Fred Thompson

Fred Thompson finally threw his hat into the ring of Republican presidential candidates.

In the Senate he was known for being a lazy legislator but an energetic pursuer of poon.

He is a one-dimensional actor with a tiny palette. But he is the best right-wing Hollywood candidate in his price range.

Ever since Ronald Reagan lowered the bar of American politics to enable mediocre thespians to run for high office we have suffered our share of Republican cardboard.

Sonny Bono became a Congressional representative. Arnold Schwarzenegger became Governor of California. And even the talentless drip who played "Gopher" on The Loveboat held a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa.

Now Fred Thompson wants to get into the act. His "qualifications" amount to little more than being able to emote on demand and read a mean teleprompter. He's not an "empty suit," but a desiccated, mummified version of 1950s Man. John Wayne meets Charlton Heston.

His ideas about blockading Iran while continuing to occupy Iraq make him the scariest Republican presidential aspirant to come out of the woodwork since the day Rudy Giuliani announced his candidacy.

Where is William Shatner when you need him?

Comments

[BobEvansZombie]

Fred Thompson is the republican's last hope for a candidate that will tell them what they want to hear so they can feel good about themselves.

It's the terrible moment before self-realization when the raw emotion of fear and hatred threaten to overcome your being, then you look in the mirror and see what a pathetic creature you've degenerated into. That sums up what the republican party and its supporters have on the horizon.

[austinobserver]

NoContest hit the nail on the head. In the 21st Century USA, presidential elections have nothing to do with qualifications. Since Reagan, the Republican Party has sought mouthpieces for corporate-fascist policies and Thompson is perfect for that. It will be Thompson in a landslide over Hillary, unless Gore throws his hat in the ring and makes it a real contest.

As for those thinking Hillary will humiliate Thompson in a debate, wake up. Gore humiliated Bush time and time again, but the corporate media never admitted that but instead focused on and magnified Gore's misstatements, or his sighs, and completely ignored Bush's outright lies and nonsensical statements, which were many and outrageous. It will be the same with Hillary and Thompson.

[eplatypusunum]

Sadly, you are correct. Journalism, if not yet dead, is all shot to hell. It won't, and maybe it can't, help us anymore.
So the oligarchs take us back to a pre-FDR world, the commoners get relentlessly abused and downgraded as work income gets subordinated to wealth income, and... and then what?
In college -- 20 years ago -- I remember some graffiti painted on an alley wall: To Revolt Is Just! Even had a spray-painted fist of defiance for punctuation at the end.
Might be what we need but I don't think it's possible, nor do we have any James Madisons or Thomas Jeffersons around today to take another whack at this "more perfect union" business...

[backhandpath]

écrasez l'infâme!

[Colmore]

Fred does not look healthy. He is reportedly lazy and not too bright. Handsome? Puleeze.!! He looks like a bloodhound. I do not think too many people will be fooled by this man. From all reports, his wife is running the campaign stepping on toes, and wants the job more than he does. The scary part is who he would choose as VP. Newt or Jeb. All of them would take this country even further down the rat hole that the present administration has us in.

[gcalknet]

Fred Thompson is a very interesting candidate. I am, for the present a Fredneck. The railing against Ronald Reagan is meaningless, in that those doing it, are obviously not interested in history. The duty of Republican Presidents today is to undo the effects of the FDR administration (Social security, Cold War, welfare state, et. al.) and to bring order back after the '60s. Reagan ended the Cold War, Bush tried to fix SS, but was blocked by old codgers such as I, who worry that they won't have their kids and grand-kids to rob. Hopefully, Fred would appoint judges of the caliber of Roberts (whose nomination he strawbossed through), Alito, Scalia and Thomas, and undo the most egregious of FDR's legacy.

[laocoon]

So that we can return to the good old days of the Great Depression I suppose. So that we can have the order imposed by the National Guard at Kent State. So that those with the wealth can dictate to those without. So that the only thing left in the bill of rights are the gun rights. a truly inspiring vision of the US.

[gdogs]

John Wayne meets Charlton Heston

Jesus, we are in trouble. That sounds like something that will get out the vote for the Republicans. Come to think of it, I'd vote for that too.

[Drill]

That's the beauty of this country Mr. Palermo. Everyone who is above the age of 35 and was born in America has the right to run. I endorse it. President Reagan lowered the bar on the inteligence factor? At least he raised the bar on the competence factor after Jimmy Carter was overwhelmingly voted out.

