No need to throw your hat in the ring, Fred.
GOP already has enough wimps and flip-floppers.
Time for a change. TED NUGENT IN '08!

He has waited to announce because he has been rising in the polls without running, what politician wouldn't love that? I think that says something about his overall abililty to pull voters in…Not sold yet but see how Fred could rise amongst repubs. and would have a higher "likeability factor" than Clinton in a general election.

David of Gilmore, AZ:

The days of Republican fiscal responsibility are long past.

The current administration spent our tax dollars like no other in American history. When they spent all we had, they started charging trillions to our children’s credit cards. All the leading Republican Presidential candidates are in favor of continuing this irresponsible deficit spending.

The last Democratic administration left us with a balanced budget.

Times have changed.

And you think you can win by running against Jimmy Carter?

Pssst…all you democrats that are bashing ol' Fred are not the people that get to nominate him. The republicans are. You demo's have Hillary to worry about.

And if all those bad things about Fred are true then you democrats should be overjoyed that the republicans would want to nominate him. Makes Hillary's run for the presidency a cake walk right?

Here's a reality check. I know quite a few people who are happy to vote for Fred despite those bad things he might have done in the past. Most of us feel we don't make enough money to afford all the spending a democratic president is going to do.

You think jobs are leaving the United States now? Put a democratic president in office with all their regulations and "green" programs and watch the existing jobs leave as well. Watch the auto industry that is already in dire straights go completely buns up when they can't afford all the "green" restrictions on cars Americans aren't buying anyway.

We'll see who has the last laugh. And I too remember the Carter years. You think mortgages are bad now? 11% interest was the average back then with a late 1970's income. So were long gas lines. You want that again? Go ahead and vote for your tax and spend democrat then we'll discuss the difference between bad and good.

We've already had a Republican actor in office. Look what that got us. Do we really need another one?

yeah, get in or get out you CFR Neo-Con.

Let's not get bogged arguing over whether Fred was an actor or a politician first. Doesn't matter to me. It doesn't matter that he was an actor at all. I've seen plenty of actors who may be candidate material, their day jobs notwithstanding. Let's get off the acting thing.

Let's focus on Fred's background as a big-time lobbyist, Republican insider, country boy posturer and all-around panderer. I won't rehash all the legit points raised by David from Salinas.

And Fred's comment about illegal immigrants and suicide bombers is very illuminating. It gives a glimpse into how he would run his campaign. Mexicans = terrorists. There is simply no logical progression. In that sense, it's a classically Republican campaign strategy. What else would Fred say to scare you into voting for him?

Yo Fred - your campaign is dead! And it hasn't even started!!

CFR stoodge, nothing exciting here. They will attempt to say he is an alternative, but he is in bed with them all.

Is he going to be the new president on 24? I remember when he was on Gilligan's Island.

Thompson.. what a joke. It just goes to show that the average 'joe' in the south has more in common with their TV than their own government. Thus that is why actors run with their 'face' rather than their record.

If some strange misaligning of the cosmos causes Fred Thompson to get elected, I'm moving overseas and forming a resistance.

If America did happen to be stupid enough to elect a lazy, flip-flopping, not-very-good-actor version of George Bush, then it would deserve whatever it gets.

what's the point? Fred has already peaked in the polls. so much for the darling of the conservatives…

I love this; it’s nice to see the “left” squirm like someone just walked over their grave.

I think Fred Thompson is a good and decent man. His associations with Republicans however could make me question his integrity.

Do us a favor Fred,
Go Away

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=280148195763&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

A honest & trustworthy man running for president? Washington need one bad! Guess I will be voteing this time around!!

Just what is Fred going to announce? That he avoided yet another debate? Isn't he clever!

So what?

Another old white male saying the same old stuff that's not based on facts but full of hate.

Ole Fred Thompson is too darn old and his statements to date make him sound like a stupid flag-waving yahoo with no substance. He needs to saty in Hollywood with his corny acting and bad ideas.

I assume his announcement will be that he has finished testing the waters and decided to run against Bush for the 2004 nomination?

Thompson is announcing that he is going to announce his candidacy.

Just like he is going to announce that he is going to announce he is going to drop out.

