Since I was on the subject, I thought I would write my Sunday column on an aspect of the Fred Thompson phenomenon. I talked to Larry Grooms, who was sort of the spokesman for the S.C.-pols-for-Thompson thing yesterday. I’m trying to get ahold of a couple of others to ask them the same question.
You may have seen the Grooms quote in news reports, regarding the GOP field:
"They’re all good guys, but there’s something lacking in every one of
them. I think
Fred Thompson is the type of candidate that many people in this state
are looking for."
What I asked him today was what it was what it was that Thompson had that was "lacking" in the other candidates.
Specifically, I asked what Thompson had that John McCain didn’t have, since Grooms supported McCain in 2000. He didn’t really want to talk about his problems with McCain, but he did talk about the Thompson mystique a little bit.
More on that in my column Sunday.
But in the meantime — the idea of a Thompson candidacy has met a fairly warm reception in this venue. So tell me: What do you think Thompson has that the others don’t?
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2008 Presidential Decision is a Process of Elimination
#1 issue; no crazy presidents.
Tommy Thompson is out.
Ron Paul is out.
Al Gore is out.
#2 issue; immigration (secure the border).
Giuliani is out.
McCain is out.
All the Democrats are out.
Tancredo is in.
Hunter is in.
Fred Thompson is in.
Romney is a maybe.
#3 issue; fight terrorism and Islam.
Obama is out
Tancredo is in.
Hunter is in.
Fred Thompson is in.
Romney is still a maybe.
#4 issue; don’t take my guns.
Tancredo is in.
Hunter is in.
Fred Thompson is in.
Romney is still a maybe.
#5 issue; protect life.
Romney is out.
Tancredo is in.
Hunter is in.
Fred Thompson is in.
#6 issue; can win in general election.
Tancredo is out.
Hunter is out.
Fred Thompson is it! (www.fredthompsonnews.com)
Easy enough! What’s to think about?
My old Tennessee buddy Al Gore is NOT crazy. He’s just socially awkward.
And why wouldn’t McCain be “IN” on more of those things, such as “fight terrorism” and “protect life?”
First Babe could pose for Playboy?
If only mertens could somehow convince his heroes Hunter and Thompson to run on one ticket! The very thought somehow fills me with fear and loathing…;-)
Here are some observations that Glenn Greenwald made about the enthusiasm being shown for Fred Thompson by the Republican base, and I think they’re spot on:
Beltway pundits are so easily fooled, because they are so eager to be. Their brains and emotional reactions — and thereafter their political statements — are dominated by these shallow and inauthentic symbols of masculinity and piety which overwhelm reality. They search so desperately for these attributes that they find two-dimensional cartoon images which are just archetypes — really caricatures — deeply satisfying.
Thus, parading around in military costumes or excitedly talking about sending people to war is infinitely more important for showing “toughness” than actually doing anything that evinces toughness. Warning in a Southern drawl that God wants marriage to be between a man and a woman is infinitely more important for demonstrating one’s “cultural conservatism” than the question of whether one’s behavior is actually “culturally conservative.”
There is nothing in Fred Thompson’s life that he has actually done that makes him “a tough guy” in the sense Fineman means it, nor is there anything that makes him a “cultural conservative.” If anything, what his life actually is — his behavior in reality — seems to negate those characterizations.
But the illusion of manliness cliches, tough guy poses, and empty gestures of “cultural conservatism” are what the Republican base seeks, and media simpletons like Fineman, Halperin and Matthews eat it all up just as hungrily. That’s how twice-and-thrice-divorced and draft-avoiding individuals like Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh become media symbols of the Christian “values voters” and “tough guy,” “tough-on-defense” stalwarts.
And it’s how a life-long Beltway lobbyist and lawyer who avoided Vietnam, standing next to his twenty-five-years-younger second wife, is held up by our media stars as a Regular-Guy-Baptist symbol of piety and a no-nonsense, tough-guy, super-masculine warrior who will protect us all.
“He’s just socially awkward.”
Hmmm, projecting much?
Al is even socially awkwarder.
I’ve experienced one occasion that could be described as “social” with Al Gore, as opposed to interviews and such: He and I accompanied my publisher and his wife to dinner back in 1983 or 84. Over a good meal and a couple of bottles of wine, he and I discussed the viability or lack thereof of the line-item veto on the federal level. I was all for it, he wasn’t so much against it as raising all sorts of problems with it. We sort of ended it with me saying, well why can’t we have a veto where the Congress just needs a simple majority to override? That way you couldn’t say they were ceding too much power to the executive, and it would force members to be on the record on the specific line items, rather than hiding them in a longer bill. Wouldn’t that lead to greater responsibility, accountability and intellectual honesty — not to mention a whole lot less pork? He said he would keep thinking about that, which I suppose was a polite way to change the subject, before we bored the other two folks into utter madness.
So OK, maybe in that case I was a bigger geek than he was. But it was just that one time.
That’s your indictment of Gore as “socially awkward,” Brad.
