise me that Russert didn’t cut Thompson off and interject as much as I’m used to seeing him do. I really think this “Philip Martin” BS is pathetic and don’t really give a flying corn flake what some friend and campaign member did some 20 odd years ago unless it directly involves the candidate. The only thing I learned from this interview was that FT would not vote for a state law criminalizing as he put it “young girls and doctors”, the federalism piece was already well known. The performance didn’t give me the urge to write him a check, but then again nobody’s performance to date has had that effect with me yet.
— KnightHawk