Wow is right. Do you not realize that he served in the Senate for many years, he is NOT just an actor. And what about Ronald Reagan - a great President!! started out acting. Pay attention.

What would be better, Hillary and Obama? PLEASE!! Fred Thompson is a man of integrity and not a cut and run coward. I want him leading us during this troublesome time. I am old enough to remember when Carter was President and all the stuff Reagan had to do to bring us up from our knees. I don't think a lot of people remember!

He was majored in political science, was an attorney and was a senator before ever going into acting.

Obviously you don't research before posting Chattanooga and Chicage…

The perfect Republican candidate, intellectually lazy but LOOKS like a President. God help us all.

Great news. Fred running has liberals scared straight.

You can tell, because after barely campaigning, he's already poised to be the Republican Nominee. Hitlary's people have even put out innacurate hit articles on him (as parroted by John thomas.)

You are the man, Fred. Let's keep this country strong and prosperous! Vote Fred in 08!

ALL WE NEEDED, ANOTHER LYING CROOKED REPUBLICAN .

Actors for presidents beat attorney's for president any day!

Yeah, didn't see that coming, Fred. You've only been actively campaigning for how many weeks now?

There are several candidates for President who I agree with and like, (i.e. Clinton, Obama, Richardson, Biden). There are candidates who I disagree with, but like anyway, (i.e. McCain, Giuliani, Huckabee, Brownback, Paul). There’s one candidate I agree with but don’t much like, (Edwards). And there’s one who has so many positions it’s impossible to disagree with him, so I don’t respect him very much, (Romney). But there’s only one bad man running for President, and his name is Fred Thompson. I’ll say it again: Fred Thompson is bad.

When I say bad I don’t mean like the Michael Jackson song or Bad Bad Leroy Brown. And I don’t mean like George W. Bush is a bad President, (he is, but he’s not a bad man). This isn’t about competence or ideology, it’s about morality. Fred Thompson is bad as in evil. Fred Thompson does not have the moral Character to be President of the United States.

Fred Thompson is the worst kind of Washington insider. He’s not the Devil himself, but he was surely the Devil’s lobbyist. Fred Thompson was a lobbyist for insurance companies denying sick people’s asbestos claims. Fred Thompson was a lobbyist for big tobacco companies that covered up the real science of addiction and cancer. Fred Thompson was a lobbyist for foreign mining companies and foreign auto companies taking jobs away from Americans. Fred Thompson was a lobbyist for deregulating failing Savings & Loans that cost Americans their life savings. Fred Thompson was a pro-abortion lobbyist, but he now runs pro-life. Fred Thompson was a lobbyist for Haitian strongman Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Thompson had a few other high-paid insider D.C. jobs, too. He ran some Republican campaigns and he worked on the Senate Watergate Committee and he was a defense attorney for Washington white-collar criminals, and he raised money for Scooter Libby.. About the only job Fred Thompson didn’t do in Washington was the job he was elected to do. He never did much in his time in the Senate. (We may be fortunate about that).

With all that badness in his past, Senator Thompson is set to run a campaign based entirely on people’s worst instincts. He plays on fear. He knows some Americans are afraid and he’s using that to get what he wants. Fred Thompson may be a bad man, but he’s a pretty good actor. In a courtroom or a tv drama, he’s good at pretending to be good. And that’s what makes him so dangerous. Americans just might believe him. I sure hope they don’t, not for the sake of my party but for the sake of the nation.

I like some of the candidates and I don’t like others, but there’s only one candidate I think is bad and that’s Fred Thompson. He was a lobbyist for the bad guys. He was a bad Senator. He’d be a bad President. He really is a bad man.

I will listen to what Fred has to say. So far no candidate has emerged, either Democrat or Republican, that I could support. We have a very poor choice this time.

what a whimp. he does it the day after the debate.

i feel bad for him. he is going to have to travel to like four states after he announces by video. i imagine that is difficult for him given how lazy he is.

this guy doesn't have what it takes. he appears to be a whimp to me.

good ole boy Fred sunk his candidacy when he stated 'HE' would overturn Roe vs Wade and added his opinion about homosexuals. KEEP THE DAY JOB FRED, unless the producers have already canned your sorry butt….

Regan did not do a bad job so maybe we should not discount Fred based on his acting. I would vote for Thompson over several of the other candidates. I would vote for Homer Simpson before I voted for a Clinton!

