Posted on 08/18/2007 9:21:51 PM PDT by SmithL
WASHINGTON — He’s an actor-turned-politician in the mode of Ronald Reagan, someone who’s at ease in front of a camera or a crowd, a man who can charm an audience with a folksy tale or a clever turn of phrase.
But is Fred Thompson truly Reaganesque?
Reagan was, after all, the Great Communicator, a leader so skilled at connecting with his subjects that he has become the standard by which all would-be presidents are judged.
Thompson’s admirers, elated over his expected decision to seek the Republican nomination for president, already are hailing his candidacy as the second coming of Reagan.
The former Tennessee senator, an ex-prosecutor who plays a stern district attorney on the television crime drama “Law and Order,” is expected to officially enter the race sometime next month.
Like Reagan, Thompson believes in smaller government and fiscal conservatism.
But let’s put aside politics for a minute and focus on the other trait he shares with the last actor who was elected president — an innate ability to communicate, to tell a story in a way that captures the public’s attention.
Both men come across as strong, authoritative figures on stage and screen. Their speaking voices are fluent and resonant, though vastly different. Reagan’s was smooth, mellow, grandfatherly. Thompson’s is deep, gruff, sometimes gravelly. Both men were blessed with the gift of gab and a flair for spinning a good yarn.
But is Thompson Reagan’s equal as a communicator?
Thompson does have the Reagan touch, said John Geer, a political scientist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
“Thompson is at ease with the camera,” Geer said. “Certainly, Reagan was at ease with the camera. Second, at least from what I can see so far, Thompson, when he decides to be critical of somebody or question them, he does it in a way that has less of an edge to it than a lot of current politicians, and I think that is also Reaganesque.’’
In some ways, though, Thompson seems less like “the Gipper” and more like Sheriff Andy Taylor of the old “Andy Griffith Show,” Geer said.
“He has this kind of disarming quality about him, where he tries to use folksy kind of metaphors just like Taylor did,” Geer said. “But at the same time, Taylor was the most wily (man) in that entire city. Thompson is very smart as well, so he has this old country boy kind of routine that I think serves him pretty well.”
Clark Judge, who worked as a speechwriter for Reagan in the White House, also sees a little of Reagan in Thompson.
“Thompson has a very solid, reassuring presence at a podium and before a camera,” Judge said. “He comes across as someone you trust a lot. Look at him on some of his TV speeches, responses to State of the Union, that sort of thing. He’s very much someone who’s talking to you.”
One of Reagan’s greatest attributes, at least as an orator, was his ability to take written text and give it additional meaning, Judge said.
“For me, it was very, very different listening to Reagan before I started working for him and then listening to him when he was delivering text that I had actually written,” Judge said. “He would find meaning in the text and bring it out through his delivery.”
Judge said he doesn’t know whether Thompson has that talent because he’s never written for him. But, “Thompson is a very effective communicator, which is one reason he has moved up so fast (in the polls),” Judge said.
Others are less impressed by Thompson’s oratory skills.
“He’s no Reagan,” said John Kares Smith, a professor of communications at State University of New York in Oswego, an expert in presidential and political communication and a devotee of Thompson’s television show.
“Ronald Reagan had an ability and a real underestimated skill of being able to touch very deep-held American myths and beliefs,” Smith said. “When he would talk about the city on the hill, he really could resonate with our puritan past. Fred Thompson, I don’t think he has any of those skills at all.”
Thompson “just doesn’t connect the way Reagan did,” Smith said. “Reagan had maybe three ideas, and everybody knew what they were. He knew people. He had a wonderful sense of humor. Fred Thompson is not known for his humor.”
Reagan also was the eternal optimist and, like Franklin D. Roosevelt, used his speeches to raise people’s spirits, said David E. Johnson, a political consultant in Atlanta who worked on Bob Dole’s presidential campaign in 1988.
“That was Reagan’s whole persona,” Johnson said. “That’s what his greatness was, very much like Jack Kennedy. Thompson, on the other hand, is more a ‘just the facts’ type of person. He doesn’t lift to the oratorical lengths that Reagan or Roosevelt did or even Bill Clinton did.”
As evidence, Johnson cited a speech that Thompson gave to a group of Republicans last May. Some complained that the address, Thompson’s first as a prospective presidential candidate, was downright disappointing.
But whether Thompson can live up to the Reagan legend may be beside the point. He doesn’t have to be a Reagan clone to win the GOP nomination, Judge said.
“The real issue,” Judge said, “is how he compares to the rest of the field.”
Among other things. I gave him credit for his rhetorical attributes and criticized him for his lack of political abilities to win election to public office.
Don't whine to me. You opened up this can of worms. If you can't take the heat of truth, than don't make asinine remarks that can be easily pulled apart.
