Thompson Played Grant _ No Hero in South

AP via SFGate ^ | 11/13/7 | Jim Davenport

[SmithL]

Charleston, S.C. (AP) -- Fred Thompson has gotten a lot of mileage out of his movie and TV fame as he runs for the Republican presidential nomination. And on Tuesday, speaking at The Citadel military college, he made sure to mention one of his recent roles: president of the United States, in the movie "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee."

But that wasn't all good for someone campaigning in the South.

"Some people say I've got a little making up to do," he said. "The last role I played when I was in the movies — I played Ulysses S. Grant." That's the Northern Civil War general who went on to become president. But it could have been worse.

[ichabod1]

Japan lost. The Union didn’t. Big difference.

[Cat loving Texan]

From my perspective as someone who grew up in the midwest and moved to Texas I believe the south has changed. Unfortunately today on a Dallas area discussion board that is open but leans conservative I saw this:

http://www.dallasdigestforum.com/forum2/39742.html

I really hope this is elitist media bias but things like this concern me.

[Texas Mulerider]

A few years ago when Grant’s tomb had fallen into a shameful state of neglect and disrepair, the Sons of Confederate Veterans raised donations and offered physical labor to get it back in shape.

[ichabod1]

The British were the ones doing the indiscriminate bombing.

Hmm... what might have happened to make the Brits think that might be a good idea, eh? Or at least justified?

[ichabod1]

I could vote for Fred. But every time I see him I can’t help feeling that the chemistry isn’t there. I want it to be, but it’s not.

[Texas Mulerider]

I am amused as a Southerner though that no one gave a rat’s ass how the Federals waged a total war down here on our own soil against kinsmen and yet we wail incessantly over silly shite like Abu Graib and insulting Islamopigs.

The media goes apoplectic with outrage whenever one of our missiles goes slightly off course and causes "collateral damage."

Must be amusing to the citizens of Vicksburg.

[ichabod1]

Who is buried in Grant’s Tomb?

[Non-Sequitur]

He’s playing off of stereotypes and history. It’s a joke. Don’t you ever take a day off?

In the fight against the negative stereotypes perpetuated by you Southron types we can't afford to take a day off.

[Spktyr]

Remember what happened the last couple of times we ran what they considered a second-rate Hollywood actor? Yeah, that’s what they’re deathly afraid of out there.

[Spktyr]

Nobody, Grant and his wife are entombed, not buried.

How many bullets in a six-shooter? (If we’re going to do idiotic Marx Brothers’ references.)

[ichabod1]

You bet your life.

(six)

[wardaddy]

Yep.....those big mortars weren’t exactly discriminate.

I have several books of eyewitnesses on Vicksburg.

the radius of the explosive was fairly tight

a civilian would be walking down a street and boom...a direct hit and they were in a million pieces

hard to imagine that sort of thing in that era

some accounts of children playing outside the caves between rat meals and taking hits.....very sad.

course since their families probably owned slaves they had it coming /s

[JamesP81]

Ulysses would not be proud.

No, I'm afraid he wouldn't. Neither would Lee, or Patton, or Blackjack Pershing, or Chesty Puller, or Nimitz. We have a great military leader in Gen. Petraeus, but it's a shame how Congress has conducted itself during this war.

[JamesP81]

No, I believe he means the War of Southern Rebellion.

The War for Southern Independence.

[Fudd Fan]

O fer cryin out loud
he was an ACTOR.

Someone needs to get a life.

[JamesP81]

I wish we had a President today that would allow our generals to fight wars like Grant and Sherman. I am from Alabama, we still have too many old demicrats here, like they had a hundred years ago.

Here in Kentucky we've got a surplus of yellow dog dems--people who will vote dem because their parents did, not even realizing that the dems they are electing are nothing like FDR (not that he was necessarily the greatest, but at least he liked his own country). We just had an election and our republican incumbent governor got his head handed to him because of the damned yellow dogs.

[JamesP81]

Hmm... what might have happened to make the Brits think that might be a good idea, eh? Or at least justified?

True enough. The Germans bombed civilians first and the British responded. On the other hand, Germany's continued concentration on civilian targets gave Britain's industry time to recover, and this was crucial to Britain's successfully resisting the German onslaught.

[Spktyr]

The correct answer is five. Nobody carried them with one under the hammer because that was unsafe.

[stevem]

Longstreet became a Republican after the War.

I think he became an ambassador to Greece or Turkey or some such in one of the Grant administrations.

He also introduced tactics into the Wilderness which was nearly impossible and, impressed mightily (I think it was) one Winfield Scott Hancock.

[Dr. Sivana]

Grant was 5’8”, Thompson is 6’5”. Strangest casting since Boris Karloff as Charlie Chan.