Geez. This is the same guy that would drive a luxury sedan and park it two blocks away from his Senate campaign events in the 1990s only to hop in a red pickup truck and drive it in the rest of the way. But given that George W. Bush waited until 1999 to buy his Crawford ranch, maybe dressing up like a cowboy is the best way to become President.

I liked him in his role on Law and Order. Now I see him as just another Neo-Con S.O.B. In fact, the T.V. show isn't watched here anymore.

Working people frequently ask retired people what they do to make
their days interesting. Well, for example, the other day I went
downtown and went into a shop. I was only in there for about 5
minutes and when
I came out there was a cop writing out a parking ticket.

I went up to him and said, "Come on, man, how about giving a retired
person a break"? He ignored me and continued writing the ticket. I
called him a "Nazi. He glared at me and started writing another
ticket for having worn tires. So I called him a "Doughnut Eating
Gestapo." He
finished the second ticket and put it on the windshield with the
first. Then he started writing a third ticket. This went on for about
20 minutes. The more I abused him, the more tickets he wrote.

Personally, I didn't care. I came downtown on the bus and the car
that he was putting the tickets on had a bumper sticker that said
"Thompson in '08." I try to have a little fun each day now that I'm
retired.

It's important to my health.

Just like the comming of Starcraft II: "Its about time!" Get set to light your powder folks. Its time for the real election to begin.

Can this guy Fred Thompson possibly be for real?

Okay, for starters, he portrays himself as an outsider in the mold of Reagan, yet in reality he was a lobbyist for many years in Washington, status quo, and he lacks Reagan's ideology, ambition, passion, charisma AND HAIR.

He was also the guy that asked the question on a Senate committee circa 1970 that started the downfall of Nixon. He asked the question about the Nixon tapes, whether they exist. Great right? Wrong. He told the Nixon administration all about the question he was going to ask days earlier to give them warning and time to prepare a defense. He was a huge Nixon supporter and good buddy of Cheney who was also in that administration.

Then there's Vice President Cheney's current Chief of Staff Scooter Libby, whom Bush just pardoned for lying about Valerie Plame… Thompson has been Libby's biggest supporter and fund raiser for his "defense fund", which Libby is using to pay that 250,000 fine that Bush hasn't bothered to pardon him of yet.

Do we really want Fred, the guy that's leading the charge for lying, corporate corruption in Washington, to be our next President?

Well, maybe he's a hard worker, you say?

Uh, well, actually he is world famous for being the laziest Senator on record, and even more infamous for his constant procrastination and vacations, possibly even surpassing our current President in that regard.

Well, maybe he's well spoken, you say? Maybe he's tough on terror, you say?

Think again on both counts, I can sum it up in one quote from Fred Thompson I just found in Newsweek, "Twelve million illegal immigrants later, we are now living in a nation that is beset by people who are suicidal maniacs and want to kill countless innocent men, women and children around the world."

Huh? Say What?

This dumbfoundingly confusing statement seems to be saying that the suicidal maniacs are here and want to kill innocents elsewhere. Not only is it garbled nonsense, it's also intended to provoke fear and combines two totally unrelated issues. He said it at a major speech.

The bottom line is… haven't we had enough of the same old fear mongering, nonsensical talk about nothing from a President constantly on vacation in a cowboy hat while faking a good ol' boy Texas twang already?

Do we really need another one?

The republican conservatives will finally have their candidate. Fred holds a very hard republican party line.

When I first heard of Fred's candidacy I was happy. Then he waited…and waited…and waited. In so doing Fred avoided the initial debates and the Iowa straw poll. To what end? What did Fred have to gain by waiting so long? A better question might be what does Fred have to hide that caused him to wait so long?

It will be very interesting to see how well Fred does in the primaries. The ultra conservatives will vote for him but what about the rest of us?

So the headline reads "Law & Order to run for president"… It seems that CNN needs to - once again - minimize anything not in lockstep with their agenda. Anyone glancing over their homepage and not politically astute would never know that Fred Thompson spent 8 years as a US Senator

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…Oh sorry, I fell asleep. Fred who? Oh, you mean the savior of the GOP? Yea great, can't wait…Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I am really not looking forward to him being in the race. The guy plays up folksy goodness to an annoying extreme.