>>>>>Now, please provide me with ONE example of Fred Thompson’s eloquence on behalf of the principles we hold dear.
Keyes isn't always elegant in his speeches. He often can be a windbag. Fred Thompson is a good communicator. I don't need to have a red flag waved in my face to get me motivated. Btw, I gave you two video links on FredT earlier this evening. One on federalism and one was a general interview with Peter Robinson. You didn't respond. Guess you ignored them.
>>>>>Show me the personal political scars he bears for conservatism and for America.
FredT has run for office twice and won both times. Alan Keyes makes a living out of getting scared.
If things work out and conservatives find FredT`s presidential campaign effort acceptable, we might have a conservative president in the WH come January 2009. You object to FredT. So be it.
Thats what it comes down to. Politics!
see my point?
Romney sure beats Hillary but he’s a Mormon for Chrissakes and “only decided he’s pro-life” a few years ago when he started this run and his wife gave to Planned Parenthood.
I fear that. A Mormon of any conviction doesn't’t need to be 50 years old to reach an epiphany on infanticide.
No way.
I’m Southern Baptist...we are much like Mormons on culture issues. I meet a pro-abortion Southern Baptist, I consider them apostate.
It is our crucible and mine personally along with gun rights, illegals and driving a stake thru the heart of both Islam and political correctness.
LOL No sweat off my butt.
I never voted for him.
Can the dumb talk.
“Mitt Romney’s “movement” is the advancement of Mitt Romney.”
His father walked out on Goldwater’s acceptance speech, his father ran as a very liberal, anti-war candidate against Nixon in 68, Mitt has campaigned on the fact that he was NOT a Reagan Republican, or even a Republican at all during the Reagan years, and all five of his sons refuse to serve, at the same time that they campaign for their father who calls for 100,00 more other sons to enlist in the military, to flesh out the war machine that he fights to lead.
Like I said, I’m starting to believe that he is more about the Romney family liberalism than just pure ego.
The family has supplied at least three straight generations in the fight against conservative America.
Oh, you mean the kind of "federalism" that pretends unalienable rights are state matters?
We’re not gonna get a Human Life amendment passed into law in the current political environment. No matter how much you, I and the good Doctor want it. Federalism worked with the abortion issue for 200 years. America never had abortion on demand until Roe v Wade came along. Now its abortion on demand 24-7-365. I agree with FredT. Lets overturn Roe v Wade and return the issue to the states. That is better than what we have now. Apparently you want to keep Roe in place and have 1.4 million abortions every year from here to eternity. Not a smart stance to take.
"Well, we're at a crossroads in many respects, and we're going to do what many other generations have done, and that is come together, for a change, and solve them. You know, the things that we hold most dear, that is our safety, our very survival, certainly our economic well being, is at stake, with regard not only to our own families but with regard to future generations. There’s nothing that could be more serious than the things that this generation is going to face and are already facing."
Do you find that deep, insightful or motivational?
Do you find it disturbing that his first impulse is always towards "bipartisanship.?
Actually, you have me at a disadvantage here. Our host has made it clear that he doesn't want me going down this path.
And so, most of your above posts are going to go without reply from me, even though they very much deserve it.
Your promotion of your candidate will mostly have to go on with only the benefit of dishonest attacks from these liberal candidates' supporters, and rah-rahs from a bunch of yes-men.
What a load.
Prove it.
Did you read my post twice, then?
They change from issue to issue and that is exactly what Mitt does well.
ROFL...
Won't argue with that.
>>>>>What a load.
Dumping Roe v Wade and returning the abortion issue to the states will save the lives of millions of unborn children. That's not a load, its the truth. Once we get rid of Roe we can work on getting that Human LIfe amendment which Ronald Reagan wanted.
No, two posts up in post 37 I mentioned it again.
Right now, Fred Thompson is everything to everybody! This guarantees that Fred Thompson will definitely disappoint some people when he finally officially starts running for the ‘08 Presidency, and it’s by how much that Fred does disappoint others that will really matter during the ongoing ‘08 Presidential race. Many conservatives are truly hoping to not be disappointed in Fred Thompson!
Most will still occur.
Once we get rid of Roe we can work on getting that Human LIfe amendment which Ronald Reagan wanted.
What are you waiting for?
What does that mean?
Funny, Mitt Romney has accomplished more than any candidate running for President at the moment.
Obama not only looks like he belongs on the cover of MAD Magazine, but he has accomplished zip.
Vaporware? You don’t know what substance is.
You betcha.
Gay marriage.
Permanent "assault" weapons ban.
Socialized medicine with taxpayer-funded abortions.
Homosexuality normalized in the schools.
More Dems and Indies appointed to the courts than Republicans.
A decimated MA-GOP.
Oh yeah. He's accomplished alright.
Hillary is green with envy...
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