[BillZBubb]

Reagan removed the bar on competence, he certainly didn't raise it. Under Reagan we had a massive recession, the biggest debt binge in history, the S&L meltdown, the Iran-Contra criminal enterprise, deals with terrorists, the rape of the environment for corporate cronies, the biggest defense procurement scandals in history, the Lebanese debacle, etc. etc. etc.

Reagan is the reason the US is now in such a financial mess. His borrow and spend legacy lives on.

[Eoin45]

Right on all of that BillZ. Lebanon - Reagan cut and ran. Believe me, if it had been Bill Clinton, Drill would never let us hear the end of it. Reagan lied about being at Bittberg, Germany when he'd never left the United States. Confused movies with reality. And, like John Wayne, another conservative hero, stayed in Hollywood and made movies during WWII. Seems it's just natural for Republican so-called heros to be chickenhawks.

[mamacat]

Supposedly Bush Sr. and Reagan made a deal with some big guys in Iran not to let the hostages loose until after the election. Carter was trying to get them released, and the neo-cons were trying to keep them locked up to prevent Carter from getting reelected. It had nothing to do with competence, unless you want to count competence at dirty tricks as a virtue.

[zendem1]

McCain stood up there at the nazi rally, er, the republican debate, and said that when reagan placed his hand on the Bible to be sworn in as president, the hostages were released. Um, excuse me John. But the Iranians had been promised arms in a deal engineered by George Bush, and that's why they waited until the hostages were released. It had nothing to do with President Alzheimer, or fear of him on their part. Republican philosphy: revise history. make it fit. And nobody's called McCain on it yet.

[PerryWhite]

But our first "celebrity president" was WJC.

[SILVANUS]

Why not tag Thompson as "Melting Man."

Gosh, he is so lethargic and such whitebread nothingness (a Republican staple) that he makes Mitt Romney look like a bisexual porn star piston-stud.

If America elects this empty anti-Christ jackal, we deserve our undoing. We don't deserve freedoms we won't protect and vote for.

[TommyMcCarthy]

"UHH....Buhlah.....whu..whu...whudeesay?

[mommadona]

THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.

I AM SICK OF THIS 'JOHN WAYNE' ATTITUDE.

"BIG DADDYS" NEVER WORK OUT WELL.

[Graywolf48]

The press likes this guy, he's frequently described as "looking very Presidential", he's dubbed "Reaganesque", a "man's man". Plus he can speak in a folksy, down home manner that connects with middle America. He has a young trophy wife that many white men will admire him for, and she may not be the liability many think she will be.

He has corporate money behind him. He's a great candidate for business as a former lobbyist. He's lazy, no intellectual and easily programmed if the price is right, and the price will be right. He'll have the full Republican noise machine behind him 24/7, he appeals the the Christian right and I'll even bet you Rove joins the team before the real campaigning starts. Don't cut Thompson and his supporters short, they know how to win elections. They're tough and ruthless and will do anything to win. Remember, these guys gave us GW, twice!

The Democrats are still connected to Bob Shrum, the DLC, Rahm Emmanuel, Donna Brazil and the other long term losers that have not won a Presidential campaign in quite sometime. Shrum even managed to snatch defeat from the very jaws of victory the last go around. Any one remember the common wisdom then, that the 2004 election was the "democrat's to lose" and they certainly did, big time.

So, chatter and joke all you want, but Thompson has a damn good shot at the WH. Ignore his potential at your own risk.

[Semaj51]

I agree. Freddy can be a very dangerous opponent to the Dem's. Presidents are elected less on their qualifications and more on how people feel about them. Freddy's greatest advantage is "he looks presidential". Hollywood obviously agrees, look at his roles.
Another advantage is he's "fresh". He has not been runing about the country for over a year, and there's still another year coming.

