Category Archives: Video

Looks like Romney’s a phony, too

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Just kidding. Actually, I’ve never met the man — although I’ve seen him on YouTube.

But one of my readers DID see him this week, and had a disappointing experience. I just now got around to this e-mail from yesterday:

Hello Brad,

I have been a punctuated reader of your blog, and wanted to express disgust for a recent visit by Mitt Romney (and to ask the best way to go about sharing this with others). Today at a  "Ask Mitt Anything" I finally had my worst fears about the of the American presidential race verified.

After taking away the cameramen, reporters, photographers, staffers, AARP & Ed in ’08 representatives, outspoken Mormons, and political dignitaries there were only a few actual people seeking answers to genuine questions. I thought at this event, I might actually get to ask something. I positioned myself to be seen by those with microphones and was told that I would be able to ask a question next. I looked to the other microphone to see a staffer coaxing a supporter who had already rejected an offer to ask a question, finally ask something.

Another softball… "What would you do about immigration and the illegals already here?" His response, like the thirty minute one from Rudy’s last visit to Columbia was simple – build a fence and avoid addressing the difficult issue of existing illegal aliens.

Anyway, time was winding down and they only had time for one last question. Finally, I thought. Instead someone went on about a lack of spine within the Republican party. Irony…

Next I made my way to the front of the crowd to ask him myself, simply as a concerned citizen. After waiting in the hot building for about 15 minutes –  it was finally my turn. "Hello, Governor Romney, I have a question."

His response: "I’m sorry, i don’t have time, I have a more hands to shake, can we talk later?"

"Sure" I replied in amazement. I was too surprised to be adamant.

His staffer assured me, after my second rejection, that I would be able to ask my question individually as he was leaving.

I stepped aside, and waited another fifteen minutes. As the gentleman (who just assured me that I was going to be able to ask Governor Romney my question) announced to the remaining few individuals the end of the meeting I stepped up to ask my question.

"Governor Romney" I said ask he walked by and out the door smiling without making eye contact with me. "Can I ask my question now?" I inquired to his campaign rep.

"I’m sorry, you’ve gotta be quick," he responded. Then an officer stepped in to push me away.

I’m sorry too. Sorry that I wasted my lunch break to attend a live commercial for Mitt Romney. Sorry, that events like this can be labeled "town hall." Sorry, that candidates fear discussing real issues with real voters. Sorry, that someone running for president would run from an unassuming 22 year old. So much for his platform of strength.

The note was unsigned. But, whoever you are, this is one way to share it with others.

Personally, I don’t make much of this — somebody’s always going to be the questioner on deck when it’s time for the candidate to move on. And feelings are going to be hurt. But since I was unable to attend the event myself (I was out of town), I’ll pass on this correspondent’s experience.

Now — was anybody else among you there? Perhaps someone who’d like to put his name behind his viewpoint? We’re all ears.

You gotta watch these political operatives

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So I receive a nice bit of fan mail from a nice young man named Boling, and far too late, I realize that he has subliminally forced me to watch a video about John McCain…

Hey Mr. Warthen –

What is it about British accents that make the English sound
so smart? I liked the video on her Majesty’s General Consul. Speaking of videos,
I thought you might find the new McCain video particularly interesting. Here’s
the link: http://www.johnmccain.com/courageous/

Thanks,

B.J. Boling

Communications Director (S.C.)

John McCain 2008

And next thing you know, I’m a McCainiac Zombie, shambling about muttering in a monotone, "mccain is a hero. mccain epitomizes courage…"

But then, I was doing that before I saw the video.

Ozmint: “I need the Legislature’s help on this; somebody’s going to get killed” at Corrections

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Ozmint

S.C. Corrections chief Jon Ozmint came by Tuesday to give his perspective on the recently redirected Senate investigation of his department.

He kept saying he wanted us to take the 30,000-foot view of the situation. Well, this brief post is more like the satellite view — a few sketchy notes, a video clip, and some supplementary material his office e-mailed over when we were done. Look at it and decide what you think; I haven’t had time to digest it or dig deeper, so I have no opinion to offer at this time — beyond our usual position, which is that we’ve got to stop trying to lock up everybody and his brother and not pay what it takes to have safe prisons (that’s the view from the moon, metaphorically speaking).

