Republican presidential contender Fred Thompson bills himself as a consistent conservative, but he had to defend his credentials at a campaign stop in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and launched a shot at rival Mitt Romney after doing it.
The former Tennessee senator was questioned from the audience about his support for the Senate’s 2002 overhaul of campaign finance laws, which has been a source of anger for many conservatives who say it restricts political speech.
Thompson was one of the biggest Republican backers of the bipartisan McCain-Feingold law named after its sponsors, Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican and rival 2008 presidential hopeful, and Russ Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat.
He said he supported the law’s ban on the unlimited donations to political parties, known as soft money, but called the law’s provisions restricting ads by outside groups “a mistake.”
“That was an error, I was wrong, I wouldn’t do that again,” he told about 75 people at a morning stop on his bus tour through Iowa, which kicks off the presidential race on Jan. 3.
Questioned later by a reporter about criticism of his campaign finance stance by some unnamed campaign rivals, Thompson quickly jumped on Mitt Romney.
“Mitt Romney has changed his position on that just as he has on so many other things,” he said of the former Massachusetts governor, who has publicly changed his stance on abortion to become a staunch opponent of abortion rights.
He said Romney supported McCain-Feingold at the time and “he supported public financing in Massachusetts, which no one that I know of who supported McCain-Feingold has gone that far.”
Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said Romney supported “transparency and accountability” in campaign finance, but agreed with conservative activists the law backed by Thompson “was an abomination that restricted the First Amendment rights of conservative advocacy groups.”
He said Romney “will not relent in his disagreement with Fred Thompson and John McCain on their support of that legislation that hindered the conservative movement’s role in the political process.”
– Photo credit: Reuters/Jason Reed
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12 comments so far
Huckabee is NOT a conservative and not really a Republican, just an evangelical Christian. Real conservative Republicans will not vote for him, no matter how much the liberal media tries to push him as the frontrunner. Watch for MItt or Frad or Rudy to take it.
- Posted by ricardo MaxwellRicardo,
It seems a little disingenious for you to say that Rudy is a conservative: pro-abortion, pro-homosexual, and anti-gun.
To each his own, I guess.
David
- Posted by David ShedlockOr Ron Paul - the only true conservative republican candidate. 20 years experience trying to limit government and lowering taxes. Why wouldn’t you vote for him?
- Posted by brettrix[...] Thompson and Romney mix it up over campaign finance [...]
- Posted by race42008.com » Blog Archive » Race 4 2008 Afternoon Essential ReadsLet’s see what happened in Massachusetts when Mitt Romney was the Governor.
GAY MARRIAGE was instituted.
TED KENNEDY’s SOCIALIZED HEALTH CARE was instituted.
ABORTION was unrestricted.
STATE FEES INCREASED BY $500 MILLION DOLLARS.
DEMOCRATS and GAY ACTIVISTS were appointed as judges instead of Republicans.
Sounds like a great record to run on in 2008.
- Posted by ChrisChris, your argument is absolutely rediculous. Mitt Romney was traditional marriage’s biggest defender and gay marriage’s most strident apponent in massachsetts bar none. It was the courts that instituted it, not Romney. The health care plan that was past in Massachusetts was Romney’s, not Ted Kennedy’s. It’s not socialized but it is universal and the reason it’s working is because it is based on conservative Republican principles and not Democratic ones. Abortion did not go unrestricted in Massachusetts because Mitt Romney came down on the side of life with every peice of pro choice legistration that came to his desk while governor. He did not make an effort to change the existing abortion laws because he had committed to the people of Massechusetts that he wouldn’t and Romney always keeps his commitments. Many state fees did increase sharply while Romney was govenor but that’s because he was in the proccess of turning a multi billion dollar state deffecit into a multi billion dollar surpluss, without raising taxes.
- Posted by SVBI don’t care that Huckabee is a so-called christian. What bothers me, is that he has consistantly used his so-called religious accomplishments to boost his campaign as well as attack others.
The only thing Huckabee wants you to think is that he is some how qualified to be president because he used to be a baptist minister and is a so called true “Christian Leader”.
MIKE HUCKABEE WANTS MORE OF YOUR MONEY.
FACT: Mike Huckabee signed a sales tax hike in 1996 to fund the Games and Fishing Commission and the Department of Parks and Tourism (Source: Cato Policy Analysis No. 315, 09/03/98)
FACT: Mike Huckabee supported an internet sales tax in 2001. (Source: Americans for Tax Reform, 01/07/07)
FACT: Mike Huckabee publicly opposed the repeal of a sales tax on groceries and medicine in 2002. (Source: Arkansas News Bureau, 08/30/02)
MIKE HUCKABEE WANTS MORE OF YOUR MONEY.
FACT: Mike Huckabee signed bills raising taxes on gasoline (1999), cigarettes (2003) and a $5.25 per day bed-tax on private nursing home patients in 2001. (Source: Americans for Tax Reform, 01/07/07 and Arkansas News Bureau 03/01/01)
FACT: Mike Huckabee proposed another sales tax hike in 2002 to fund education improvements. (Source: Arkansas News Bureau, 12/05/02)
Mike Huckabee’s Fair Tax Plan…..