Pretty lame.
I watched Keith Olbermann interview Gore the other night. I quickly remembered why he should never run for another office.
And, I agree with many of his positions!
Gore in his polished, scripted, and edited documentary = charming, self-deprecating, humorous and enlightening.
Gore in an off-the-cuff interview = ponderous, convoluted and wooden.
Gore’s deficiencies as a politician opened him up to caricaturing by the right wing and we tragically were stuck with the Bush Disaster.
As a crusader for the environment Gore’s doing a great job. He should keep doing that and leave running for President to more skilled politicians.
Hal, don’t tell me that the GOP is hungering after another fat cat pretending to be Joe Six Pack; another Beltway Insider reinvented as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington; and, another two-bit character actor to play President.
Please, don’t tell me that the Cable News Talking Heads are buying into another Rethuglican fake tough guy (Hello, Dick Cheney!) who couldn’t be bothered to serve.
As Claude Raines said in Casablanca, “I’m shocked. SHOCKED.”
I would say to merterns that Mike Huckabee could survive that process of elimination.
Why is McCain “out” on terrorism?
Because he has ignored the border. I guess warfare is more glamorous, and a wide open security threat at the backdoor of his own home state won’t rate much attention from him, or from others, until a catastrophe happens.
Three times – yes, 3 times, simulated WMDs have been brought across the border without being stopped. Let’s just hope that no one has done that for real.
I don’t understand why you say that. McCain favors this bill precisely because he thinks it’s essential to provide border security because of the terrorist threat. Of course, I guess I should understand you, because I have made a similar mistake. I didn’t pick up on that until he explained it in an interview.
People who criticize the bill say they’d rather have nothing than this. Because of terrorism, McCain does not believe we can risk doing nothing. I think he has a point.
Border security and terrorism? That’s just funny. Considering that all 19 of the 911 hijackers were in the country legally, I’m not sure I can see the connection. The sudden interest in the immigration issue is just another hot button for the GOP to push to rile up their base and Thompson is just another opportunistic actor who knows where the right buttons are.
Newsflash…Just because an actor plays a pilot on TV doesn’t mean he can actually fly a plane.
The GOP loves them some actors though. Reagan, Sonny Bono, Ahnuld and now Thompson. Apparently to GOP voters, you don’t really have to have any good ideas to be in congress or in the White House, you just have to be able to deliver a line.
RTH has a point about Gore. I was amazed that he was as good as he was in “An Inconvenient Truth.” Of course, I was also amazed at how funny he was lampooning himself on Saturday Night Live.
Neither the Gore I knew in the 80s, nor the one who ran for president in 2000, could have pulled off those performances.
Brad, Brad, Brad…
I live in AZ.
Close enough to the border to see Mexico from my window.
People have been calling McCain for years about the situation, asking him to PLEASE press for more border security.
I used to ride on public lands (I don’t any more, it’s too unsafe) and regularly saw groups of men crossing remote areas. Illegal aliens? Most likely… but there’s no guarantee that’s who they were.
McCain’s has not made much effort until now, and has stressed the immigration reform portion over the security portion, until now. I believe his true motivation is to curry favor with Bush and the GOP power structure.
The sensible approach has always been, secure the borders, first – then deal with the rest of the situation.
And though I don’t like someone being misquoted – that doesn’t mean I believe what they’re saying.
Syd,
I’m sorry if you can’t connect the dots.
“Mertens,” the Thompson booster above, lists the following requirement for our next President:
“#3 issue; fight terrorism and Islam.” Fight Islam? I give Mertens credit for not trying to hide his or her true colors.
Anyway, why don’t we just end the charade of American democracy and go right to “USA: the Made-For-TV Movie,” and run Martin Sheen against Fred Thompson?
Well, if we’re going to do that, I’m going for Harrison Ford in “Air Force One.” I liked his foreign policy.
And cw, if it’s about keeping poor Mexicans from walking over to pick vegetables, I don’t see much use in worrying over it. But Mexico has long been an entry route for those few who might actually pose a danger — and they aren’t Mexicans. In the cold war, they were Russians — spying on us out of their embassy in Mexico City. Today, it’s a way for terrorists to get in if they don’t have more legal cover.
ROMNEY-THOMPSON IS THE PERFECT REPUBLICAN
TICKET. MY DREAM TEAM.
TRUST ME AS I HAVE DONE MY HOMEWORK….
I HAD SERIOUS CONVERSATIONS WITH FORMER
SENATOR FRED THOMPSON IN EAST TENNESSEE.
THIS COUNTRY NEEDS HIM TO RECOVER.
Anybody else see this empty-headed drivel from the New York Times?
Huh? Does the reporterette really believe voters will hold that against Fred any more than New York state voters will vote against Clinton for not completing her term in the Senate?
She then argues that “Law & Order” viewers will hold Mr. Thompson responsible for his TV character’s actions.
Thompson’s big problem should he run is one of perception:
One expects more from a reality-based publication.