As per Debbie Schlussel:

Don’t believe Thompson’s claim that he understands the Islamist jihadist threat to America. His announcement, yesterday, of his choice of Spencer Abraham as campaign manager, told us everything we need to know. Although Abraham, of Lebanese descent, is a Christian, he is a career water carrier for Islamists of the most extremist stripe and made that the cornerstone of his failed, one-term Senate career and equally lousy tenure as Energy Secretary.

…

As a Senator, he took marching orders from James Zogby of the pan-Islamist Arab American Institute, opposing profiling of Arabs, the use of secret evidence against Muslims (at the behest of Muslim groups), attempting to repeal the Clinton counterterrorism package, refusing to fund computer tracking of student and other foreign aliens, giving millions in our tax money right to Hezbollah, and putting CAIR on the map on Capitol Hill (taking the group’s officials around to meet other Senators and Members of Congress). He took campaign contributions from the relatives of Hezbollah-backed top Lebanese officials after he got the group millions in our tax money.

Spence was one of only two Senators in the entire U.S. Senate who refused to sign a letter calling on President Clinton to condemn Palestinian terrorism and Yasser Arafat. This was at the height of a series of homicide bombings in Israel in 1999 and 2000.

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Michelle Malkin adds that besides being an Islamist sympathyzer, Spencer Abraham is also an Open Borders advocate:

In my 2002 book Invasion (p. 71, 76), I noted the open-borders obstructionism of former Sen. Spencer Abraham (R-Michigan), who fought to block the implementation of two different tracking databases–one for foreign student visa holders and the other for all temporary visitors (which was mandated by Section 110 of the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act). Abraham led efforts to starve the first database of funding and crusaded several times to kill Section 110 altogether. On September 11, 2001, neither of those databases was in place. To this day, they remain incomplete.

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This thoroughly researched article by Richard Viguerie sums up what conservatives can expect from Fred Dalton Thompson were he to become the next president. Here is an excerpt:

 

Conservatives who look to Thompson for salvation need to pause and consider his record—a record that includes these votes:

 

♦ FOR restricting the rights of grassroots organizations to communicate with the public. See ACU’s vote 3, 1998.

 

♦ FOR allowing the IRS to require political and policy organizations to disclose their membership—a vote against the constitutional rights of free association and privacy. (The Clinton Administration used such IRS intimidation against conservative groups that opposed them.) See ACU’s vote 11, 2000.

 

♦ AGAINST impeachment proceedings against President Clinton, specifically the reappointment and reauthorization of managers (drawn from the Republican membership of the House Judiciary Committee) to conduct the impeachment trial in the Senate. See ACU’s vote 1, 1999.

 

♦ AGAINST an accelerated elimination of the “marriage penalty.” See ACU’s vote 10, 2001.

 

♦ FOR handouts to politicians, specifically taxpayer funding of presidential campaigns. See ACU’s vote 6, 1995.

 

♦ FOR handouts to politicians, specifically congressional perks such as postage and broadcast time funded by taxpayers. See ACU’s vote 13, 1996.

 

♦ AGAINST restraints on federal spending, specifically the Phil Gramm (R-TX) amendment to limit non-defense discretionary spending to the fiscal 1997 levels requested by President Clinton. See ACU’s vote 6, 1997.

 

♦ FOR affirmative action in federal contracts. See ACU’s vote 9, 1995.

 

♦ FOR the Legal Services Corporation, the perennial liberal boondoggle that provides political activism disguised as “legal services” to Democratic constituencies. See ACU’s vote 16, 1995, and vote 17, 1999.

 

♦ FOR an increase in the minimum wage, which, of course, increases unemployment among the young and poor. See ACU’s vote 16, 1996.

 

♦ FOR President Clinton’s nomination of Dr. David Satcher as U.S. Surgeon General. Among other things, Satcher opposed a full ban on partial-birth abortion. See ACU’s vote 1, 1998.

 

♦ FOR open-ended military commitments, specifically in regard to U.S. troops in Kosovo. See ACU’s vote 8, 2000.

 

♦ FOR corporate welfare, specifically the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). See ACU’s vote 23. 1999.

