Check out Fred’s words of wisdom on the criticism the United States receives from other countries: 

It bothers Americans when we’re told how unpopular we are with the rest of the world. For some of us, at least, it gets our back up — and our natural tendency is to tell the French, for example, that we’d rather not hear from them until the day when they need us to bail them out again.

But we cool off. We’re big boys and girls, after all, and we don’t really bruise that easily. We’re also hopeful that, eventually, our ostrich-headed allies will realize there’s a World War going on out there and they need to pick a side — the choice being between the forces of civilization and the forces of anarchy. Considering the fact that the latter team is growing stronger and bolder daily, while most of our European Union friends continue to dismantle their defenses, that day may not be too long in coming.

In the meantime, let’s be realistic about the world we live in. Mexican leaders apparently have an economic policy based on exporting their own citizens, while complaining about US immigration policies that are far less exclusionary than their own. The French jail perfectly nice people for politically incorrect comments, but scold us for holding terrorists at Guantanamo.

Read the rest of the article here.

Read about Saturday’s Cookeville Rally for Fred:

Supporters held a rally to urge former U.S. senator and actor Fred Thompson to run for president today.

About 300 people gathered for the rally in Cookeville. They said it was the first organized rally to draft the star of N-B-C’s “Law and Order” for the 2008 race.

Supporters say they are unhappy with the leading Republican candidates so far.

Chattanooga Republican U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp told the crowd Thompson can win the nomination and then the election by drawing in Democrats and independents.

Wamp said Thompson will talk at Republican gatherings around the country next month. He could decide whether to run in June.

Read the full article here.

Fred makes some great suggestions for those making decisions in this weekend’s NFL Draft…..

I’ve been a dedicated fan of professional football since I was a kid. I have the “premium” satellite football package and I’ve had seats for Tennessee Titans games since they first came to Nashville. So you can probably guess what I’ll be doing this weekend. Like a lot of other fans, I’ll be listening to draft guru Mel Kiper, Jr., as the NFL draft plays out in New York.

This year, though, the process of player selection has taken a decidedly political turn. You might even think it was taking place in Washington DC, with the league scolding teams for leaking personal information about prospective players, such as admissions of marijuana use. There have even been reports that top draft picks have been tailed for weeks by private detectives looking for signs of character flaws.

The backstory for this new focus on off-field behavior, of course, is the disastrous public relations season the NFL had last year. So let me turn my attention for a moment from more pleasant topics, like how great Vince Young will be with a year under his helmet, to ask the league brass a few questions.

Here’s one. Why do these teams keep drafting players with character defects you can see at 100 yards in the dark with your back turned?

Read the rest of Fred’s article here.

More and more people are coming out in support of Fred - including over half of the Republicans in the Texas State House….   

The Draft Fred Thompson 2008 Committee announced that 54 of 81 Texas State House Republicans and several Republican Texas State senators “have joined the growing effort to encourage former United States Senator Fred Thompson to seek the presidency.”

Texas Land Commissioner and Draft Committee leadership team member Jerry Patterson said he has spoken with each Legislator and “found an increasingly strong desire to see Thompson become a candidate.”

Officials said a new independent poll conducted by Baselice & Associates in Texas shows Thompson tied for second place statewide with 19 percent of the vote. Sen. John McCain also showed 19 percent and New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani led with 24 percent. Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney held eight percent.

“These poll numbers reflect the enthusiasm I’m seeing in the Legislature and around the state. In Texas, the momentum in the race for president is clearly with Fred Thompson. If he enters this campaign, we can put him in the lead within 30 days,” said Patterson.

Read the rest of the article here.
 

Fred garners praise for his direct response to National Review senior editor Ramesh Ponnuru - check out what Maggie Gallagher says about it on Yahoo News:

I imagine most politicians have to put some sort of psychic barrier between themselves and the relentlessly dart-throwing media, if only to stay sane during the grueling weird endurance marathon we call “running for president.” But this week, in an exchange with National Review senior editor Ramesh Ponnuru, Fred Thompson tore down that fourth wall, separating him — a potential leader of the Free World — and us, folks who chat for a living.

