Room at the Inn?

[Editor's Note: Today we have a guest post from freqent VoterVault reader ghbraves. Thank you to all who keep checking in here, and who obviously care about the serious issues facing our nation. Now, on to ghbraves first guest post. End Editor's Note]

Thanks to k. randolph for letting me post

This past Sunday, former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-TN) expressed that he may consider running for the Republican nomination for President. While many have expressed intrigue (there’s actually an online petition to encourage him to run) over the thought of this 6’6” television star running for the Republican nomination, the question remains: Is there room for him in this field?While it is still very early in the campaign season, there are some certainties which exist at this point--certainties that make his announcement interesting.

1. The trifecta of Democratic candidates are much more well liked by their base than the GOP3 candidates are by their base
   
2. Despite the support of various notable (yet random) conservatives across the nation, many conservatives are untrusting and/or unsupportive of Romney, Giuliani, or McCain.
   
3. Videos are now being created and shown on YouTube that reveal past statements of these three candidates that contradict statements that they are making today.

After the 2006 elections, I think it is brutally clear that we now live in a YouTube and iMovie political world. Footage of candidates will be reviewed by bloggers, techies, and political junkies for the purpose of creating YouTube ads that will affect the public’s perception of a candidate. This is important because everything we saw in 2006 was just the beginning. In 2008, everything is going to be magnified ten times as much. Candidates' past quotations will be examined, and, unfortunately for many candidates, their statements today will not agree with their statements of the past.

Let me be clear about this. I don’t care for the word “flip-flopper” very much. I believe that the term was created by the Freakshow that is D.C. and its politics. Most of us who frequent the VoterVault don't care for the Freakshow too much.

Having said that, the word flip-flopper harmed John Kerry in 2004. Regardless of whether it was true or not, or whether you liked it or not, it harmed him and definitely cost him many votes. Today, we have a situation where Romney, Giuliani, and McCain all have their flip-flopping problems clearly chronicled on the most popular video site in the world.

For example:

• McCain: Several videos detail how he has switched positions on many issues many different times. Someone is really enjoying creating these videos…as it seems like there’s a new video of McCain every week or so.
• Romney: Several videos highlight his liberal past, especially as a candidate for the U.S. Senate against the interminable Teddy Kennedy. For him, this is trouble.
• Giuliani: Rudy takes the cake with the most troublesome videos. Giuliani is shown criticizing H.W. Bush for his opinion on taxpayer-funded abortions, among other problems that social, fiscal, and small government conservatives won’t like. If elected, he would be the first leader of the free world who has dressed in drag, which is a new video that is now circulating.

I think it’s clear that these three candidates currently have several large issues with the Republican party base. Here’s where Fred Thompson comes in. He’s seemingly more conservative than the GOP3, he has political experience, and most importantly, he’s likable AND nationally known. So at this point, there may be room for him in the field.

Perhaps Thompson has looked at the situation and believes that these three gentlemen have little chance in this wired world. We’ll have to see where he goes from here, but as of now, he has very little negative footage on YouTube.

What about Thompson and YouTube? At the time of this post, there are only 13 videos relating to the former senator, none of which are meant to be negative.

In fact, the worst footage overall that you’ll find of Senator Thompson is his average performance as a private investigator in the remake of Cape Fear. And I don’t think that will hurt his chances too much. After all, if you can work with Nick Nolte, you can work with anyone.

Posted by ghbraves