Human Events, the conservative organization, has endorsed Senator Fred Thompson for the Republican nomination and the presidency.

The greatly respected organization explains:

Since World War II, America has not had a presidential election at a time when the stakes were higher. Conservatives have to win this election, and to do so, we have to identify a candidate around whom we all can rally.

We begin by recalling the profound words of Ronald Reagan at the Conservative Political Action Conference Feb. 15, 1975: “A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency or simply to swell its numbers.” We believed that then, and we believe it now. The issue for us — and for the conservative community — boils down to which of the candidates is most representative of the fundamental conservative principles we believe in. The answer is Fred Thompson.

About Senator John McCain Human Events had the following to say: ‘Sen. John McCain of Arizona is a war hero whose personal courage sustained many of the men imprisoned with him in the infamous “Hanoi Hilton.” We honor him, but he does not honor many conservative principles. His co-authorship of the Bush-McCain-Kennedy “comprehensive immigration reform” legislation last summer ran directly against our principles of American sovereignty and national security.’

They are also not happy with his ‘opposition to the Bush tax cuts, his support for economy-strangling measures to control “global warming” and his anti-torture legislation.’

And Governor Mike Huckabee? ‘Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is a charming and agreeable gentleman. But his support for the economically disastrous “cap-and-trade” fix for global warming is as bad as Sen. McCain’s position on the issue. The so-called “fair tax” he supports is unworkable. His tax-and-spend policies do not comport with conservative principles, but they do align all too well with Huckabee’s populist rhetoric on the injustice of corporate CEO salaries.’

Aside from that ‘[h]is stance on granting special benefits to the children of illegal aliens is also very troubling. On the war, Gov. Huckabee’s understanding of the issues does not impress us.’

What may come as a surprise to some critics of Governor Mitt Romney, Human Events is actually quite positive about him: ‘Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is a closer call. We believe his relatively new pro-life position is a sincere one, but examining his record and listening to his campaign rhetoric indicate to us that he is more a problem-solver than a gut conservative.’

They cite “Romney-care” and ‘the big-government approach he took as governor, raising state “fees,” according to the Cato Institute, by $500 million and proposing two corporate tax increases totaling close to $400 million a year’ as examples of this problem-solving attitude.

The conclusion for Human Events, then? Senator Fred Thompson is the most solid conservative candidate running.

Human Events is greatly respected among conservatives. I don’t quite see how this endorsement cannot have an impact. He needs all the endorsements he can get in the run-up to the primary of South Carolina, but this isn’t just an endorsement, it’s quite a bit and important one.

Is it in time? Who knows. He should do fairly well in South Carolina and he’s campaigning hard there. He also did very well yesterday: he was the winner of the debate according to most who watched it live. Increasingly more conservatives are waking up to the reality that although there aren’t a lot of solid conservatives running, there are at least a few and Thompson is most definitely one of them.

As an aside, I consider Human Events’ description of Romney to be fairly accurate (problem-solver not dogmatic conservative) but to me that’s not a con but a pro. Then again, that’s probably because I’m not a conservative for Americans, but more right-of-center, or even centrist (dependent on where one puts the center; there seems to be great debate about that in the US these days).