Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Breakfast with Fred Thompson

Fred Thompson (photo: North Star Liberty)
This morning, I joined Derek Brigham, Marty Andrade, and eight tables of bloggers at a breakfast with Fred Thompson, atop the Crowne Plaza Hotel, just a few blocks from the Republican National Convention venue, the Xcel Energy Center. We didn't actually break bread with the former U.S. Senator and presidential hopeful, but he graciously delivered brief remarks and took several questions from the bloggers.

On Sarah Palin, Thompson noted that she's without doubt the outside-the-Beltway outsider that other candidates claim to be and mainstream America wants. Palin, Thompson said, understands "what's going on" with average Americans. Thompson noted that you don't experience get national security and foreign policy by just getting elected to the Senate (e.g., Barack Obama), or by serving as governor (former governors who became presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton are other examples of this!). He called the press coverage of Palin "abysmal," which he said could result in a public backlash in defense of Palin.

Thompson also introduced his new political action committee, FredPAC, which will support candidates who advocate for our unchanging founding principles such as federalism, separation of powers, and the free market economy.

The brunch was hosted by Red State and Google.

2 comments:

Kohath said...

How does someone get invited to things like this?

Scholar said...

You have to be connected somehow to the convention or the party, like a delegate or volunteer. That is who the invitations go to. Sometimes you can tag along if you know someone with an invitation, but some of the parties are strictly by invitation only. Keep in mind that these parties are hosted in order to network or persuade. If you aren't being "targeted," you have less of a chance of getting an invitation.