In a nutshell, he said there were three problems with the way the Senate committee has gone about looking at how our prisons are run:

  1. The Subject. He says there are plenty of legitimate areas for legislative oversight — escapes, assaults, turnover rates, contraband control, gangs —  of the agency. But the Senate staff tried to get into the nitty-gritty of "individual, isolated complaints" from employees and others, and he believes there are more appropriate venues for investigating and adjudicating such matters.
  2. The Method. He said the Senate staffers lacked the expertise to investigate, leading to compromising potentially legitimate investigations. "There was no plan." They took a bunch of hearsay, he says, with no next step such as going to Corrections for more info.
  3. The Motive. He was cagier about this, not wanting to get into placing political blame specifically on individual senators. But he said the investigation "had been hijacked by a small group of senators and staffers."

"And I think those were the three problems that made this the disaster that it was," he said. We went on with a rambling discussion of problems at Corrections, politics at the State House, and various other matters, on and off the record — but the points above are what he mainly came to say. I urge you to watch him saying it on the video, as it helps you appreciate the passion and volatility that Mr. Ozmint brings to his job — whatever you may make of those qualities.

Oh, let me add this. Mr. Ozmint realized I was shooting video during the meeting. But near the end of the meeting, he said he didn’t realize I would publish it on my blog — even though he reads the blog (but, he said, his computer won’t play the videos). I asked him why he thought I was shooting it, and he said he supposed it was to back up my notes. But I have an audio recorder for that. He protested that he wasn’t dressed right. I told him he looked like a hard-working sort with his polo shirt with the name of the department on it. Whatever.

So, extra-point questions here:

  1. Is it fair for me to post the video?
  2. Does the video add any value for you, the reader (and citizen of South Carolina)?

That’s all for now.

Scooped by the newsroom

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Yesterday, Zeke Stokes sent me the above video, with the following terse comment:

Just when you think we’re making progress.

Once again, this was Zeke Stokes, not some guy who gets his jollies making fun of the S.C. public education system.

I looked at it and thought, "the poor kid," yet resolved to put it up on the blog as inherently interesting — but only after I put up several other things that had more substance. I didn’t get around to posting those things yesterday, and since Jon Ozmint is coming in in a few minutes to talk about all this, and we still have pages to produce, I’m probably not going to get to those things today, either.

Meanwhile, the blasted newsroom scooped me on this. They even blogged about it. Ah, well.

Nazi Blitzkrieg rolls over Ravenel; Hillary’s Heckler in hot pursuit

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Thomas Ravenel’s notoriety is fading on YouTube.

My most popular (among fascists, who seem to be a fairly large constituency on the Web) video of Nazis defending the Confederate flag on our State House grounds has now taken the number-one slot among my most-watched clips. Disturbing, isn’t it? Of course, there was a certain car-wreck rubbernecking quality to the fame of the Ravenel video, so it didn’t exactly put the human race (or the master race, either) in a flattering light.

But wait — my Hillary’s Heckler video is moving up at an unprecedented speed, having passed 6,000 views in only 3 weeks. (What’s faster than Blitzkrieg?) I’m thinking that within a month, that clip of Mrs. Clinton and her detractor at the recent College Democrats’ confab will outpace everything, and put the Nazis in its shadow.

In any case, here’s where things stand:

  1. "Nazi Presidential Candidate Defends Confederate Flag"
    — 3 months old, with 6,862, this was the fastest-riser
    ever before Hillary. It’s resuming the number-one spot it held just before the Ravenel scandal broke.
  2. "The Alpha and Beta of Thomas Ravenel"
    — 10 months old, with 6,850 views.
  3. "Hillary’s Heckler," only 3 weeks old, coming up at Ludicrous Speed, at 6,235.
  4. "Who Resurrected the Electric Car?"
    — 4 months old, still probably my masterpiece in terms of sheer
    artistry (the YouTube critics give it 5 stars), with my first effective
    use of the voiceover technique. 6,054 views and also rising quickly. This is the feel-good hit of my repertoire.
  5. "Nazis Defend Confederate Flag II." My shameless exploitative sequel, shot and released the same day as the first hit, a la LOTR. 4,416 views.

