Friends with Fred

Facebook notified me that Fred Thompson confirmed my friend request.

Now, is this really Fred? Or some dude in a basement working for Fred and confirming everyone who wants to be Fred’s friend?

Fred Thompson Backs McCain

A tip of the conservative ball cap to James Wigderson.

No surprise here.

Fred Thompson, the one-time Republican presidential candidate, endorsed Sen. John McCain Friday, calling on the party to “close ranks” behind the presumed nominee.

McCain-Huckabee

The news media and the blogosphere, especially that part of the Cheddarsphere here in southeastern Wisconsin have been speculating (although some are skeptical) on some kind of deal worked out between John McCain and Mike Huckabee in that Huckabee would become McCain’s vice presidential candidate if (now when) McCain secures the Republican nomination.

It would be hard not to draw that conclusion. After Huckabee lost three consecutive races, after South Carolina, he stayed in the race. He has been polite and praising John McCain, while negative toward Mitt Romney. And then there was the West Virginia convention.

But I don’t see Huckabee as being the best match. If McCain is hoping to offer an olive branch to listeners/readers/followers of Limbaugh-Coulter-Glenn Beck, I don’t think Huckabee has too great a standing with them either. He might help with social conservatives (evangelicals, et al.).

McCain’s age will force him to look for a younger person that could be seen as stepping into the Presidency (e.g., NOT Dan Quayle). The presence of Obama, Clinton or both on the Democratic ticket will bring pressure to select a woman or an African American or both (Condi Rice, anyone?). And there is the regional balance, seemingly less important in McCain’s case since he’s done well in the NE and South.

Fred Thompson would be an obvious choice. Would Fred take it? I doubt it, but stranger things have happened this cycle. Fred is a friend of McCain and might do it for the good of the party. Fred would appeal to all three conservative factions (fiscal, social and security).

But Fred’s not young.

Rice is connected with the administration and I don’t think McCain will go for anyone with connections to this administration.

Fred Dooley has predicted Haley Barbour, the governor of Mississippi. He’s youngish (60), conservative like Thompson, and has worked with Democrats in Mississippi.

There is also Romney, although it would be hard to imagine these two getting together now. But if Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan could almost do it, I suppose anything is possible, especially in politics.

Other candidates are possible, Hunter or Tancredo. They might help McCain in the mountain west, where Romney won on Tuesday.

Who else is there? Or is there no one who would save this ticket from a revolt on the right?

McCain beats Romney in Florida

From Yahoo! News

Returns from 64 percent of the state’s precincts showed McCain, the Arizona senator, with 36 percent of the vote and Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, with 31 percent.

That percentage will probably hold about the same when all returns are in. As winner, McCain gets all 57 of the delegates at stake.

Hillary Clinton won the Democratic side but will get no delegates (so far) because Florida, as well as Michigan, which Clinton also won, are being penalized by the DNC for having their contests early.

McCain won among moderates (moderate Republicans? Is there such a thing?), veterans, those concerned about the economy, Hispanics and senior citizens. Romney won among conservatives, including social conservatives, it may be presumed from the abortion question, and those opposed to easier route for those here illegally.

For those interested, evangelicals were split between Huckabee, McCain, and Romney.

Speculation is rampant that Giuliani will drop out and endorse McCain (link via Letters in Bottles).

One could question Rudy’s strategy. Certainly, in my view, tactical mistakes have been made by Romney, Huckabee, Fred Thompson and Giuliani in not contesting certain races. McCain has been in them all.

A Waukesha Carnival 01-29-2008

I apologize for not posting over the weekend. Just wiped out from work, I guess.

Anyway, following are those posts in the Waukesha County portion of the Cheddarsphere that I found most interesting. They appear in no particular order.

Mayor Nelson posted his memo that he usually posts before a Common Council meeting.

James Wigderson had some advice on picking the new school superintendent.

The Asian Badger posted his thoughts about a piece that was printed in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last Sunday concerning the business climate in Milwaukee.

Jessica McBride wants folks to stop “disrespecting social conservatives” not that many folks will listen, but I agree.

Troy Fullerton ponders whether a conservative of conscience could vote for John McCain. I say yes, since McCain’s conservative rating matches closely with Fred Thompson’s rating among other well-known conservatives.

Kyle Prast at Practically Speaking tells about the trials of going green.

Scott Feldstein asks, “If there were a magic button which would make it so that no sexually active couple ever became pregnant unless they explicitly wanted to, would you push it?” As he says, as a group, pro-lifers would say no, but I’m one of those who would say yes.

If you haven’t followed the Kevin Fischer brouhaha, you’ve missed a doosie. Cindy Kilkenny, now blogging at Fairly Conservative, was involved and even James Wigderson got pulled into it. Be ready to do some reading and clicking if you hope to follow this.[ed. - For those surfing over here, please note, I have no horse in this race. Some of the posts and comments have been removed and I have not followed it from the beginning, nor do I particularly want to. My interest is the amount of bandwidth that has been expended in this endeavor.]

Yorick’s Persiflage reports on a health care forum held at Carroll College.

Jeff, whose posts at Five Points Blog are usually found here, has another blog, Eat Wisconsin, which is going under some reconstruction. Keep your eye on it.

Spring City Chronicle proposes something called the Larry Nelson Memorial Auditorium. I just give his warning,

This post advocates public spending on what some might call a grand scale. This may cause my more sensitive conservative and libertarian readers to suffer the vapors or have a conniption.

Ya gotta love it when anyone uses the word conniption.

Finally, Lisa at Sequentially Speaking has a list of the Marvel comic books that have “Lost” easter eggs in them.

That’s all there is this week. If you have some you’d like to suggest for this week or next week, let me know, either in the comments or e-mail to thoughtfulconservative [at] yahoo [dot] com .

Fred Thompson drops out

From Politico.com

Fred Thompson dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination for president with a brief statement saying he hoped “my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort.

The country and the party have benefited, and will continue to benefit from, not only Thompson, but other Republicans who were in the race and are now on the sidelines.