Fred Thompson exits

He today withdrew his candidacy, after his less than stellar finish in South Carolina.
I think this is a good take on his candidacy and its meaning.
I'm glad he ran, but in retrospect, he just didn't seem to have the passion for the office, and he waited far too long to get into the race. He should have gotten in last summer, when clearly his candidacy was a hot topic. But he didn't.

Fred Thompson appeals to libertarian conservatives

And I'm glad he's doing so. The topic was food and government-led "preventative" care:
"Standing about 15 feet away from a mouth-watering steam tray buffet loaded with fried chicken, creamed corn and macaroni and cheese at Wade's Southern Cooking in Spartanburg, Thompson dismissed the idea that preventative care and wellness education should be central features of a government's health care system. "I'm telling you, I don’t think that it’s the primary responsibility of the federal government to tell you what to eat," Thompson said to applause when asked if his health care plan included any details on preventative care, a priority for Democratic candidates. "The fact of the matter is we got an awful lot of knowledge,” said the former Tennesse senator. “Sometimes we don’t have a whole lot of will power, and I don’t know of any government program that's going to instill that."

The legendary conservative thinker and writer Frank S. Meyer was even suspicious of zip codes. I don't know that we need to go that far, but moving a little bit back in that direction would be good.

Approaching an immigration fundamental

I tend to agree with those who think that, so far, Fred Thompson's presidential campaign has been, well, spotty at best. But here he got it right:

"They set up a false choice — either we get giant busloads of people tomorrow, and round them all up, or we have to grant amnesty. Attrition by enforcement is what makes the most sense." — Fred Thompson

Fred Thompson on the dumb conservatives

On Sean Hannity's show, Thompson when asked about James Dobson basically tells the divisive ones to take a hike:

A gentleman who has never met me, who has never talked to me, I've never talked to him on the phone. I did have one of his aides call me up and kind of apologize, the first time he attacked me and said I wasn't a Christian…I don't know the gentleman. I do know that I have a lot of people who are of strong faith and are involved in the same organizations that he is in, that I've met with, Jeri and I both have met with, and I like to think that we have some strong friendships and support there…

...I don't particularly care to have a conversation with him. If he wants to call up and apologize again, that's ok with me. But I'm not going to dance to anybody's tune.