FRED THOMPSON VISITS MYRTLE BEACH GRAND STRAND

"Our rights come from God, not government." With statements like this Republican Presidential Candidate Fred Thompson made a stop in Myrtle Beach, my home turf, yesterday at the NASCAR Cafe in the heart of the Grand Strand.

With a crowd estimated at around 1000 squeezed into the theme restaurant which seats 500, Thompson spoke on issues ranging from the war to immigration. At each point in his more than 40 minute speech the crowd received what he had to say with great enthusiasm and several times Thompson found it necessary to pause his remarks while waiting for the applause to end.

Several of the issues that he covered are as follows:

The War - Thompson began by expressing his profound gratitude for the men and women who serve in our military , "especially those who are abroad and in harms way." He added in response to many who had thanked him for announcing his candidacy that, "running for President is easy, what they, (referring to the soldiers), do is hard and what their families and they sacrifice are what makes the difference in this country."

Thompson continued by saying that the war against Islamic Terrorism will go on long after our victories in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is global in nature and has an enemy that fights , "in ways that we have never faced before." He added that we must continue to be vigilant and strong in our pursuit of terrorism to protect our families and our country.

Illegal Immigration - Thompson hit the nail right on the head on this issue as he expressed with great conviction that it is, "unfair, " to our citizens and wrong to continue to allow illegal entry through our, " open border policy, " which allows thousands illegal entry into this country.

He stated that his policy as President will be to enforce all current laws and, "beef up, " the border both with a fence and increased border security. He added that he will have stiff penalties for any employer who knowingly hires illegal aliens and that the best way to stop the flow is to, "dry up the jobs." He also stated that he was against any form of amnesty!

He also stated that illegal immigration goes, " way beyond just illegal aliens, " but it is a national security issue. "How can we fight to protect our nation from terrorism while still allowing free access to our borders ?" He emphasised that a "small amount of fusion material in the wrong hands would cause havoc in any of our cities." The only way to prevent this is to , "secure our borders."

Taxes and limited government - Senator Thompson stated that he supports complete reform of the existing tax code and cutting taxes along with the size of government and government spending. He stated that he has not endorsed any specific plan that has been put together by, "anyone else, " because someone would come up to him and say, " you endorsed this but what about this sentence on page 132." He stated that he likes both the flat and fair tax ideas and that any tax reform would be, "his plan, " to make the tax code easier and fair to all Americans.

After the speech I had opportunity to ask this question along the lines of this particular issue. "Senator Thompson, as President will you use your VETO authority to reign in Congressional spending especially through earmarks regardless of the legislation it was tagged to ?"

He responded with a, " yes, " and stated that spending was out of control and that if we expect our country to continue economically, "we cannot keep spending like we do." He went on to state that we must cut taxes which will increase revenue but that spending should never exceed that revenue. He added that , "the only way to get this mess under control is to reduce spending, reduce government and regulation and limit the size of government in every area while still maintaining a strong defense."

Right to Life - Senator Thompson announced his endorsement from the National Right to Life Association and expressed his thanks for their support. He then added that as President he understood that to protect the sanctity of life it was necessary to nominate Judges who followed strong conservative values and the right to life as expressed by our Constitution.

The United Nations - During a brief Q & A session after the speech, the Senator was asked how he viewed the United Nations and the US involvement with the organization. His first response was a classic, "I stay mad at them about 3/4 of the time and the rest of the time I could care less." He then added that while it may be necessary for the US to continue to participate in the UN to keep us as a nation from having to do what little good work they do, that the US must no longer allow the UN to run, "ramrod over us and that we must use our status as the worlds strongest nation to reign in UN corruption and the allowance of petty dictators to run the UN.

DC Politics - Thompson said that we cannot continue with politics as usual in Washington. " Politicians seem to believe that the people are beholden to them rather than the politician being the servant of the people." He went on to say the he was , "amazed that a 20 year old in Iraq new more of responsibility to country than a 20 year politician in DC."

As President, Thompson stated that his, "accountability comes from telling the truth. Making a commitment to protecting our people which means that the buck stops here. He was not going to play politics or stand for politicians that play politics. The matters of this nation are to important for politics and especially politics as usual.

Ken Taylor