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.
Pardon me, m'aam. Sexist pigdog that I am, I usually assume a screen name that is not clear female is a man.
But, I refuse rehab!
:)
And it is not who you might think it is...actually I am thinking Hunter.
I like him. But does he have gravitas? Just a little cheap shot at the media.
“Term limits”????
They’re called elections.
Oh my !
When I think of the past 40-50 candidates that we've had running in both primaries for the past TWENTY YEARS, I can take nothing but a cynical attitude about the health of our country.
Try to think of ONE non-crazy, "compelling" well adjusted person out of the 250-300 MILLION people available who has run since Reagan.
And then, think about the fact that in the top 50 candidates given airtime----> Ron Paul (aka Alex Jones, Sr.), Dennis Kucinich-for-crying-out-loud....even Nuttier than a Payday Bar Ross Perot.
Out of 300 Million people, McCain, Clinton#12, Dole, Dukakis, Bush#47 is the best we can put forth?
It's hard to see how a monarchy isn't any better at picking leaders by birth than by the s/election process we've got.
Your response sounds like a “Church Lady” skit on SNL.
Duncan Hunter is just another pre-”Makaka” George Allen.
Amazing. No writers. No consultants. No polls. Just pure Fred. This is what separates Fred from Romney and others. Fred is real.
I think that has been obvious for a few months now. I haven't been this excited over a candidate in a long long time.
Dude, the reason we are winning the serious battles but losing the media war is because we don’t stoop to go nyaah nyaah nyaah when the enemy is askin’ for it.
Morale and communication is essential to victory. I love and pray for George W. Bush but Fred Thompson is a serious fella and he can bolster sagging morale and engage the MSM in this war with a good attitude and a quick wit.
Read #18
It wasn't the President who did that. It was a former Senator from a southern state who may or may not be running for President. It was not only funny, but far more effective than either ignoring Moore or responding to him with any kind of gravity would have been.
Me, neither and it feels great! Now if he would just announce!
True. And he, in no uncertain terms, told BlubberButt to go pound sand. I like that!
OMG where have you been? It seems like every other televised public appearance by Bush is a candidate for America's Funniest Home Videos ;-)
Geez. Lighten up.
Imagine how well he will do in a debate with Hillary or Obama.
Inexperience, yes. Caution? Not so sure. What comes across as caution seems more an indication of the man's lack of substance. He can only talk in platitudes and generalities because his knowledge of issues is so shallow. He's a creation of his handlers, a camel fashioned by committee to resemble what they think a statesman looks like.
Never watched Fred’s tv show but it must be pretty popular with all the support he’s gotten so far...
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