 

♦ AGAINST worker and shareholder rights, specifically the Hatch (R-UT) amendment to require unions and corporations to obtain permission from dues-paying members or shareholders before spending money on political activities. See ACU’s votes 4 and 5, 2001.

 

♦ AGAINST property rights and FOR unlimited presidential power, specifically by allowing President Clinton to implement the American Heritage Rivers Initiative, which he established by executive order, without congressional approval. See ACU’s vote 20, 1997.

 

♦ FOR restricting the First Amendment (free speech) rights of independent groups. See ACU’s vote 23, 1997.

 

♦ FOR the trial lawyers lobby, and specifically against a bill that would put common-sense limitations on the medical malpractice suits that increase health costs for all of us. (Of course! He’s been a trial lawyer himself for some three decades.) See ACU’s vote 18, 2002.

 

And, last but not least:

 

♦ FOR limitations on campaign freedom of speech, by limiting contributions to national political parties to $2,000 and limiting the rights of individuals and groups to participate in the political process in the two months before elections. See ACU’s vote 7, 2002.

 

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And this is only the tip of the iceberg. We highly recommend that conscientious conservatives read the entire article located here.

As per Terry Jeffrey:

However, when Fred Thompson was in the United States Senate, both times he ran for the Senate he ran as a pro-choice candidate. He was against the Republican pro-life plank in 1996, when I was out in San Diego fighting to keep it in the platform. And I think he has to explain much more persuasively than Mitt Romney did why it is that he is now a pro-life.

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Flip-flopping Fred?

UPDATE: CBN’s David Brody has uncovered more evidence to support this story. Read it here. Excerpt from 1996:

Fred Thompson says he seldom hears about abortion in campaign travels throughout Tennessee and hopes the issue is downplayed at the Republican National Convention. The Tennessee Republican, a pro-choice defender in a party with an anti-abortion tilt, is preparing for next week’s convention in San Diego. He said the party must avoid distracting issues and focus on electing Bob Dole as president. ‘We need to concentrate on what brings us together and not what divides us,’

In a recent appearance on the program Hannity and Colmes, Fred Dalton Thompson stated very clearly that getting the Illegal Alien Trespassers out of the country “is not gonna happen” and that the solution is to “work out a deal where they can have some aspirations of citizenship” but that we shouldn’t make it “easy” so that it is not unfair to the other Aliens waiting to get in. Pro Amnesty Fred?

As reported by the site NumbersUSA:

IMMIGRATION PROFILE OF SEN. FRED THOMPSON:

 

Voted to grant amnesty to close to one million illegal aliens from Nicaragua and Cuba in 1997

Sen. Thompson voted to grant legal status to Nicaraguans and Cubans who had lived in the United States illegally since 1995, along with their spouses and minor unmarried children. The overall ten year impact of this legislation will be the addition of some 967,000 people to U.S. population.

 

Voted in 1996 to continue chain migration

Sen. Thompson in 1996 voted against the Simpson Amendment to S.1664. It was a vote in favor of a chain migration system that has been the primary reason for annual immigration levels snowballing from less than 300,000 in 1965 to around a million. Sen. Thompson supported provisions that allow immigrants to send for their adult relatives. Then each of those relatives can send for their and their spouse’s adult relatives, creating a never-ending and ever-growing chain. The bi-partisan Barbara Jordan Commission recommended doing away with the adult relative categories (begun only in the 1950s) in order to lessen wage depression among lower-paid American workers. The Simpson Amendment attempted to carry out that recommendation. But Sen. Thompson helped kill the reform by voting with the 80-20 majority against the amendment. Sen. Thompson’s vote helped continue a level of immigration that the Census Bureau projects will result in a doubled U.S. population in the next century.

 

Voted in favor of chain migration in 1996

Sen. Thompson voted in 1996 against the Feinstein Amendment to S.1664. The Feinstein Amendment would have reduced annual admission of spouses and minor children of citizens to 480,000 and significantly reduced annual limits other categories of chain migration such as parents of citizens and adult unmarried children of citizens. By voting against the Feinstein Amendment, Sen. Thompson voted in favor of a system of chain migration that has been the primary reason for annual immigration levels snowballing from less than 300,000 in 1965 to around a million today.

