Conservatives, Constitution Party

Is Fred Thompson A Conservative?

By Basil Harrington,

Friday, September 21, 2007

There has been much discussion as to how liberal Fred Thompson may be. A blogger recently wrote: "Make no mistake about it, Fred 'CFR' Thompson is a neocon through and through. The only real conservatives in the race are Tancredo, Paul and Hunter."

Regarding immigration, which most conservatives consider to be the most pressing issue, Fred Thompson has had a rather lackluster track record. "Overall, Americans for Better Immigration gives him a career grade of C; on chain migration, C; visa lottery, C-; reducing unnecessary visas, F; on reducing asylum fraud, C-; on reducing amnesties, D; and on interior enforcement, C+. Although he was tough on border control, he was lacking in almost every other area."*

He has supported affirmative action, lobbied for abortion, is a fellow at the neocon American Enterprise Institute, and a member of the neoliberal Council on Foreign Relations. He also adamantly supports free trade. Historically, conservatives have opposed free trade, and they should, but many in the GOP have been "neoconned" on this issue.

In short, the more conservatives learn about Thompson, the more unacceptable he becomes. As one commentator put it: "Giuliani, McCain, Huckabee, Gingrich, Brownback and Fred Thompson all support the third-world invasion of the U.S. Unless Tancredo, Hunter or Paul gets the nomination, I'll have no choice but to vote third party."

Many conservatives are already expecting the worse, which is why they have signed the pledge at the Conservative Exodus Project**, promising not to vote for another neocon. They say that unless a real conservative receives the nomination (like Tancredo, Hunter or Paul), they promise to vote third party, probably Constitution Party or America First Party.