Posted on 04/16/2007 6:39:22 AM PDT by veronica
If voters on the right think Rudy Giuliani's love life is too racy, what will they think about Fred Thompson? The former Tennessee senator, who is considering his own run for the GOP nomination, was a swinging single during most of his eight-year tenure in the Senate, making him a favorite of gossip columnists, who often referred to him as the "Tennessee Stud."
Just weeks after winning his first campaign for the Senate in 1994, Thompson was spotted waltzing with country singer Lorrie Morgan, who dated him for more than a year. "He's a wonderful man. He's very special to me - he really understands me," Morgan said at the time, telling reporters they had even considered marriage.
But alas, it wasn't meant to be. By 1996, they were splitsville. One reason: she didn't like dressing the part of a conservative Republican. ("Get that basic black dress out of the closet," Morgan wrote in her 1997 autobiography, "Forever Yours, Faithfullly." "And no cleavage, baby!")
But Hollywood Fred, as he is sometimes known, was no lonely heart. Over the years, Thompson was linked to plenty of other woman around Washington, including GOP pollster Kellyanne Fitzpatrick (now Conway) and fund-raiser Georgette Mosbacher.
In 2000, his love life got a little messy, spilling onto the pages of the New York Post's famed Page Six. His then-girlfriend (and future wife) Jeri Kehn complained to Page Six that "all these women" were constantly gunning for her man. "They just won't leave him alone," Kehn told the paper. "I can't get up to get a cocktail at a party without coming back and finding some girl sitting in my chair."
Kehn, who inisisted she was dating Thompson, singled out one lady in particular: then-Time magazine columnist Margaret Carlson. "She won't get the hint he has a girlfriend," Kehn complained. "She calls his apartment all the time. I mean, what is the deal with these woman? Don't they have any pride? It's a joke all over Washington that Margaret has a huge crush on him. And Fred clearly is not interested." Mee-ow!
At the time, Carlson refused to comment, but Thompson, clearly unhappy with Kehn's outburst, issued a terse statement to The Washington Post. "I don't generally comment on these matters," he said. "But as it relates to statements made about my friend Margaret Carlson, there's not a bit of truth to them. I should be so lucky." Thompson married Kehn in 2002, and they now have two young kids. A
pparently Carlson, who is now a columnist for Bloomberg News, still likes Thompson, in spite of the dustup. Carlson, who did not respond to an e-mail from Newsweek inquiring about the matter, was spotted on "Hardball" with Chris Matthews last week, swooning over a potential Thompson candidacy. "He's handsome, he's charming, he sounds like a president-. He's smart, he's articulate, he knows his line, he can hit his mark," Carlson said, predicting that he'll jump in to the 2008 race soon. "For the press, he would be the new McCain because he does seem honest and open."
Slime? If I were a guy I’d consider this report more like a triple scoop sundae with all the trimmings.
One of my late husbands was precisely this kind of woman magnet. If I left my seat anywhere, some woman was in it when I got back.
And not just women. People who hated everybody, loved him.
Seems to me this is a good thing, particularly when you’re single.
Fred will get the support of all his ex-girlfriends because he's a gentleman around women. Clinton treated women as HO's. With rape and violence, subterfuge, and sordid behavior. Rudy finally found the elusive thing. Just my observation if it matters to you ladies.
How many times does a man have to commit adultery to be considered a serial adulterer? Rudy has three in the bag that we know of.
Can you tell us if this will be the position of Richard Land and the religious right?
Personally I dont care much about this stuff, and I like both Fred and Rudy. But I think the pure Fredheads may be underestimating the potential for this to be an issue. Fred had a reputation as a notorious womanizer. It's impossible to write it off as an issue when you dont know the details.
Unforunately relaying that sentiment was neither the authors nor the posters intent.
If you'd like to be a FRedHead let me or Howlin know.
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You constantly nitpick. Even your “positive” threads are accompanied by a series of negative posts. You come up with some false conclusion and then post it ad nauseum.
Fred NEVER said he wouldn’t campaign hard. You are just a liar. He said he didn’t think that campaigning in the modern age required him to abandon his family.
Yet you have repeated your lie dozens of times, trying to convey the impression that Fred is a lazy old man.
You constantly whine about Fred’s problems when YOUR candidate has the same problems magnified.
You are disgusting.
As opposed to Rudy's catting around while he was married?
Ho hum.
Let’s see. I’m a conservative Baptist voter.....
Pro-lifer who dated woman while single weighed against serial adulter who would pay to murder his own grandchild.
DUH!!
Why do you hope Fred runs?
any attempt to sleaze the man over being a single guy dating a few women and having girlfriends will fail, sounds like he was faithful to his girlfriends at the time. The man has TWO small children now with his wife that he MARRIED and committed to. Those two little ones will blow out of the water any attempt to make this into a negative.
Except that Fred was single at the time. Rudy wasn't.
Handsome, prestigious, eligible batchelor gets plenty of dates until he finds the right girl, settles down, and has a couple of kids.
Makes me want to vote for him even more!
Go, Fred, go!
I heard that questions about his dating life was the reason Bush went with Cheney over Thompson.
Sounds like he’ll get the Clinton second term voters all on his side!
That Fred dated between his marriages is nothing...but Margaret Carlson? At least George Washington never dated Helen Thomas during his bachelorhood.
Wow, 37 posts on the thread before some astute freeper posted what was my exact first reaction.
MARGARET CARLSON??
LOL!
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