Let's say a fan of Fred comes up to you and says, "If Fred wins the nomination, tell me how he could beat Hillary?" Give us an idea of what you would tell him about how Fred could beat Hillary Clinton.
The first thing I will tell you, John, is that I have been quoted 2 or 3 times during the campaign as saying, since I arrived on the scene in August and since there was so much work to be done to win the nomination, I have been repeatedly quoted as saying that I spent about 3 seconds trying to figure out how to win the general election. Let me say that as a very honest caveat.
But, what I think Fred Thompson has going for him in the general election, and this is true whether it's Senator Clinton, Senator Obama, or Senator Edwards that he's running against is,
#1) He's a good, solid conservative.
#2) His image is...thoughtful and non-threatening. What I think makes Fred an absolutely superior general election candidate is that his rhetoric is not going to scare people. His policies are going to be thoughtful. It will be a little bit Reaganesque because people will disagree with his policies, but they will respect him as an individual. That offers our party a wonderful opportunity to bust out of this total "us vs. them" mentality and to reach out to the other side of the aisle, to some of the more conservative Democrats, to get them supporting the Republican nominee for President.
I think Fred has improved as a candidate dramatically in the last four months. He has done well in the debates he has been in and has steadily improved. He is a very, very capable candidate and I think he is someone that the Republican Party can very easily rally around. He is really acceptable to everyone. He is not acceptable to very few in the party. I think he can ignite the faithful of the party, he can reach out to others, and...his policies are the most conservative, in a reasonable way, of any of the Republican candidates. (Also), I think he would be viewed as less threatening and more genuine. That is (something) that would work very well for him in the general election.
Read the whole interview. There are some good questions by John and good answers by Bill; with Huck about to take a fall, there will be a 'conservative' hole to fill and Fred should be able to jump right into it.
tag: John Hawkins, presidential race, RightWingNews, Bill Lacy, Fred Thompson, Lord Nazh
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