Hmm. This gives me pause, and it ain't exactly the pause that refreshes:
By Debbie Schlussel
He hasn't yet entered the Presidential race, and yet Fred Thompson, yesterday, showed us why he's the scariest Republican Presidential candidate. And maybe the scariest of both parties.
Don't believe Thompson's claim that he understands the Islamist jihadist threat to America. His announcement, yesterday, of his choice of Spencer Abraham as campaign manager, told us everything we need to know. Although Abraham, of Lebanese descent, is a Maronite Christian, he is a career water carrier for Islamists of the most extremist stripe and made that the cornerstone of his failed, one-term Senate career and equally lousy tenure as Energy Secretary.
As a conservative--but more important, as an American concerned about the future of this country in the face of a terrorist threat--Thompson's choice of Spencer Abraham was the nail in the coffin for me in opposing Fred Thompson's quest for the White House.
I know Spencer Abraham. He wrote one of my recommendations for law school. And the Spencer Abraham that I and all of America have since experienced is bad news for everyone except CAIR, ADC, MPAC, ISNA, and all Islamists who want to endanger America.
In 2003, I wrote the definitive column on Spencer Abraham a/k/a Spence a/k/a Edward Spencer Abraham (which was quoted in The Washington Post), and I re-publish it below, with several additions I've made, updating it. At the time Spence was still Energy Secretary, but he left to become a lobbyist for Islamist countries.
As a Senator, he took marching orders from James Zogby of the pan-Islamist Arab American Institute, opposing profiling of Arabs, the use of secret evidence against Muslims (at the behest of Muslim groups), attempting to repeal the Clinton counterterrorism package, refusing to fund computer tracking of student and other foreign aliens, giving millions in our tax money right to Hezbollah, and putting CAIR on the map on Capitol Hill (taking the group's officials around to meet other Senators and Members of Congress). He took campaign contributions from the relatives of Hezbollah-backed top Lebanese officials after he got the group millions in our tax money.
Spence was one of only two Senators in the entire U.S. Senate who refused to sign a letter calling on President Clinton to condemn Palestinian terrorism and Yasser Arafat. This was at the height of a series of homicide bombings in 1999 and 2000.
It goes on.
DEDICATED TO EXPOSING DISINFORMATION AND PROPAGANDA AND TO PROMOTING UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS - WITH SHARP ANALYSIS AND BLUNT COMMENTARY. NO ADS. NO TIP-JAR. JUST THE TRUTH.
When I saw the Spence Abraham appointment, my antennae went on high alert, but I couldn't recall why I had such a negative reaction. I was going to Google him and then got sidetracked by a Grandchild wanting to go swimming. Reading this Schlussel article reminded me. Well, I guess it doesn't really matter to me personally, since I'm supporting Romney, but I'm surprised that some very knowledgeable people are putting all their eggs in the Thompson basket. I like Fred, but this gives me pause as well.
ReplyDeletefred is off my sidebar and blogroll - for now...
ReplyDeleteFred Thompson and Spencer Abraham served together in the Senate: 1995-2001. While Abraham has been labeled an open borders icon that received an award from La Raza, Thompson's immigration record is comparable to Abraham's. Americans for Better Immigration (ABI) Reduction Report Card Grades are identical to Abraham's on every subject and include:
ReplyDeleteAmericans for Better Immigration - Reduction Report Card for Thompson and Abraham.
Overall Career Grade = C
Subject & Grade
Reduce Chain Migration = C
Reduce Visa Lottery = C-
Reduce Unnecessary Visas = F
Reduce Fraud: Refugee & Asylum = C-
Reduce Enticement - Illegal Immigration: Amnesties= D
Reduce Illegal Immigration - Anchor Baby Citizenship = No Vote
Reduce Illegal Immigration – Other Awards = A+
Reduce Illegal Immigration – Border Enforcement = A+
Reduce Illegal Immigration – Interior Enforcement =C+
See Fred Thompson's Report Card here:
http://grades.betterimmigration.com/testgrades.php3?District=TN&VIPID=743&retired=1
See Spencer Abraham's Report Card here:
http://grades.betterimmigration.com/testgrades.php3?District=MI&VIPID=401&retired=1
Also, a review of their immigration profiles indicate that Thompson and Abraham worked together on immigration issues in the senate. Thompson was a strong supporter of Abraham's open borders immigration amendments. See immigration voting profiles for a complete record of votes. A few examples include:
Voted to strip legal reforms from 1996 bill
Sen. Thompson helped defeat legal immigration reform when he voted for Senator Spencer Abraham's amendment to remove the legal immigration reforms from S.1664, the Immigration Control and Financial Responsibility Act of 1996. This vote effectively killed any chance of Congress considering the Jordan Commission recommendations on easing legal immigration levels.
Voted for a foreign worker bill with no anti-fraud measures in 2000.
Sen. Thompson voted for S.2045, the Abraham foreign worker bill to nearly triple the number of foreign high-tech workers. On the heels of the release of a GAO report finding no proof of a high-tech worker shortage and evidence of abuse in the H-1B program, Sen. Thompson voted for this foreign worker bill that contained no worker protections or anti-fraud measures. The bill passed the Senate 96-1.
As Committee member, produced H-1B doubling bill in 1998
Sen. Thompson was a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee that created the Abraham H-1B doubling bill in 1998, S.1723. He voted with the 12-6 majority to send the bill to the floor of the Senate without safeguards for American workers.
Tried to kill voluntary pilot programs for workplace verification in 1996
Sen. Thompson voted IN FAVOR of the Abraham Amendment to S.1664. He was part of a coalition of pro-business conservatives and liberal civil libertarians who tried to use the amendment to kill the establishment of voluntary pilot programs in high-immigration states. The programs were intended to assist employers in verifying whether people they had just hired had the legal right to work in this country. Such verification is considered by many experts to be an essential tool for withdrawing the job magnet from illegal aliens. The verification system established by S.1664 did not involve an ID card. Rather it provided that when new workers wrote down their Social Security number on an application, employers could phone into a national verification system to help assure that the number was a real number and belonged to the person giving it. In earlier smaller pilot programs, businesses had hailed the verification system for making it easier for them to avoid hiring illegal aliens. Sen. Thompson was unsuccessful in stopping the voluntary verification system. The Senate tabled the by a 54-46 vote.
View Fred Thompson’s Immigration Voting Profile: http://profiles.numbersusa.com/improfile.php3?DistSend=TN&VIPID=743
View Abraham’s Immigration Voting Profile: http://profiles.numbersusa.com/improfile.php3?DistSend=MI&VIPID=401