The nature of Fred Thompson's religious faith continues to be a topic of some discussion in the news and the blogosphere. A.C. Kleinheider writes:
It consistently amazes me how concerned with a politician's religious faith some conservatives can be. It is hard enough to try and determine what a politician stands for and you are going to try and determine whether he has taken Christ into his heart or not?
But some evangelical leaders think it's important.
Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Religious and Ethics Liberty Commission, told The Hill that Thompson would be a formidable candidate and more likely to shake up the top tier of GOP candidates - Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and John McCain - than if former House Speaker Newt Gingrich entered the race.
Thompson, the former senator-cum-television star who is considering a bid, is "a masterful retail politician" who could appeal to a wide swath of voters, including a currently dissatisfied group of social conservatives, Land said.
"Fred Thompson reminds me of a Southern-fried Reagan," Land said. "To see Fred work a crowd must be what it was like to watch Rembrandt paint."
I'm a Christian Republican who tends to vote on defense/foreign policy issues first, fiscal/economic issues second and "values" issues third. I prefer candidates who believe the Constitution means what it says, who think government is more likely to cause problems than solve them, who honestly believe the greatest resource in America is the intelligence and ingenuity of the American people and that the best way to tap that resource is to increase freedom and decrease government.
There are, by the way, a lot of Republican voters like me. We're small-l libertarians who believe in a robust foreign policy, low taxes, and small government other than defense, law enforcement, border protection and such security matters.
The most publicly demonstrative-of-his-faith Christian we've ever had in the Oval Office was Jimmy Carter, and while I have no doubt in the authenticity and depth of his faith and expect to pass him on the golden streets of Heaven some day, he was an unmitigated disaster as president.
We're not electing a new national pastor next year, we're electing a new president to lead America in the long war against Islamist terror and to handle big issues like taxes, illegal immigration, education, the environment, international relations and such.
I don't particularly care what church Fred Thompson goes to or doesn't go to, or if/how/when/or where he accepted Christ. Ditto, by the way, for Giuliani, Romney, McCain, Huckabee, Brownback, Gilmore, Gingrich, Hunter and the other Thompson.
But others do, so as long as they keep yapping about it I guess I'll keep blogging about it.
I have gone on truck/bus tours with Fred. After the one in 2000 I came back and titled my photo album of the trip "Doin' the Lord's Work" as Fred used that phrase so often. We also went on the Road to Damascus quite often. I didn't hear anything at the Billy Graham Crusade at Titan's stadium that I hadn't heard Fred say on the bus tour. It seemed genuine to me.
Posted by: Martha | April 6, 2007 6:21 PM | Permalink to Comment