Posted on 05/20/2007 4:01:21 AM PDT by Kaslin
On the day of the first Southern-state Republican debate on the Fox News Channel, one undeclared GOP candidate performed a media leapfrog.
With the help of one 38-second video clip and a great sense of humor, Fred Thompson, the former U.S. senator from Tennessee who is one sock away from dipping his toe into the race for the White House, remained just as relevant as the other GOP candidates.And thanks to Michael Moore, the Hollywood documentarian who just can’t help himself, Thompson delivered what, in time, could become his watershed moment.
On Tuesday morning, Mark Corallo, the undeclared Thompson’s frontman, had clicked on to the massively popular Internet news aggregator, the Drudge Report, to find that Moore had challenged Thompson to a political duel, also known as a debate.
“Within the space of about five minutes we decided to do a quick video response,” Corallo recalled from his Washington office. He called Thompson and asked if he wanted to “have some fun today” and respond to Moore with a quick video.
Thompson’s response was “pure Fred,” Corallo said:
“Give me a camera. I already know what I am going to say,” said Thompson.
Two phone calls and one camera later, Thompson was ready to go. One “take” later -- with no script, no booking time in a studio and no opposition research or talking points -- Thompson was shot into cyberspace.
Thompson scorched Moore in his witty video, dangling an unlit (Cuban?) cigar alongside a civics lesson that pointed out the perils of Moore's collaborating with the fickle dictator Fidel Castro.
“His video response was all him,” said Corallo; it was not written, prepared or massaged by anyone else. “It was literally Fred being Fred.”
Having worked with Andrew Breitbart, longtime Drudge associate and founder of the Internet news aggregator Breitbart.com and its news video component, Breitbart TV, Corallo first called Breitbart.
“After it was posted on Drudge, it took on a life of its own,” he said.
“We are in a time in which everybody is in the same boat, trying to figure out what works and what doesn't in media,” said Breitbart from his office in California. “Fred Thompson just realized that running around the mainstream media in this particular instance worked.”
“I think that in 38 seconds, he says so much,” he added. “Fred Thompson knew the correct tone to take. He showed a level of sophistication that I think that people are looking for.”
Thompson has broken some new ground without the video clip being edited to fit a TV sound-bite, without pundits and columnists and the mainstream media having a chance to characterize it in their own ways.
Corallo remembers a politician once telling him that if you are not having fun, you need to get out of the game: “The business of governing is serious, but the business of campaigning should be fun.”
“I am just glad that Fred has an innate sense of humor,” he added. “Should he decide to run, people are going to see that.”
Republican strategist Kent Gates said it clearly was Thompson’s moment: “It was quick, clever and precise in the way he responded to the attack.”
Thompson has said he wants to run a different type of campaign, and the video clip proves it. It was the almost-candidate himself stepping up and doing something Americans haven't seen.
The question is not if this was a watershed. The question is, whose watershed was it -- Thompson’s, mainstream media’s or new media’s?
Salena Zito is a political analyst, reporter and editorial page columnist for the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.
Bump!
That is pretty funny.
I have been a Fred Thompson fan for a while now. The tape was great. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
We need some fresh blood in the White House and in the Congress. We need term limits now more than ever in the Comngress and we need to get rid of this batch of rich scam artists running the nation.
We arent America anymore . The Congress does not represent us, they represent their own interests. The American voter to the politicians today are less than nothing.
bttt
ping
I'm also starting to think Obama is being way too cautious, and his inexperience will be his undoing, while Hillary's experienceS will be hers; these two are their own worst enemies, and each others'.
I became a Fred Fan just the other night here on FR when I read the original posting of this story. Since then the Lindsey graham fans have posted a couple of times, but they seem to realize they're getting no purchase.
I think Fred's our man.
The biggest problem with politics today is that we arent given a choice of Good, better,or best. We are given a choice of bad or worse.
I think Fred is better.
BUMP to your thoughts. Especially on term limits. Needed now more than ever.
Would I prefer a “funny” little video done by an actor, or a President who will take all the problems and serious issues our country is facing like terroism seriously, answer is obvious.
Would I want a President who like President Bush doesn’t make funny cute little videos in response to Chavez’s horrid comments about him and our country, or a President who’s “cute” (childish) response to a stupid comment defending his use of cuban cigars (which are illegal to use in this country) OR a President to act with dignity and one the terroists will take seriously?
it was a watershed moment all right,for voters to see the immature response to a stupid challenge that did not deserve the time of day let alone all the attention and press that Moore is now getting which is what Moore wanted to begin with, and Thompson took the bait, what would he do if and when another country challenges him to a war, what video will he make in response to that? Hopefully we will never have to find out.
Responding to the likes of Moore and taking his bait is not Presidential material!
A candidate can have a sense of humor and be a good president, too. Lighten up. He’s likable and that goes a long way in politics.
But I am starting to get enthused about Fred. His record, his personal presence, and what he's saying now all give me hope.
Fred can beat Rudy like a rented mule.
Unfortunately, as the feral left gets more desperate, ideas such as mental institutions for non-liberals (or anyone else who opposes them) will eventually worm their way into accepted liberal orthodoxy.
What would Ronnie do? I believe he would be all over the new media, Mr. Grumpy. :)
Fred will run, that is not in question, how much he skunks the also-rans is what is in question. If Fred stays the course, and does not abandon the right or conservatism, then his stroll to the White house will be as memorable as Gaius Julius Caesar's crossing of the river Rubicon in January 59 B.C.
And as Caesar's action broke the then Roman Senate's hold on power, so too would Fred break the current Congress' supposed mandate of the 'will of the people' from the last election.
America, as did Rome with Caesar's influence, become the nation that it should be again, it would solidify the message to terrorists everywhere, as in ancient Roman times, there is no place to hide, only where they want to be buried.
Fred Thompson / 'Stormin' Norman Swartzkopf, what a ticket. And from Swartzkopf's eleven commandments, here should be Fred's campaign strategy and platform:
1. You must have clear goals.
2. Give yourself a clear agenda.
3. Let people know where they stand.
4. What's broken, fix now.
5. No repainting the flagpole.
6. Set high standards.
7. Lay the concept out, but let your people execute it. (Interesting concept about fighting a war on terrorism, and border security.)
8. People come to work to succeed. (Don not reward failure or nonworking.)
9. Never lie. Ever. (This is totally alien to almost every politician.)
10. When in charge, take command. (Do not govern by committee.)
11. Do what's right. (Law-enforcement IS compassionate for everyone's wellbeing.)
Old Patriot
A typical response I knew to expect, “lighten up”.
I don’t find Moore’s bait and him taking the bait a bit humorous.
There are some good youtube videos and some that are funny done by COMEDIANS, this American IDOL should get his own comedy show not a major actor/player in the WH.
LOL, now that’s funny “Mr Grumpy” actually that’s Mrs. Grumpy :)
'ol Ronnie, a sense of humor and gravitas. Yes, stopem you CAN have both!.
CC
Who would you suggest? I’m sure you have someone in mind.
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