Fred Thompson called out for his remarks

Fred Thompson is officially not even in the race for President yet, and he’s already being called out for political statements.

This began when Thompson said the following Wednesday at a South Carolina fundraiser.


When that clip started to circulate, Thompson responded with a lengthy blog entry on his official website.

Anybody who knows my track record or has read some of the things I’ve written about the Cuban-American community knows where I stand. While the communist dictatorship has been a tragedy for Cuba, America has been in some ways, at least, the beneficiary. …

And no one knows better than that community that the Castro regime remains dedicated to infiltrating American institutions to spread his ideology of tyranny. Castro admitted it himself in an interview with CNN in 1998.

This is why the Cuban government rightfully remains on the State Department’s terrorist list for its continued support of terrorism. It’s also why we must oppose the illegal immigration of Castro’s agents into the United States while welcoming the vast majority who immigrate legally and with legal intentions.

It seems to me that few Americans understand the threat that the illegal entry by Cuban spies represents to our country, though Cuban-Americans have never forgotten or stopped pointing it out. Ambassador Otto Reich, the former Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere has called Castro’s efforts to penetrate U.S. intelligence networks “relentless.”

The best-known incident involving Cuban espionage, which many believe may have provided U.S. secrets to hostile Middle Eastern regimes, is probably that of former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst Ana Belen Montes — convicted of espionage in 2002. Now, our intelligence picture has been further complicated by the emergence of oil-funded Hugo Chavez and his anti-American, pro-Castro regime. We know that Cuban intelligence officers, for instance, are in South America — presumably training Venezuelans and others in the intelligence arts.

Our national security is too important an issue to let folks twist words around for a one-day headline. Cuban-Americans are among the staunchest opponents of illegal immigration, and especially so when it’s sponsored by the Castro regime. We know we have a porous southern border in which they can currently slip through easily. Our enemies know it too.

All of us should be rightfully concerned about Castro and his ideological pal Chavez sending agents and provocateurs into the United States through Mexico. I’m sure that Cuban-Americans share this concern as well.

Hillary Clinton weighed in on the comment today at the NALEO forum saying:

“I was appalled when one of the people running for or about to run for the Republican nomination talked about Cuban refugees as potential terrorists,” Clinton told Hispanic elected officials. “Apparently he doesn’t have a lot of experience in Florida or anywhere else, and doesn’t know a lot of Cuban-Americans.”

As others have written, in Presidential politics perception is reality; what people perceive and think of a candidate is far more important than what the candidates would think of themselves. And if the perception of Fred Thompson among Cuban-Americans is hurt by something that was meant to be an innocent line, he will have to work hard to repair that; not just in the primaries, with Florida having a very early primary scheduled, but in the event Thompson wins the nomination the Cuban-American vote could be the key in Florida.

In the bigger picture, this is really unlikely to reverberate that much. The bigger takeaway is that of Fred Thompson the candidate. He is clearly someone who shoots from the hip and says what he thinks. The problem with that type of candidate, as we have seen numerous times from Bill Richardson in the debates, is that it can lead to meandering thoughts and accidental responses. When Fred Thompson can write a 5, 6, 7, 8 paragraph blog entry to clear up misconceptions, he will be fine.

The problem is avoiding the misconceptions in the first place. When Thompson has to start debating other candidates and the awe and mystery of his campaign goes away, will he rely on blogging himself out of his mistakes or will he be disciplined enough to prevent them?

Of course, this on top of criticism from some that he’s not a candidate with any depth. This particular issue aside, blogging has uses, but also limits, for Presidential campaigns.

Source:

http://2008central.net/?p=996#more-996