Thankfully being a good ol' boy isn't going to play that well in the states he would need to win in the general election, so at least I don't have to seriously worry about 4 years of him.

Hummm…, Do you think CNN is pro Thompson?

Another Great Communicator?? The guy does at least have some political experience. I for one am interested to hear more about what he has to say.

He's scared to debate!!!!

"Wow, actors running for president." You make me laugh. Ronald Reagan was an actor long before he was President. And speaking of actors in politics, did you forget about Schwarzenhager governing California?

He has my vote! Actor or not, I like him and will support him.

Why are you even reporting that this sack of compost is running? He's worthless.

He thinks he's the next incarnation of Reagan. Except his wife has bigger…umm…you know.
Please spare us another Reuug actor.

Totally absurd on so many levels…

Your an idiot….President Reagan one the most respected presidents was an actor…

Iowa gets same sex marriage equality, yet this "Non Story" gets coverage before we do? A shame.

"Wow, actors running for president. The countries already in such bad shape, imagine what it would be like if he was our next Commander in Chief."

Thats exactly what they said in 1980 and look what happened….we ended up with not only a landslide victory but we had the strongest and best President since Harry Truman.
Stand back, give the man some room, and be prepared to be amazed. At least hes not going to be liberal venomous poison run amok.

This is nothing but a lawyerly, legalistic, letter-of-the-law ploy to avoid having to reveal who is running and funding his campaign.

If Fred announces on Sept 6, he doesn't have to file any campaign finance reports until Jan 31, 2008, after at least seven primaries.

What a joke. The question every voter has to ask is WHAT ARE YOU HIDING?

Finally he's coming out of the closet as an open Presidential candidate!

Been mighty underwhelming so far…

Don't bother Fred!

You have no substance and your granddaughter, I mean wife, will never fly!

Mr. Thompson, whoever put THAT picture of you on a national news site must really dislike you. Terrible Picture!!
You deserve better than that.

In other "News that makes you go 'Duh'", your dog likes steak.

Who's Fred Thompson? I'm voting for Ron Paul!!!!

This is too funny Fred is making an announcement to announce the day when he will announce his consideration to announce his run for the Presidency,

sheesh buddy by the time you finish announcing the race will be over.

So if he becomes President how many announcement and postponement will he make for the State of the Union Address

Wow, actors running for president. The countries already in such bad shape, imagine what it would be like if he was our next Commander in Chief.

I'm glad to hear he's joining the race. I cannot wait to see the expression on his when he loses miserably and then has a Female Democratic President to contend with.
Join in Fred …Bring it on!..your so pompous.

A Republican who speaks clearly on issues like abortion and gay marriage will win the party nomination. Thompson is no dummy. I feel like Washington has come back from the grave….yee haaa!!!

He is about as real as Arthur Branch. His announcement will add some legitimacy to the campaigns of John McCain and Ron Paul but will still leave me looking elsewhere.

This is what America needs: someone who is a trained liar! How are we going to know when he's acting and when he's not? I think in the long run, his is not going to have any effect on the outcome of the Presidential election past the primaries.

Dude's a wuss. He should have been sharing his ideas with the country for months with the rest of the candidates.

If he had any, that is.

Thompson, the messiah for Republicans, cannot save the party! He is too old…

The Daily Show was right, he really does look like Frankenberry.

And, like a chicken, he has to announce his candiacy the day after a GOP debate.

This is just a car accident waiting to happen.

Tom Dobbs has a better chance of being elected president that Thompson…especially if they use the Delacoy voting system again.

It Great To Now Have Someone Worth Voting For!

Wow, what good planning so he would not have to do the debate on the 5th. Wouldn't want the public to find out who he really is on the day he announces. Way to go FRED!!!

Vote RON PAUL 2008

This guy acts like an actor, just doesn't show up on time and can't keep his finances in order

Seriously, WHAT A JOKE!

No please don't! or do I really care.?

It's about time.

But my god, what a JOKE.

Do you realize how ridiculous this is? The lazy, corrupt, loophole jumpin' idiot that is Fred is ANNOUNCING his announcement–and then you have CNN reporting this as a legitimate story. HAHAHAHA