FACT: Mike Huckabee’s substantial tax hikes far surpassed his modest tax cuts, with the average tax burden increasing by a whopping 47% over his tenure. (Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 10/09/07)
FACT: Mike Huckabee opposed a congressional measure to ban internet taxes in 2003. (Source: Arkansas News Bureau, 11/21/03)
FACT: Mike Huckabee in 2004, he allowed a 17% sales tax increase to become law. (Source: The Gurdon Times, 03/02/04)
Will the real Mike Huckabee please stand up?
FACT: Mike Huckabee was one of 131 signatories to a full page USA Today Ad which declared: “I affirm the statement on the family issued by the 1998 Southern Baptist Convention.” What was in the family statement from the SBC? “A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ.”
FACT: Mike Huckabee granted 1,033 pardons and commutations, including 12 convicted murderers, one of which “Wayne DuMond” shortly after his release moved to Missouri where he raped and murdered Carol Sue Shields. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in Clay County, Mo., in 2003. He died in prison in 2005.
Is Huckabee a real “Christian Leader?”
FACT: Mike Huckabee stole over $70,000 worth of furniture from the Arkansas governors mansion.
Google: Counting the furniture Huckabee takes his office furniture; a conflict on Mansion gift. (Source: Arkansas Times 12/14/06 Leslie Newell Peacock)
Is Huckabee a real “Christian Leader?”
FACT: Mike Huckabee set up a nonprofit entity so he could give paid “inspirational” speeches without having to disclose the donors.
Google: Huckabee’s Boom May Be About Ready to Bust: Margaret Carlson (SOURCE: Bloomberg Dec 12, 2007 Margaret Carlson)
FACT: Arkansas lawmakers criticized the registries, which were listed as “wedding” registries, even though the Huckabees have been married since 1974.
Is Huckabee pandering for the votes of illegal hispanics?
FACT: Mike Huckabee supported in-state higher education benefits for children of illegal immigrants.
FACT: Mike Huckabee opposed a federal raid of 119 illegal immigrants at an Arkansas Tyson poultry plant, 107 of whom left the country either voluntarily or through deportation.
(SOURCE: Melissa Nelson, “Huckabee Risks Political Fortunes To Denounce Immigration Raid,” Associated Press, 8/5/05)
Is Mike Huckabee a Gold Digger that can be bought?
FACT: The ethics commission fined Huckabee $1,000 for failing to report that he paid himself $14,000 from his 1992 U.S. Senate campaign and $43,000 from his 1994 lieutenant governor’s campaign.
FACT: Huckabee accepted more than 300 gifts worth at least $130,000, ranging from $3,700 cowboy boots to a $600 chainsaw.
Google: Huckabee rivals unearth ethics complaints (Source: POLITICO Kenneth P. Vogel Nov 21, 2007)
Look through his “Awe Schucks” act and see him for what he really is. Mike Huckabee is a wolf in sheep’s clothing that uses the religion card to push his own agenda.
- Posted by Steven WEvery candidate has changed or should change on a number of issues. What I’m looking for is a trustworthy candidate who is right on the issues today and going forward. Mitt Romney is not perfect but he is the best man standing.
- Posted by KyleFACT: Mitt Romney has changed his position on major issues to suite the political climate.
- Posted by FRANKTake a GOOD look at Huckabee and the FairTax - why is it the FairTax studies only evaluate incomes up to $200,000? Because the effective tax rate for millionaires and billionaires under the FairTax is less than 1%. You can buy things of great value all day long without ever buying a new one. Think mansions, land, yachts, valuable coins, stamps, bullion, stocks and bonds - all of which increase his wealth and none of which is taxed. The things that are NEW that the super rich require will be provided them as perquisites by the businesses they control. Think company car, company house, company jet - all of which use our infrastructure and none of which is paid for by the entity using them. Why should Walmart pay for roads and bridges when they can get you to pay for free?
- Posted by Louis NardoziThis is another attempt by the liberal media to help hand the nomination to ANYONE but Dr. Ron Paul. Much as we’d like politics to be positive, it is in fact ruled almost entirely by negatives. For instance, what’s the biggest negative the Republican Party is facing in 2008? Iraq - a staggering 70% of people favor IMMEDIATE withdrawl from Iraq. Who is the only candidate that doesn’t have that negative? Dr. Paul, who advocates using those trillions of dollars to secure our border (perhaps against Saudis who were 20 of the 24 terrorists in 9/11) and rebuild our crumbling infrastructure which is far more worrying than the loss of Social Security. Hm, full employment, withdrawl from Iraq and a huge boost to our economy from rebuilding our infrastructure - what Democrat wants to run against that. Hence the behavior of known liberal biased network CNN, who wants us to nominate either Huckabee or Romney - both of whose negatives are so high the copy practically writes itself!
While Republicans argue about who is more capable of managing money, history is about to be made in the United States, from the other side of the aisle. America is about to elect either it’s first woman or it’s first black man to the Oval Office. Either way, it’s a colossal win-win for our blessed “land of opportunity.”
- Posted by TrystanToo bad Republicans are stuck in lockstep, running an old play from an expired gamebook. The world is changing incredibly quickly, and the elephants are in danger of becoming extinct if they can’t evolve.
I truly wonder why the majority of ‘republicans’ have absolutely no free-thinking skills. They whine b/c they are viewed as ignorant, in step Christians yet they fall all over the first candidate to sell the name of our Lord for political gain. Huckabee is worse than Hillary. He tries to use God for political momentum and then denies it when called on it. That’s disgusting.
I am a devout Christian that takes great pride in thinking for myself. Ron Paul has my vote.
- Posted by Ang