 

Voted to allow firms to lay off Americans to make room for foreign workers in 1998

Before the Senate passed the H-1B doubling bill (S.1723), Sen. Thompson had an opportunity to vote for a measure requiring U.S. firms to check a box on a form attesting that they had first sought an American worker for the job. Sen. Thompson voted against that, joining those who said the requirement would give government too much authority over corporations’ right to hire whomever they please from whatever country.

 

In 1996, removed higher fines for businesses which hire illegal aliens

Sen. Thompson, in committee consideration of S.1664 protected businesses from having to pay higher fines when they are caught hiring illegal aliens. Under the idea that current fines were not enough of a deterrent against businesses cutting their labor costs by hiring illegal aliens, the Senate immigration subcommittee approved higher fines. Various study commissions have found that the willingness of U.S. businesses to hire illegal aliens is the No. 1 incentive for foreign workers to become illegal aliens here. But Sen. Thompson voted with a 10-8 majority in the Judiciary Committee to remove the higher fines from the 1996 legislation against illegal immigration.

 

Tried to kill voluntary pilot programs for workplace verification in 1996

Sen. Thompson voted IN FAVOR of the Abraham Amendment to S.1664. He was part of a coalition of pro-business conservatives and liberal civil libertarians who tried to use the amendment to kill the establishment of voluntary pilot programs in high-immigration states. The programs were intended to assist employers in verifying whether people they had just hired had the legal right to work in this country. Such verification is considered by many experts to be an essential tool for withdrawing the job magnet from illegal aliens. The verification system established by S.1664 did not involve an ID card. Rather it provided that when new workers wrote down their Social Security number on an application, employers could phone into a national verification system to help assure that the number was a real number and belonged to the person giving it. In earlier smaller pilot programs, businesses had hailed the verification system for making it easier for them to avoid hiring illegal aliens. Sen. Thompson was unsuccessful in stopping the voluntary verification system. The Senate tabled the by a 54-46 vote.

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CBN’s David Brody has uncovered a Tennesseans for Choice questionnaire filled out by Fred Dalton Thompson circa 1996 in which he answered questions about his personal philosophy on the issue of abortion.

Fred Dalton Thompson bluntly answered with a “NO” when asked if he favored the criminalization of abortion.

Furthermore, Fred Dalton Thompson expressed support for the public financing of abortions in specific cases.

And as if that wasn’t enough, when asked about services or programs that he supports in order to minimize unplanned pregnancies, Fred Dalton Thompson stated that he voted to provide funding for the infamous Title X family planning programs.

You can read his answers to the questionnaire here.

While the Conservatives Against Fred Thompson don’t hold Fred Dalton Thompson’s movie roles against him personally we are concerned by recent developments in the political landscape (ie. George Allen “macaca” episode) that point to a growing intolerance of any hint of racism connected to those who seek higher office.

Fred Dalton Thompson played a White Supremacist character bent on demonizing the Jewish folk and who disparagingly referred to blacks as “mud people”. At one point he is shown attending a neonazi rally where he is presented with a copy of Mein Kampf in a scene where he is visibly touched and shows a great depth of emotion.

Predictably, the opposition is already sharpening its knives.

The Conservatives Against Fred Thompson present Knox Pooley:

In another movie role that can be the cause of ridicule in some circles, Fred Dalton Thompson played an aging Superman:

Excerpts as reported by ABC News:

Former Tennessee Senator and potential Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson has shut down a political action committee that paid out more money to his son than it did in political donations.

Federal Election Commission records analyzed by the Blotter on ABCNews.com show Thompson’s committee paid $178,000 to his son’s political consulting firm, Daniel Thompson Associates, since 2003.

In contrast, the committee made only $66,700 in contributions to other campaigns and political committees in the four years since Thompson retired from the Senate.

———————————————————————–

Contacted at his Nashville, Tenn., political consulting business, Daniel Thompson told ABC News he couldn’t talk because he was “about to leave for a business trip” and referred all questions to a spokesman for his father, who did not return calls from ABC News.

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Fred Dalton Thompson’s report card as rated by the Americans for Better Immigration: