Today, Fred Thompson spoke at the South Carolina State Capitol in Columbia in front of the War Memorial. Despite a couple a minor setbacks, such as people having a hard time finding the memorial and Thompson being roughly 45 minutes late (rumored to be due to bad directions), the speech went smoothly. He drew a fairly large crowd but, it was not nearly as big a crowd as Stephen Colbert. The media was, however, drawn out in force with reporters from local stations to national news agencies such as CNN. Even some of the faith based news agencies, such as the Christian Science Monitor and Faithlink Magazine, had reporters present.
Before Senator Thomson gave his ten minute speech, he was introduced by retired Major General James Livingston, a congressional Medal of Honor recipient along with having received three Purple Hearts. In Major General Livingston speech, he threw his full support behind Fred Thompson not only because he felt the Senator would be a good Commander in Chief of the armed forces, but because Livingston couldn’t “support another individual from Hope, Arkansas.” Sorry Hillary.
When Thompson finally took the stage, he started by thanking those veterans that were there today to support his campaign. Given that those veterans who were standing behind him during his speech had already been standing there for the full 45 minutes before he arrived, I believe that was the least he could do. He went on to say that he has been a pretty constant person.
“I’m the same person I have always been. My record is clear.”
From his speech, I got the sense that he is a very laid back guy that would stay the same. For some weird reason, he kind of reminds me of Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh, intelligent yet quiet, but without the being depressed part. Anyways, enough political comparisons to fictitious characters from my childhood, you can view his voting record here. See for yourself if you agree that his “record is clear.”
Since this speech was done in front of the War Memorial with veterans flanking Thompson on either side, it was only fitting that the main portion of his speech be concerning national security. He started off by stating how disappointed he is at the Liberals for always being the apologists.
“I get a little tired when some folks on the other side feel the need to apologize for the United States of America. I don’t feel that need and never will.”
He went on to say that he is basically for a strong military and the necessity of having leaders who understands the military. He made a statement that is was very sad that a 20 year old serviceman in Iraq could have a better understanding of our national security interests than a career politician of 20 years. He also went on to say that, if elected president, he would be sure that our troops got the support they need in the battlefield along with the support they deserve when they come home, specifically wounded vets. He believes that the government should support wounded vets as long as it takes, even if that is for the rest of their lives. This drew applause from the crowd in which there were several wounded vets present.
Thompson closed his speech by stating that he wished to bring people together so that we may prosper and “remain unified in the face of diversity.” If he winds up getting the presidential nomination and becomes president, unifying the country will definitely be a very important issue with which he will have his work cut out for him.
If you wish to watch the video of his whole speech, you can view it HERE on YouTube.com.
