from "Valldemossa"
by Richard Dorfmeister / Madrid De Los Austrias
Sunshine Enterprises
written April 1, 2007
Tommy Thompson threw his hat into the ring today, becoming the latest entry in a growing field of Republican Presidential candidates. The former four-term Governor of Wisconsin and former Secretary of Health & Human Services during George W’s first term announced his candidacy on ABC’s “This Week” program. You can watch the video replay here.
During the show, George Stephanopoulis politely questions Thompson on his views concerning Iraq, health care, and the Gonzales scandal. On Iraq policy, Thompson said he would have a “completely different Iraq strategy” than President Bush. If elected, he would put the matter of whether US troops should stay in the country up to a vote by the Maliki government.
Certainly it’s a good policy to know whether the Iraqi government officially wants U.S. troops on the ground, but if Thompson was President today would he favor the sentiment of the Iraqi government over the sentiment of a majority of both chambers of the U.S. Congress in deciding whether and when to yank out the troops? On the subject of health care, Thompson believes every American should have health insurance. His idea is to aggregate uninsured individuals into a large group and then let health care providers bid on serving the group -- an auction of sorts. Thompson calls himself the “reliable conservative” in the Republican field. He doesn’t have an official website up yet and will no doubt be pressed to kick his fundraising activities into high gear.