Lee Bandy’s column, the movie

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When I saw that Lee Bandy led his own John McCain column with the candidate’s remarks re Don Imus, it occurred to me that I might dig back into my video from last week and provide my readers with that portion of the interview, in addition to what you’ve already seen:

   

As an added bonus, and only if you act now, we will include this extra footage of the candidate complaining that the voters are interested in a whole lot of other stuff besides whether his campaign is moribund or not:

John McCain videos

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Here are clips from portions of the editorial board’s meeting with John McCain on Monday. These, as usual on this blog, were shot by me with my little Canon digital still camera that also shoots short video clips.  You can find some higher-quality video from the meeting, shot by Andy Haworth of thestate.com, by following this link.

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"The Surge is Winning:"
McCain on Iraq

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"They didn’t believe us:"
Why the immigration bill failed

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Why we don’t need a draft:
McCain on the military

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"Look at the Region:"
The War on Terror, beyond Iraq

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"I’m prepared:"
Why he can, and should, win in 2008

   

Hillary bumps Biden, quickly makes my Top Five list

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My Top Five Videos, that is. She’s not on my Top Five Candidates list. That doesn’t mean she won’t be; I just haven’t composed that one yet.

But in just two weeks of boffo box-office, she has muscled her way to No. 3 among my most-watched video clips on YouTube. Well, she didn’t do it herself. Some credit goes to the star of the clip — the woman who heckled her at the College Democrats meeting in Columbia — and to her cinematographer, moi.

The title ("Hillary’s Heckler") probably helped. Alliteration is a powerful thing. Also boosting it was the fact that there was a CNN clip of the same incident. Still, that one — shot with a better camera and from a somewhat more advantageous vantage point — only got 2,232 hits, while mine had received 5,639.

How could that happen? Well, I’m going to credit the rough style of mine. First, I used the Steven Spielberg/"Saving Private Ryan" hand-held-no-steadicam style, rather than the stodgy, omniscient-viewer, fixed-position technique of the network. This really puts you in the action.

It’s shot from a combatants’ viewpoint. This is what a rapt young Democrat, fascinated by everything Mrs. Clinton had to say, would have seen and heard. The camera stays on Hillary, then there are murmurs and cries of "No!" and you don’t know what’s happening at first. Is the crowd turning against Hillary? Do they not like what she’s saying? But wait! The camera swings in the direction of the sounds, and here’s this nutty lady yelling at her, and (unlike in the CNN clip) you can hear what she’s saying — not that it makes sense, but you can’t have everything.

The jostling, the confusion, the lack of explanation of what just happened, Hillary’s smooth slide back into her speech — all add to a dynamic viewing experience.

That’s my interpretation, anyway.

Whatever the explanation, no video of mine has ever topped 5,000 in less than two weeks. And it makes poor Joe Biden — whose frenetic Rotary performance topped the chart for a time — even more of a footnote. Show biz is hell.

Here’s the list as it stands now:

So we see what sells, don’t we? Cars, cocaine, controversy and Nazis. At least I haven’t stooped to luring y’all in with sex. But that’s just because Ségolène Royal‘s agent has been completely unreasonable.

McCain videos, and much better than the ones I shoot

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Mccain_starbucks

We’ve initiated something new for The State‘s editorial board. We’ve been tiptoeing up to it for a year or so, with my relatively unobtrusive gathering of video snippets from our meetings with newsmakers. But on Monday, when the board met with John McCain, Andy Haworth of thestate.com shot the whole thing on a real video camera — he’s got a tripod and everything — which is a far step beyond the low-res, no more than 180-second clips I’m able to grab with my little digital still camera.

I haven’t gotten around to posting anything yet from that meeting — too much to digest during the busy days that have ensued — but Andy’s put up some of his gleanings on thestate.com. You can find links to them here.

While I’ve been running around having lunch with a representative of the Edwards campaign, dropping by a Giuliani town-hall confab, posting video from that, meeting with Sam Brownback and writing a column for tomorrow about that, I have managed to get one key question answered regarding the McCain meeting Monday: Andy was curious about the Starbucks cup that played such a prominent role, looking almost like a Hollywood-style product placement. What sort of drink was it, and why did it have "Buzz" written on the side of it?

I had not noticed the "Buzz," but it was obviously a reference to Buzz Jacobs. So when I couldn’t reachBj_boling
him, I asked B.J. Boling (that’s him at left, listening to the senator’s speech to the Columbia Rotary Club) to find out for me what sort of drink it was. After a reader recently unjustly accused me of being a latte-drinker, seemingly attaching importance to such a choice, I was concerned about what the senator’s choice might reveal that was heretofore unknown. As a longtime McCain admirer, I worried about the "Buzz" — in my experience, they don’t write customers’ names on cups unless they ordered something fancy, if not something downright effete.

