by Mark Silva

"The pendulum's swinging against us,'' says Fred Thompson, Republican candidate for president. By "us,'' he means the Republicans.

"It's been, what, one time in 50 years where a party's won the presidency three straight times?'' Thompson, former senator from Tennessee and prime-time television star, says in an interview with CNBC's Larry Kudlow. "We're down in the polls, independents are leaning the other way that used to lean with us.''

So what's the good news?

"We got to do some things better than we have, and we've got to adhere to the principles that made us a great party and a great nation,'' Thompson says on Kudlow & Co.

Thompson also speaks of his own party's front-runner, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, in the interview, and unloads on abortion, immigration and gun control in one quick assessment of the differences between him and the ex-mayor.

"He believes in federal funding for abortion,'' Thompson says. "When I was passing a bill outlawing sanctuary cities, he was going to court to stop our bill so he could keep his sanctuary city. He's never... he's never met a gun control bill he didn't like.''

Thompson is asked about Warren Buffett, the billionaire, calling on Congress this week to keep the inheritance tax and arguing that it redistributes wealth rather than perpetuating wealth in the hands of a few.

"I don't know what to make of him,'' Thompson says. "I know he's been pretty successful under policies, probably, that are contrary to what he's talking about now.

"But I do know something about the policies they're espousing. They're basically the policies of the Democratic Party. And I think they're dead wrong,'' he says. "You know, you look back in history... whether it's been in the 20s or the Reagan administration or the Kennedy administration or this administration, when you've lowered taxes and lowered tax rates, you've got economic growth. I mean, everything depends on economic growth.

"It gets back to our fiscal policies, our taxing and spending policies,'' he says. "And lower rates induce the kinds of things that contribute to economic growth.

"The answer for every conceivable ill in America is to tax some of the most productive people in our economy,'' Thompson complains. "Soak the rich.

"I mean, you can put it in different guises and call it different things, different times,'' he says in the inteview, "but that's essentially their answer to absolutely everything.

"Five percent of Americans pay about 60 percent of the taxes now. How progressive do you want to get? I think everybody who espouses that sort of philosophy ought to say, how much is the federal government entitled to of someone's earnings? These people aren't usually born rich. If you look at the numbers, you see so many Americans start out as a lower rate.''

"Are they lucky?'' Kudlow asks Thompson, "You know, Buffett -- a lot of people have said it's just lucky, getting rich is just luck, an act of God.''

"Yeah,'' Thompson replies. Well, they progressively got luckier as they worked harder and as they went along because their tax returns show that they've moved from one level to another to another. That's America.''

"Do you think there's a link between luck and hard work?'' Kudlow asks.

"Yes, yes,'' Thompson says, "I think we could probably all attest to that.''

He talks about Social Security and more in the interview, which ends with a query about the front-runner in the Republican field, Giuliani:

KUDLOW: ...You pounded Giuliani on a number of (issues) -I want to ask you, No. 1, are you still pounding him on the campaign trail? Number two, do you intend to continue to pound Rudy on the campaign trail?

Mr. THOMPSON: I haven't pounded all day.

KUDLOW: Today.

Mr. THOMPSON: Today.

KUDLOW: How about yesterday? How did you nail him yesterday?

Mr. THOMPSON: Well, I'll have to go back and check. No, we're pointing out--we're pointing out some policy differences.

KUDLOW: What's the biggest difference, in your judgment, between you and Rudy?

Mr. THOMPSON: Well, there are several of them.

KUDLOW: There's one major difference.

Mr. THOMPSON: He's taking--he's taken--he believes in federal funding for abortion. He's been--when I was passing a bill outlawing sanctuary cities, he was going to court to stop our bill so he could keep his sanctuary city. He's never--he's never met a gun control bill he didn't like, and there are a few other things like that.

KUDLOW: All right.

Mr. THOMPSON: Just good, solid, honest disagreements.