Limbaugh on Fred Thompson

From RedState Rush discussing Thomson's appearance on the Charlie Rose Show.

Rush:

Let's go to the audio sound-bites. Last night on Charlie Rose's show on PBS. Former Senator Fred Thompson is the guest. Charlie Rose says "You constantly say in this campaign that you are a conservative. What does that mean today?

plays clip from Charlie Rose interview:

Fred Thompson:

It means things that are consistent with God's design for man, is consistent with human nature, it's consistent with the lessons of history, the lessons of ages. They found form in the Constitution I think and what our founding fathers believed. They understand that man can do great and wonderful things, but man is prone to error and sometimes do terrible things. That too much power in too few hands is a dangerous thing. That power is a corrupting thing.

Charlie Rose:

In all of that you didn't mention abortion, gay rights, all things that have been part of recent presidential elections.

Fred:

Those... Well you are talking about different things there. Those are issues that are before us, which derive FROM principles.

end clip

Rush:

Now this is just fabulous to me. This is just great. Here Charlie Rose asks Fred Thompson 'Well what is a conservative today anyway?'. And so Fred gives his definition of a conservative and Charlie says 'Well wait a minute I didn't hear anything about abortion or gay rights, all the things that have been a part of recent presidential elections.' Here's how Fred answered that, because Charlie Rose came back and said 'Principles? What do you mean principles?'.

start next clip

Fred Thompson:

Principles are what guide you in coming to positions with regard to issues. You know the Declaration of Independence said that our basic rights come from God and not from man. The founders talked about you know life, liberty and the importance of that. And that everything is based on those basic principles. And I take those principles and you know for example I come to a pro-life conclusion there. And when we had issues you know for 8 years when I was in the United States Senate about whether or not the federal government should be funding, for example, abortion related activities and things of that nature you know, the application of those principles in that instance told me the answer was no properly.

end clip

Rush:

I guarantee you Charlie Rose is clueless here. None of this...this is...he's a listening to uh you know mongolese as Fred Thompson's going through all this. [laughing] Sometimes you just have to laugh at these poor clichéd liberals who just live in the most closeted cocooned world, while thinking they are the most worldly and uh erudite among us.

I agree with Rush. Thompson's answers were not just smart, they were wise. He has thought about the difference between principals and positions. Who else among the candidates would know the difference and be able to tell people plainly what the difference is?