Few probably would have paid much attention to a mild little essay by Ponnuru taking Fred Thompson to task for votes on a couple of issues that, as even Ponnuru noted, few if any actual voters care passionately about, such as federal pre-emption of state laws and a federal cap on attorney’s fees in state tobacco cases. “But if conservatives mean what they say when they complain about the dangerous rapacity of the trial bar,” Ponnuru challenged, “they ought to ask Senator Thompson a few hard questions.”

Ask and ye shall receive. Much to everyone’s surprise, Fred Thompson quickly dashed off a response, posted on www.nationalreview.com — a devastating, substantive, smart, wry and above all personal response. For example, on his opposition to a bill that would federally regulate lawyer’s fees in tobacco cases: “Get this: Under the amendment the states would have been required to send the attorneys’ bills to the House and Senate Judiciary for approval,” riffs Thompson. “As I said on the floor on May 19, 1998, ‘I did not come to the Senate to review billing records from lawyers in private lawsuits.’

Read the full article here.

David Brody of CBN News is taking note of what many people already know about Fred -he’s not afraid to respond to his critics and defend his record…   

HE LOVES TO BLOG! I mean Fred Thompson is on record saying he checks out the blogs, he reads them all the time. He is one hip cool presidential contending cat! Now we have proof! Ramesh Ponnuru from National Review wrote an article that took Thompson to task for being the only senator to vote against a Good Samaritan bill when he was in Congress. (99 to 1) Instead of just letting that article sit out there and perculate, Thompson decided to do a little blogging back and defend his vote. He didn’t write it with malice. He wrote it very matter of factly.

Read the rest of Mr. Brody’s entry here.

Fred himself posted an excellent response to recent criticism on some tort reform votes:

On April 20, Ramesh Ponnuru penned an article called “Thompson’s Tort Trouble.” While he referenced my conservative voting, record he took issue with two instances when I voted against “tort reform.” He noted my stand on federalist grounds but thinks I must have a mistaken view of Federalism and that conservatives may want to ask me a few hard questions.

This hardly constitutes the stuff of a major dispute, but I would submit that the problem is not so much my mistaken view of Federalism as much as it is his lack of commitment to the principle. This presents conservatives with an opportunity to have a much needed discussion….

Read the rest of Fred’s posting here.

Over at his blog on ABC, Senator Thompson has written a great blog post about the Virginia Tech shootings and its implications for gun control laws.  Here is the money excerpt:

When people capable of performing acts of heroism are discouraged or denied the opportunity, our society is all the poorer. And from the selfless examples of the passengers on Flight 93 on 9/11 to Virginia Tech professor Liviu Librescu, a Holocaust survivor who sacrificed himself to save his students earlier this week, we know what extraordinary acts of heroism ordinary citizens are capable of.

Many other universities have been swayed by an anti-gun, anti-self defense ideology. I respect their right to hold those views, but I challenge their decision to deny Americans the right to protect themselves on their campuses — and then proudly advertise that fact to any and all.

Whenever I’ve seen one of those “Gun-free Zone” signs, especially outside of a school filled with our youngest and most vulnerable citizens, I’ve always wondered exactly who these signs are directed at. Obviously, they don’t mean much to the sort of man who murdered 32 people just a few days ago.

Read the full blog post.

The conservative blogging community Redstate recently ran a straw poll asking their readers who they would vote for for President were the election held to today. Senator Thompson won the poll handily, winning 35% of the vote. Mitt Romney was in second place with only 12%.

Yet more evidence that Republicans on the ground want Fred.

Here’s more info on those who attended Fred’s meeting on Capitol Hill today:

….The attendees, a Who’s Who of House conservatives, included: Reps. Dan Burton, Steve Buyer, Shelley Moore Capito, Don Manzullo, and Tennessee Rep. Zack Wamp, who organized the event.

Wamp said of Thompson, “he was called presidential” and was told that he was “electable.” Five of the seven elected members of the Republican Leadership in the House attended.

North Carolina Rep Sue Myrick said that “people are hungry for leadership today,” and that Thompson represents the kind of leadership that can “galvanize” the country and “bring people together.”

Indiana congressman Steve Buyer said that the word “presidential” was used frequently in the meeting. Buyer noting that the American people has seen Thompson “act in that role”

The members who attended the meeting said they were excited that Thompson was considering a run and urged him to “step forward.”

Read the full article here.