[TJS]

Everytime critics disagree with the political agenda of a Republican actor-turned-politician (Reagan, Schwarzenegger, Fred Thompson), they dismiss them as "mediocre actors." This may make us feel good, but it is a straw man argument. By this logic, Meryl Streep or Robert DeNiro should be great politicians because they are accomplished actors--regardless of their political views. Alec Baldwin has written some insightful commentary on this site, but many would consider him a good-looking but only an average actor. Does that invalidate his political views? John Malkovich is a great actor, but he is reportedly a right-wing Republican. Would he be more acceptable than Fred Thompson because of his superior thespian skills?
Sooner or later, the Democrats are going to run an actor for office. Perhaps it will be George Clooney--a principled guy, but not a great actor. Would he then be invalidated by the same argumnent--that he wasn't Laurence Olivier? In reality, Ronald Reagan was actually a pretty good actor. If we disagree with his political legacy, don't base it on his performance in "Bedtime for Bonzo."

[laocoon]

You know generally good actors play a variety of parts. Really good actors often want to play bad guys because it is more of a challenge and more interesting. Mediocre actors often just play the heroes in B movies (Reagan and Arnold) therefore they are more presidential than a good actor. Alec Baldwin is a very good comedic actor in my opinion which is why he is not good presidential material. He needs to devote himself to playing only the sort of character a voter would think would be a good president. Now Keifer Sutherland is both liberal and plays the right sort of character to confuse the voters. He just needs to run for some office so he can also claim political experience and Voila! President Jack Bauer. Landslide victory.

[timinhi]

You kind of make a point--but the point I think you're MISSING is that whenever anyone from the entertainment industry (and who is a liberal) dares to voice his/her opinion, no matter how insightful, he/she is ALWAYS shouted down by the right as being a "dumb Hollywood liberal" with no right to an opinion(i.e., "Shut up and Sing," by Laura Ingraham). Why is it then, that whenever a celebrity happens to be a conservative (i.e. George Murphy, Reagan, Arnold, Gopher, Dennis Miller, Ron Silver, Patricia Heaton, Chuck Heston, numerous pro athletes, etc.), no matter what their educational background, no matter what accomplishments they DON'T have outside of show biz, suddenly in the Right's eyes, they can walk on water? And I disagree with you about Ronnie's acting ability. With the possible exception of Heston, most of these guys are mediocre (at best) actors. Even Jane Wyman, when she was married to Ronnie, reportedly said (something to the effect) that if she had to watch "King's Row" one more time, she was going to kill herself (Ronnie apparently would screen "his masterpiece" and force their guests to watch it whenever they'd have dinner parties at their home.). At least Clooney has been nominated for Oscars (and has won one). Certainly Reagan was able to successfully translate the "folksy cowboy" image he had cultivated as host of "Death Valley Days" to politics, but given the low grade entertainment crap that Americans routinely lap up, that hardly qualifies Reagan as an accomplished actor. The reason he was able to fool so many Americans is simply that Americans in general are easy to fool.

[ckdogs]

I think federal financing for campaigns would be Nirvana - but it's never going to happen for obvious reasons ie no one's going to vote for it. But I do like long campaigns. It gives us a chance to know/evaluate newcomers to the process. Otherwise, those with name recognition will win every time - like a Bush dynasty. I don't think Thompson is any better or worse than the other Repub candidates. It's just a beauty contest.

[FogBelter]

Now that Thompson has announced his Candidacy will start to falter. He's like a kid's gift at Christmas waiting to be unwrapped. For the days leading up to Christmas morning the kid thinks of nothing but the gift. The child sizes it, shakes it, guesses what awaits under the wrapping.

Then Christmas morning comes, Rip! Rip! ... WOW!!!

Vigorous play for a half hour, but by the end of Christmas Dinner ... the gift is ready for resale on EBay.

Thompson has just been unwrapped ... boredom is soon to follow.

[bronceye]

At least he won't have to take extended "vacations" to memorise his lines. Just make the uh-uhh-uhhh go away. He's a K Street graduate. Money will flow.

[Boadicea]

Why do Republicans think he's a good candidate? Why? Who supports this guy? I've not heard a single good thing about him anywhere, from anyone. Apparently even his coworkers on L&O don't like him.

I mean, what's to like? Nasty old guy who has an affair and takes her as his trophy wife...? What about that says "good president material?"

I just don't get it. He's not even a good actor. His colleagues say he was lazy - just what we need, another lazy president.

What's the big deal? What am I missing?

[laocoon]

Just like Reagan the GOP predicts that voters will confuse the actor with the characters he played. that is his "appeal". If there are any Thompson backers out there I would be interested in hearing why specifically you hold that position.

[timinhi]

And don't forget his turkey neck!!!

[backhandpath]

And his Chicken Head!!!