After months of hints and false starts, screen star and Republican ex-senator Fred Thompson yesterday launched his run for president, promising to stop "another Clinton" from seizing the White House.
Thompson, star of movies like The Hunt for Red October and television crime show Law & Order, hopes to follow Republican idol Ronald Reagan from the silver screen to the Oval Office.
"My friends, I come to you today to tell you that I intend to run for president," Thompson, who is running second to Republican front-runner Rudy Giuliani in national polls, said in a video Webcast. "I feel deeply that I am doing it for the right reasons. I love my country and I am concerned about its future."
The craggy ex-senator with a plain-spoken manner and folksy southern charm is wooing core conservatives unhappy with their field, and who fear Democrat Hillary Clinton may follow her husband Bill to the presidency.
Thompson, scheduled to set off later yesterday on a swing through Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, which hold early nominating contests next year, vowed to protect the US from looming economic and security threats.
In his Internet video, he said he would battle extremists "willing to take as long as necessary to bring the United States and our allies to our knees, while killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people."
Thompson painted Iraq and Afghanistan as central fronts in the US "war on terror" and warned "if we abandon our efforts or appear weak and divided, we will pay a heavy price for it in the future."
As Republicans watch Clinton dominate the Democratic polls, Thompson said conservative principles had helped Republicans avenge Bill Clinton's 1992 election win by seizing control of Congress two years later.
"Now you don't want to have to come back from another Clinton victory. Our country needs us to win next year, and I am ready to lead that effort," he said.
He tried to flesh out the personal myth-making and appeal to the American dream that is an integral part of all presidential campaigns.
"My story is an American story ... where a small town kid of modest means and modest goals grows up to realize that he has been a very lucky person," he said.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
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