Is Fred Conservative?

Rob Bluey points out a Newsweek article that examines Senator Thompon’s personal papers, which he donated to the *University of Tennessee when he retired.

I’ve heard this charge from several sources. Is Thompson conservative? Is Thompson a Reagan Republican? Is he truly pro-life?

Is abortion the best litmus test for conservativism? This isn’t blind loyalty to Thompson, and I’m still the most pro-life individual that I know, but there are other important issues that define conservative ideals. This brings up a subject that I’ve been thinking about lately: what does it mean to be a conservative in 2008?

This may be my own limited observations, but the conservative movement seems to be splintering. Between the growth of libertarianism and the distancing from the religious right, what does conservative mean now?

Is this a result of the Bush administration? Bush campaigned as a conservative. I bought into Compassionate Conservatism. A lot of us did, and we fought hard to see him elected and then blindly defended him for years. However, the Federal government has grown more under Bush than it ever did under Clinton. Bush may be pro-life, but under him the larger conservative movement has suffered devastating blows. Peggy Noonan’s column earlier this month sums up all of Bush’s damage.

Regardless of how truly conservative Thompson is, he is by far the most appealing candidate in traditional conservative circles. He seems to actually like his supporters, which is more than anyone can say of President Bush.