Fred Thompson (Respectfully) Slaps Down Newt

There's a disturbance in the Republican force thanks to the NY-23 special election featuring a very liberal Republican, a moderate Democrat, and a conservative in a third party. Newt Gingrich has gone all-in endorsing the liberal Republican, but a bunch of conservatives like Fred Thompson, Sarah Palin and Tim Pawlenty have endorsed Doug Hoffman, the conservative.

Newt implied in comments yesterday that the Republicans endorsing Hoffman don't understand the realities of electing Republicans in liberal states. Fred Thompson disagrees:

Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson brushed back former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on Tuesday over Gingrich’s warning that the Republican Party is wrong to thrown in its lot with the Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman over Dede Scozzafava, the GOP’s candidate, in the special election in New York’s 23rd congressional district.

Gingrich has called the many prominent national Republicans – including Thompson – who have endorsed Hoffman over Scozzafava in recent days “misguided,” arguing they are making a “mistake” to back a third-party candidate over the party’s nominee…

During his radio show Tuesday, Thompson said he was “sad” to hear “when a good Republican friend of mine says that I, and the other good, conservative Republicans who have endorsed Hoffman, are ‘misguided.’ And that’d be my friend, Newt Gingrich.”

“I respect Newt. He’s a friend. Done a lot of good, I think. But he endorsed Scozzafava early on. So, we have an honest disagreement in the family,” Thompson said…

“Are we saying that as Americans you’ve got to have an ‘R’ by your name before you vote for them? Where do you draw the line?” he continued. “If somebody with a record like this gets our seal of approval, regardless, only because she’s got an ‘R’ by the name… You know, just because we’re Republicans doesn’t mean that we’re deaf, dumb, and blind.”

Well said, as always, by former Senator Thompson.