I was pretty hard on MrM in my last post. He's a good friend - really, he is. We simply part ways when we get to the point where someone wants to suggest that Fred Thompson has given an adequate explanation as to 1. why he voted to repeal the First Amendment, and 2. why we should believe he won't engage in future usurpations of that nature.

MrM left another link in the comment area, which yielded this quote from a recent interview with Chris Wallace:

I came from the outside to Congress. And it always seemed strange to me. We've got a situation where people could give politicians huge sums of money, which is the soft money situation at that time, and then come before those same politicians and ask them to pass legislation for them.

I mean, you get thrown in jail for stuff like that in the real world. And so I always thought that there was some reasonable limitation that ought to be put on that, and you know, looking back on history, Barry Goldwater in his heyday felt the same thing. (my emphasis)

OK. Well then why take the First Amendment away from those who use it responsibly? You seem to take that stand when it comes to the Second. Why not the First? Why not simply apply the same "real world" laws that get other people thrown in jail and punish these perpetrators that way? After all, people serving in government are expected to obey those laws as well, and if there are people getting "thrown in jail", then obviously there are laws already in place that will remedy the situation.

Needless to say, I'm not impressed. There's nothing here that addresses the issues I have brought forth with regard to this vote. If Fred Thompson can stand up and defend the Second Amendment (albeit a little wishy-washy), I see no reason for him to see any legitimacy in McCain-Feingold. I further see no reason to believe he will turn around start standing up for our God-given rights as guaranteed by the Constitution in these statements.

Fred is an EXCELLENT candidate for President - don't get me wrong. Still, he's going to have to come up with better than this if he is to get my vote. I do see Fred as a very deliberate and thoughtful candidate. I do expect him to come clean on this at some point. I do have faith. But, then again, I had faith in the Republican Congress as well ...

Time will tell.

RWR