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DEL.ICIO.USConvention notebook: Immigration, taxes, and Fred Thompson
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Some stray observations tied together:
— The immigration bill is already resonating here at the state GOP convention. Not favorably, either.
Mitt Romney’s comments are below. A lime-green flyer is being passed out by NumbersUSA, declaring that “Sen. Isakson and Sen. Chambliss stand with Kennedy for largest amnesty in history.”
James Herchek of Gwinnett County stood in front of the convention hall with a placard reading, “No Amnesty: Deport pro-invastion politicians.” He pronounced himself “extremely disappointed” with the bill, which will be debated in the Senate on Monday.
— The fight over the governor’s veto of a tax rebate is playing second fiddle. State Rep. Jill Chambers (R-Atlanta) was spotted passing out a sticker that said “Real Republicans cut taxes.” She tried to stick one on the lapel of state Sen. David Shafer (R-Duluth), who blanched.
— Mitt Romney, John McCain and Rudy Giuliani have booths here. But the most active is the one belonging to supporters of Fred Thompson, the actor and former Tennessee senator.
That booth features a petition delegates can sign, urging Thompson to jump into the race. House Rules Chairman Earl Ehrhart and Senate President pro tem Eric Johnson are active in the effort.
Here’s where the draft-Thompson movement at this convention gets interesting: Thompson was once a big backer of McCain for president. And McCain’s main man in Georgia is Alec Poitevint, the exiting chairman of the state party.
The group e-mailed us a list of 41 Republican leaders who have joined the pro-Thompson movement. See them here on the jump.
Georgia Republican Leaders for Fred Thompson
Former US Senator Mack & Leslie Mattingly
Sen. Eric Johnson, President Pro Tempore
Sen. Tommie Williams, Majority Leader
Sen. Chip Rogers
Sen. David Shafer
Sen. Don Thomas
Sen. Jack Murphy
Sen. John Douglas
Sen. Cecil Staton
Sen. Preston Smith
Sen. Greg Goggans
Sen. Lee Hawkins
Sen. Bill Heath
Sen. Bill Hamrick
Sen. Don Thomas
Rep. Earl Ehrhart
Rep. Ron Stephens
Rep. Ron Forster
Rep. Buddy Carter
Rep. Burke Day
Rep. Jim Cole
Rep. Doug Collins
Rep. Mark Butler
Rep. Clay Cox
Rep. Jay Neal
Rep. Sean Jerguson
Rep. Tom Dickson
Rep. Calvin Hill
Rep. James Mills
Rep. Doug Holt
Rep. John Meadows
Rep. Tom Knox
Rep. John Heard
Rep. Tom Graves
Commissioner Esther Fleming (Newton)
Commissioner Pat Farrell (Chatham)
Commissioner Jerry Brigham (Augusta-Richmond)
Councilwoman Liz Hausmann (Johns Creek)
Fmr. Sen. Brian Kemp
Fmr. Rep. Chuck Harper
Fmr. Rep. Barbara Bunn
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Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Mertens
May 19, 2007 2:19 AM | Link to this
Fred is the man for the times. Thanks for the support from Georgia!
www.fredthompsonnews.com
Bookmark, read often, and check out “Immigration, Iraq, and Fred Thompson”
DM
By Mertens
May 19, 2007 2:26 AM | Link to this
www.fredthompsonnews.com
By Learn the Language
May 19, 2007 5:44 AM | Link to this
“James Herchek of Gwinnett County stood in front of the convention hall with a placard reading, ‘No Amnesty: Deport pro-invastion politicians.’”
“Invastion”? What language is that? James, if you want to be in our country, learn English or get deported.
By Tony
May 19, 2007 8:11 AM | Link to this
Hate to say it but if you don’t like McCain, you won’t like Thompson. Thompson was McCain’s national chair in 2000 and is a big supporter and signer of McCain-Feingold.
By Mark Rountree
May 19, 2007 9:08 AM | Link to this
Georgia’s Draft Fred Thompson Committee has a petition on our website urging Sentor Thompson to run. Go to www.GA4Fred.org and sign.
By Mark Rountree
May 19, 2007 9:10 AM | Link to this
Georgia’s Draft Fred Thompson Committee has a petition on our website urging Sentor Thompson to run. Go to www.GA4Fred.org and sign.
