Liberal cheeks are puckering all over this country, including at RNC headquarters, at the prospects of a Fred Thompson presidential campaign. The last good-ole-boy conservative actor turned presidential candidate became the most universally beloved US President of the 20^th century!

In my own unofficial not-so-scientific regular reader poll, which asked my mostly conservative regular reader mail list one simple question, Who would you feel best about supporting for President in 2008?, the answer could not have been clearer…

I can only guess why the results are what they are. But my readers are not alone in their search for an unapologetic no-nonsense plain-spoken conservative leader who shares their conservative values.

After six years of “compassionate conservatism”, which turns out to be more compassionate than conservative, the conservative core of the Republican Party seems finally in the mood to force a seismic shift in party leadership, from recent liberal RINO control back to the conservative values that founded and built not only the Grand Ole Party, but this nation.

Traditionally liberal rags like the NY and LA Times are talking about the conservative quake underway at the RNC on a daily basis. RNC leadership seems baffled at the news that their hand-chosen liberal frontrunners are meeting with a less than exuberant welcome from the party faithful. They just aren’t used to constituents telling them what to do and they are not so sure they like it.

Even Republican talk show hosts like Sean Hannity, seem agitated that they are unable to anoint Rudy Giuliani, who is having trouble connecting with conservatives over his liberal social values.

For a change, conservatives seem awake and engaged in the primary process of selecting themselves a real “people’s” candidate for ’08, instead of waiting for RNC leadership to anoint another lackluster RINO, compassionate towards liberal values and policies. As a result, there appears to be a growing national conservative movement to recruit Fred Thompson.

Other conservative sites are asking readers the same question and getting very similar results.

From the web-site GOPNation.com with almost 5000 voters…

Who is your choice for '08? [4608 votes total]
Former Sen. Fred Thompson (2685)	58%
Rep. Duncan Hunter (766)	17%
Rep. Ron Paul (574)	12%
Former Rep. Newt Gingrich (139)	3%
Former Mayor Rudy Guiliani (110)	2%
Rep. Tom Tancredo (101)	2%
Sen. Sam Brownback (98)	2%
Former Gov. Mitt Romney (59)	1%
Former Gov Tommy Thompson (26)	1%
Former Gov. Mike Huckabee (20)	0%
Sen. John McCain (18)	0%
Former Gov. Jim Gilmore (7)	0%
Sen. Chuck Hagel (5)	0%

And from conservative web-site RedState.com with almost 1500 voters…

Should Fred Thompson Run for President?

Conservatives also seem to be thinking about both conservative leadership qualities and electability. Newt Gingrich has some support because he has a track record of good leadership via his Contract with America that hoisted Republicans into control of congress for the first time in 40 years and balanced the federal budget for the first time in 60 years. But conservatives also seem to sense an electability problem with Newt, a result of the cloud under which he left congress not so long ago.

From the second JB regular reader poll… with the voting not complete yet.

Which RNC ticket would you feel best about supporting in ’08?

Conservatives seem to love Fred Thompson. They also seem to like and respect one of the most honest and decent real conservatives in the race, Duncan Hunter, though they also seem to recognize that he has yet to demonstrate the leadership qualities of a Commander-in-Chief, or even an ability to mount a serious national campaign.

They seem not so impressed with John McCain, who has made a serious mistake by repeatedly snubbing the conservative core of his party, as if he can run a successful campaign not only without them, but at ideological odds with them. He must have missed the headlines – Bush at lowest approval ratings in history after torching his conservative base.

But what is it about Fred Thompson that gets conservatives so excited? Could he really be the new Ronald Reagan so many Republicans still love and admire? Is he cut from the same cloth and does he have the same no-nonsense leadership ability that can not only unite a divided party, but a divided nation?

Before one can answer this question, we must ask a question so obvious that it would be completely dishonest, or at least disingenuous to not ask it.

Are conservative voters buying into the public prosecutor persona of the Hollywood Fred Thompson, or is he the real deal conservative leader they have been searching for? Is he the new Ronald Reagan who can reunite the Republican Party around real conservative American ideals, or is he just a mirage in the conservative mind hungry for true leadership?

Before analyzing Thompson’s “Reagan” factor, allow me to throw a few facts at the sometimes selective memory of Ronald Reagan. This phrase “Reagan Republican” seems to get bantered about with little recognition of the fact that Reagan was not really all that conservative.

Reagan was a Democrat throughout most of his life. Only when the Democrat Party fell under the command and control of 60’s radical secular socialists did Reagan jump ship, claiming the Republican Party as his new home after the DNC left him and all other pro-American morally conscious capitalist freedom lovers out in the cold.

Reagan was most conservative in the arena of national security and firm foreign policy. Reagan understood that America was the only nation in the world with the power and moral authority to defend freedom and liberty around the globe, in defense of freedom and liberty here. Reagan commanded respect across the political aisle at home and abroad and remains one of the most loved US Presidents in US history even today.

But he was somewhat liberal on social issues. Or, like Thompson, he was at least an anti-federalist who sought to return private assets and personal liberty to the states and the people at every chance. He was “compassionately conservative” so-to-speak, though not nearly as compassionate towards modern secular socialist principles as either Bush administration since.

Thompson might indeed be more ideologically similar to Reagan than either Bush. He too is very strong on national sovereignty and security, with firm views regarding Americas roll in the world and the need for strong national defense and foreign policy initiatives. But he is not a believer in any world order under UN control and one must wonder about both Bush Presidents in this regard.

He clearly understands what’s at stake in the current international war against terrorism networks with world-wide reach and he seems to be much more willing than Bush to call a spade and spade when addressing the current crop of anti-American leftists working to undermine American interests in congress right now.

Combined with the fact that Thompson is a great communicator, unlike Bush, these are very valid reasons for the current excitement surrounding the prospects of a Fred Thompson candidacy. It also explains the clear conservative comfort with good men like Duncan Hunter and Newt Gingrich, as well as the utter disdain for faux conservatives like John McCain.

It’s almost official. Fred Thompson is looking more and more like the new Ronald Reagan of the 21^st century that the Republican Party has been without since 1988. The groundswell of independent efforts to draft him into the ’08 race is also looking more like a real grassroots movement to elect the first “people’s” President in decades.

All of this explains the current fear atop the RNC leadership committee and within the ranks of Democrat Presidential hopefuls who are only pretend “people’s” candidates, ordained by their party leadership and the press.

2008 may turn out to be the most interesting Presidential race in modern history and it could mark the first time in a half century that the average American voter got fed up enough to dictate a “people’s” candidate against the will of both national committees and the press, who have become far too accustomed to telling the people how to vote with appalling results.

Finally…the American people seem prepared to wrestle control of their nation from the two national committees who have spent the last several years wrecking their country.

Now that a “peoples” frontrunner may soon emerge, I must remind you of a recent column that tells you what to do about it… Conservatives Gotta Get Real! America must save herself.

Not a moment too soon!

Copyright by www.JB-Williams.com