I asked him late Monday, and had still not heard back Tuesday morning, which had me doubly worried: What were they hiding? Please, please, tell me it wasn’t a caramel frapuccino!

B.J.’s response:

I left a message for you on your cell phone last night [which I had not yet played]. It was
regular coffee from Starbucks in the Vista.

… and the world resumed its accustomed shape.

Hillary mentions Bennettsville!

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You may recall that I have observed in the past a certain thing I’ve discovered about blogging — you can either get out and learn stuff and have experiences worth blogging about, or you can blog. There’s not enough time in 24 hours to do both. Way existential, no?

It’s a lot easier to blog from my office, just based on the stream of information that goes by me on Al Gore’s highway in the course of a normal day, publishing editorial pages. When I manage to pull myself out of that rut and actually go out and experience life as I did back in the 70s as a reporter, my mind will be on fire with ideas, things I want to tell everyone — but work that has to be done just piles up, and when I get back I have less time to share those observations than I would have.

And just so you know, I don’t have time to blog at all, whether I go out or not. What you read here is a result of my dysfunction, my obsession, my impulse. A lot of people seemed offended that I asked clinically about the "impulse" that leads to libertarianism (that’s liberanism to you, bud). Don’t be so touchy. I know from impulses. There is little more to me than a tangled mass of such — or so I sometimes suspect.

Java2
Anyway, here I am on vacation (which is why I didn’t post yesterday), and I find myself sitting in a more-or-less deserted, out-of-the-way coffee house where the Internet access is free (unlike some places I could mention) — a place that is actually a front for another business entirely (I’ll explain if you like, but I think I’ve mentioned it before), which is why they don’t care that I’m the only customer right now — while my wife and granddaughter are out wasting their time on the seashore (pah!), picking through some video I shot the other day.

So here it is.

   

Maybe it’s not quite enough to win my vote at this point in the contest, but Hillary Clinton at least got my attention by being the first presidential candidate within my memory to mention my hometown — which, of course, happens also to be Marian Wright Edelman’s hometown (Sen. Clinton’s context), and Hugh McColl‘s, and all sort of other people we are more or less proud to know (sorry, I couldn’t find a good link to something about Jack Lindsay for the word "less").

Now, I think I might wander back to the family compound and see what’s in the fridge… and then I might do something really important, like watch that final episode of "Firefly" that never aired. I’ve been saving it, knowing there will be no more after the cancellation, and the movie not being that big a hit, but I’m going to watch in anyway. I’ll let you know if I learn anything bloggable from it.

Videos of Hillary Clinton in Columbia

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Since it’s getting into the wee hours of Sunday morning, and I’ve been going since early Saturday, I’m just going to slap down a couple of clips from Hillary Clinton’s appearance at USC Saturday morning. There’s more from the College Democrats of America confab that I hope to post when I have time — but right now, I don’t. In the meantime, enjoy the clips.

The first is entitled, "Hillary Clinton, Young Republican."

The second is, "Hillary’s Heckler."

Obama’s big applause line at USC

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Obama_020

Barack Obama got a warm reception at the College Democrats of America confab over at the Russell House today. The kids liked his JFK-style, rise-to-the-challenge-of-a-new-generation idealism. I liked it, too. I think it’s something that sets Obama apart, in a positive way. I might write about it in my Sunday column.

But I had to smile when this was his biggest applause line (up to that point in the speech, anyway).

Now, before you dismiss these kids as totally self-interested and selfish — he’s talking about a real problem. Whether he’s got the solution or not, I don’t know. But as the father of five kids, four of whom are in their 20s, I’ve had to deal with the painful spectacle of watching my kids work very hard trying to make it on their own, yet struggle to pay medical bills when they arise, because their jobs don’t provide them with coverage.

Our whole health care "system" is price-adjusted for those of us who have health insurance, and too expensive even for us. For young adults without that benefit, it’s a cruel joke.

Why should young people starting out in the world have to settle for a job that gives them such bennies? It really limits them to following established paths rather than going out and taking risks to innovate and move our country forward. At least, it limits them if they listen to their old man, who worries so much about them that he keeps saying, "Go for the thing with the benefits!"