By Craig
May 19, 2007 9:43 AM | Link to this
Hey Learn, the guy was just parroting what he hears on talk radio. They can’t think for themselves, so they repeat the words they hear, and think they’re clever.
By Larry Brown
May 19, 2007 2:24 PM | Link to this
Supporting amnesty is a ticket to hell for America and any politician crazy enough to vote for it. The negative blowback from the public on the Bush/Kennedy amnesty deal is RED HOT and historical. The GOP nomination may fall into the lap of Fred Thompson because the other top tier candidates are all on record supporting a “guest-worker” amnesty.
By BurningAtlanta
May 19, 2007 2:52 PM | Link to this
Thompson just blasted the amnesty bill and said it should be scrapped. He’s right. This is the same pack of lies and empty promises we heard about the “One Time” amnesty of 1986. We’ve had 20 years of non-enforcement but they’re REALLY going to get tough, this time? I don’t think so. Why not show the American people about 5 or 10 years of serious enforcement before coming and asking for another amnesty?
We have over 600,000 absconders running loose. That’s illegals that have already been denied permission to be here and every sort of criminal scum imaginable. At current apprehensions rates, it will take 39 years to arrest and deport them. How about setting their deportations as a “trigger?”
Instead, these traitors want to reward those that have shown a contempt for our borders, a contempt for our laws and many of them have shown an open contempt for our nation. Once upon a time becoming an American citizen was considered an honor. Now, it’s cheapened to a dollar amount by those that support criminals that break into this country, hide out for a few years, then DEMAND all the rights of a citizen.
No Retreat. No Surrender. No Amnesty.
By Jill
May 19, 2007 6:04 PM | Link to this
Mr. Herchek’s sign read “No Amnesty: Deport pro-invasion politicians.” He knows English very well. It’s the writers of the column who can’t spell.
By mightymouse
May 19, 2007 6:05 PM | Link to this
This is a no-brainer:
NO REWARD for BREAKING LAWS!!!!!
Seems politicans need plain language to understand what Americans want.
By donny cho
May 19, 2007 7:05 PM | Link to this
Before any legislation dealing with the 12 to 20 million illegal aliens in this country can even be considered, we must secure the border and increase interior enforcement of all our immigration laws. If Fred Thompson can openly guarantee to he will uphold the rule of law than I pledge my support for him. I will volunteer my time aand organize the voter Republican presidential campaign for him in the Asian-American communities in California. He in turn must pledge to aggressively oppose Amnesty in all form and manner. No Amnesty now or ever!!!
By Bobby
May 19, 2007 11:03 PM | Link to this
How can any poltician who cares about the future of Americas youths and longtime population—stand with Kennedy? The manner in which these worthless, born into wealth elites, would sell out the long suffering American taxpayer is breathtaking. Americans to them are good for two things as taxpayers and cannon fodder.
By Bobby
May 20, 2007 5:27 PM | Link to this
Fred Thompson is a known globalist, and not good for this nation. Look into it more deeply.
By Perico
May 24, 2007 11:10 AM | Link to this
Bobby, please no conspiracy theories. I don’t care if he belongs to a think tank, as long as it’s not Skull & Bones.
By no Bush-redux please
May 28, 2007 10:47 PM | Link to this
Thompson’s yea votes on expanding NAFTA and relaxing the rules on migrant farm workers is perplexing; however, when one adds his vote in favor of the McCain/Feingold campaign-finance reform laws, he merits a long look. Questioning a possibly globalist voting record (the two above examples are not the only ones) is not giving in to a “conspiracy theory”. I, for one, have had it with being lied to by our elected representatives. Show me their past voting record; don’t tell me what they said about an issue.
From his voting record, he consistently voted in favor of Free Trade. There is no such thing. No trade is free, but it can be FAIR.
Much of his voting record is exemplary. However, some votes require scrutiny. Such as:
Voted NO on banning Congressional gifts.
Voted YES on allowing another round of military base closures.
Voted YES on cutting nuclear weapons below START levels.
Voted YES on allowing more foreign workers into the US for farm work.
Voted YES on allowing all necessary force in Kosovo.
Voted YES on ending the Bosnian arms embargo.
Not my first choice in this horse race.