On Friday, my good buddy MrMinority had this to say about Fred Thompson, who is doing really well in my personal opinion of who should be our next President.

No, the spirit of Ronald Reagan lives in the one person that hasn't announced his candidacy yet, that man is Fred Thompson. If you have read up on Fred, and if you have read his recent columns posted on Townhall and Redstate, then you will see that the spirit of Ronnie does live in Fred. His position on the War on Terrorism, limited Gov't, States Rights, the 2nd Amendment, Immigration, Gay Marriage, Abortion, Embryonic Stem Cell Research all are the positions that a Reagan Conservative would take.

I hope Fred hurries up and announces, because this country needs him.

I've already commented on Fred's position on the Second Amendment. Not ideal, but WAY better then you're going to get from any other viable candidate. Still, I haven't been satisfied, as Fred voted for the McCain-Feingold repeal of the First Amendment, an intolerable violation of the Bill of Rights if ever there were one. Fred has a lot of explaining to do, as I've said before, about this vote if I'm to vote for him, so I responded to MrM as follows:

I like Fred as a candidate.

Still, he's got a lot of 'splainin' to do with regard to his yea vote on McCain's repeal of the First Amendment.

Time will tell.

RWR

A lot of explaining, indeed. Anyone who supported that piece of rights-grabbing shit is unfit for office unless he/she can make it clear exactly what the hell he/she was thinking, and why we should believe he/she won't get involved in future usurpations of this nature. MrM responded:

RWR,
I have read what Fred said on this, and he said he thought it would be better than what was in place before, and admits that the legislation is a piece of garbage now. One of the things we like about Fred is he is willing to admit his mistakes and correct them.

Mr Minority

He did? He did? He is? I never saw anything of the sort, so I asked for a link. This is what I got:

Many on the right remain angry Mr. Thompson supported the campaign finance law sponsored by his friend, John McCain. "There are problems with people giving politicians large sums of money and then asking them to pass legislation," Mr. Thompson says. Still, he notes he proposed the amendment to raise "the $1,000 per person hard money" federal contribution limit. Conceding that McCain-Feingold hasn't worked as intended, and is being riddled with new loopholes, he throws his hands open in exasperation. "I'm not prepared to go there yet, but I wonder if we shouldn't just take off the limits and have full disclosure with harsh penalties for not reporting everything on the Internet immediately."

Better than what was in place before? I don't see that here. Admits the legislation is a piece of garbage? I'm not sure cenceding that McCain-Feingold hasn't worked as intended equates to admitting it's a "piece of garbage". In fact, it sounds more like the typical Leftspeak similar to "mend it, don't end it". I also don't see this as any kind of admission of any mistake. Fred just threw his arms up and made a suggestion for an amendment.

Look, MrM. You are one of the most thoughtful bloggers on the web, but to say that Thompson has come clean even the slightest on this issue is an insult to my intelligence, and worse, to your own. This appears to be the only issue on which Fred and I part ways, but I don't feel any better about this vote today than I did prior to following that link.

I do think there is reason to believe that Fred Thompson CAN come up with a reasonable explanation as to why he voted as he did, as well as what he will do in the future to right this wrong in which he participated. When that time comes, I'll gladly listen. Hopefully, I'll have plenty of reason to be excited about going to the polls.

Come on, Fred. What say?

RWR