Post 8: Fred Thomposn

Fred Thompson is one candidate that is running for the 2008 Republican Party nomination. I recently read an article about him in the L.A. times that discussed him and his background. The article goes through the stories and process when he was the Assistant U.S. Attorney. He joined up to fight crime when he was only 27 years old. Lately, as he campaigns for the 2008 election, he has portrayed himself as a crime fighter and as an individual who is generally tough on crime. In reality many of his cases were more minor, but during that career, he had 27 moon shine cases.

I am always interested as to what is going on as far as the presidential candidates go. Thus, Fred Thompson has stuck out because he really does have different credentials than many of the other candidates do. So, I have been trying to find out, based on this article, rather or not these credentials really mean anything. He was an actor on Law and Order and also an Assistant U.S. Attorney. We all know that him being an actor means nothing, but has his experiences as a U.S. Attorney really helped? As mentioned earlier, he was one for quite awhile and he had many cases. Thus, many see this as strong credentials and as stated in the article:

"Thompson also returned to politics. He spent much of the rest of the year working for the reelection of U.S. Sen. Howard Baker Jr...Thompson was a political loyalist and friend. And he had earned an important credential: He had been a prosecutor."

So, based on the information I have given, the majority does feel that he is ready to lead this country. I personally like him, but despite the amount of news I watch or amount of talk radio I listen to, I am having trouble distinguishing where he stands on certain issues. In the end, it is impressive that he has gained so much support since entering the race. Based on the amount of people that I personally know that support him, I assume that he knows what he is talking about. It is just that when I compare him to, lets say, Giuliani, who has more experience, I realize that it really has been awhile since Thompson actually worked for the government.

It will be interesting to watch the race and see if Thompson can pull out on top and that if he will ever be questioned about his experience. I remember reading somewhere that when he was asked some questions about law, his responses were not correct. When comparing him to other candidates though, he really did have a good career in politics and would make a good leader.