Partly, I do that out of frustration. I work myself to death to take care of my family, and once they turn 19, or graduate from college, I can’t take care of them any more, no matter how hard I work. And then I see them struggle without the umbrella of health protection I’ve always had. I try to help them out with cash at times, but at such prices it’s beyond my pocketbook, much less theirs.

In any other civilized country in the world, this would not be a worry.

So yeah, I laughed at the big applause Obama got on this, but what he’s talking about isn’t really funny.

Video: McCain goes to the mattresses

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Apparently, there is still a John McCain presidential campaign going on in South Carolina, in spite of conventional wisdom. I’m not dismissing conventional wisdom, mind you — Mike Fitts’ assessment of his situation this morning was as follows: "He’s out." And I’m not arguing with Mike, on account of the fact that he finally came back from vacating in Colorado, and I don’t have to do the production work any more. I had to be physically restrained in the hallway this morning to keep me from hugging him.

That doesn’t mean I agree with him.

True, when I went by the McCain HQ this morning on a whim to see if it was still there (actually, I’d never been there before; I had to ask Bob McAlister where it was), I found one staff left. It was quiet — too quiet. But B.J Boling was putting a brave face on things, as the video will attest — talking about no more of this massive, Clausewitzian-army approach — back to the insurgency of 2000. Anyway, listen to the video to hear the sound of a campaign going to the mattresses.

   

B.J. isn’t the only guy on the staff, mind you — I ran into Buzz Jacobs in the parking lot on my way out ofJacobsbuzz
the HQ (in Richard Quinn’s building at 1600 Gervais — that’s 1600, note). I said I wanted to get a mug shot, so he stood in front of an SUV with a McCain sticker on it. But he explained he isn’t a Clemson grad.

Anyway, B.J.  and Buzz actually do have some good points when they say the campaign’s obits are greatly exaggerated. I tend to agree with them. Two of the better points:

  1. McCain still raised more money than any candidate of either party in South Carolina in the past quarter — in spite of, as Buzz put it, "getting our butts beat over immigration." So there.
  2. Who the heck else are Republicans going to go with in South Carolina? Seriously. Giuliani? I like Giuliani OK — he’s a stand-up guy — but I can’t see Repubs in this state seriously going with him. Mitt Romney? I don’t think so. Maybe, but I really don’t think so.

And oh yeah — where’s that Fred Thompson guy anyway?

1600gervais

If you’re here because of that box on the op-ed page…

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… that promised "other opinions, the chance to register your thoughts, plus video from Tommy Moore’s endorsement interview with The State’s editorial board," then you’re at the right place.

  • First, in case you haven’t read Tommy Moore’s op-ed piece that the box went with, "Why I left the Senate for the payday lending industry," please go do so.
  • Then, check out Warren Bolton’s column on Mr. Moore’s decision, which takes a decidedly different view.
  • Here’s a video clip from our editorial board’s endorsement interview with Mr. Moore, back when he was running for governor last year.
  • Here’s our endorsement of then-Sen. Moore. (Hey, you should have seen the other guy. Some choice.)
  • Here’s a release about, and a link to, an ETV interview with Mr. Moore after his announcement this week.
  • Check out the press release from Mr. Moore’s new employer, CFSA, announcing his new job.
  • Finally, here’s my own initial, rather visceral reaction to that news. Something you might find more interesting is the way some of my readers responded.

If you have thoughts of your own to share, or requests for further information or resources, this is the place.

Video: Graham, Lieberman, others on Iraq

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Just got this video release. I haven’t even had time to look at it — except to see that Lindsey Graham (whose office sent it) and Joe Lieberman appear on the screen. It appears initially to be about this:

AP-BC WAR POST
//Senate Signals Move Toward Major Change in Iraq Strategy//(Washn)
By Shailagh Murray and Jonathan

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan consensus to dramatically alter the U.S. military mission in Iraq began to emerge Wednesday in the Senate, but no specific approach has yet attracted the broad support necessary for a veto-proof majority.

… Wednesday, on the first in a series of Iraq amendments to the annual
defense policy bill, seven GOP senators voted with Democrats to break a
Republican filibuster of a proposal from Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., to
require longer troop rest periods between combat deployments. Six of
the seven Republicans are vulnerable 2008 incumbents. The effort still
failed 56 to 41, with 60 votes needed for passage. But the seven
Republican votes were surprising, considering that a similar measure in
the House last spring was roundly denounced by Republicans as a "slow
bleed strategy."…

I’ve got several hours of work before I can stop to review it myself. You look, and react if you choose…

DeMint splits with Democrats over earmarks

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You may recall that after the last election, Jim DeMint formed an unusual alliance with Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats against earmarks. I also posted a video with the junior senator reflecting in positive tones about what it was like to work with Democrats.

The coalition has apparently not hung together all that well. I got this release today from Sen. DeMint’s office:

Today, Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) asked unanimous consent to immediately enact earmark reforms that passed the Senate unanimously in January. After 6 months of delay, Democrats again objected and signaled they intend to weaken the earmark reforms behind closed doors in conference. Below are videos of DeMint’s speech and text of his prepared remarks.

– Wesley M. Denton
  Communications Director
  Office of Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC)

Mr. Denton was thoughtful enough to pass along these two videos as well.

Archive video: Tommy Moore on Tommy Moore

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Recent developments with regard to Thomas Ravenel showed me that people can take an interest in some of my old video of a former candidate when that candidate pops up in the news again.

With that in mind, in case you have any interest, here’s a video clip (from back before I learned how to properly edit the things) of Tommy Moore describing himself back during the general election:

Was I mean to Grady, or just ‘factual?’

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Patterson2

Tammy Stokes over at "Seeding Spartanburg" has filed a post* that among other things, states the following:

Thomas Ravenel won that position for one reason and one reason only.
He had an R behind his name. It wasn’t his experience or his track
record of being a fine, upstanding South Carolinian who could bring
vast knowledge and positive change to the Treasurer’s office.

It was because he ran as a Republican. And with the support of
the SC GOP, they proceeded to drag his opponent Grady Patterson’s name
through the mud in a desperate attempt to unseat one of the only
remaining elected Democrats in our state. Some of the dirty insults —
especially the personal attacks on Patterson’s age — were embarrassing,
hurtful tactics especially when the person who unseated Patterson is
now facing federal drug charges less than 7 months later. Looks like
someone with maturity and experience would have been a better choice
after all.

Personally, I find Tammy’s remarks embarrassing and hurtful. Not really, but she does cause me to revisit an idea that others have brought up in the past, and which I’ve almost entirely dismissed with a clear conscience:

Was I mean to Grady Patterson when I posted this video, and this one? Some folks think so. I know for sure that Trav Robertson, who was the ex-treasurer’s closest political assistant (mentioned in this post, and pictured in the background above), thinks so. Each time I run into him these days, he tells me what an awful person I am, specifically because of the videos. I’d like to know what y’all think.

Back before the Ravenel blowup and the Nazis praising the Confederate flag, the "He makes up stuff" clip was either my first or second most-viewed on YouTube.

That’s no moral or ethical defense, of course, but it verified an assumption I had when I put the footage up: Voters would be interested.

I further believed that their interest would be legitimate. I felt that as long as I had the video, and a means of sharing it, I should. There are certain subjective cues you pick up on in a face-to-face interview that play an inevitable part in your judgment of a candidate, but which are hard to get across to readers in a way that they both pick up on and find credible. Sometimes, the ways in which we set out our reasoning in endorsements are theoretically sound, but fail to get across that indefinable something — just how weird this candidate was, or how dumb that one seemed.

In Grady Patterson’s case, there was something about the impression he gave that caused me to think, "Here’s a good man who has given his life to public service, but it is well past time for him to retire and let others do the work." It would have been far better to see him off with a warm retirement party, with lots of grateful speeches for his contributions, than to turn him out of office so ignominiously, losing to that obnoxiously cocky young Thomas R.

Well, I did say some stuff sort of like that. But it seemed far more useful to the voters if I would just show them. (Otherwise, they might assume I was just looking at a calendar, and inferring that he should retire.) The video clips enabled me to do that.

So what do you think? Did I do right? I think I did.

Video: Fred Thompson in Columbia

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Here’s some quick-and-dirty, unedited video of Fred Thompson at a state Republican Party luncheon today at the Townhouse.

I’ll try to post something a little more polished later.

The light was a little low, and my camera kept adjusting its exposure to the white jacket that the lovely Mrs. Thompson — who was between him and me (that’s her holding what I assume is their child in the foreground of these clips), but we amateurs do what we can.

Note the size of the crowd, the response, etc. The party had a full house for this not-yet-official candidate.