Posted on 09/21/2007 8:57:06 AM PDT by Fred
The onetime ultimate D.C insider, Dick Morris recently brandished the allegation that Fred Thompson is awkward in answering questions. What a hoot coming from the guy that Chris Matthews kicked off the air and out of the Hardball studio -- probably the only guy ever to receive such treatment from Matthews -- for defaming Catholicism. But aside from the pot calling the kettle black issue, Morris accidentally put his finger on the thing that middle Americans get about Thompson which beltway insiders don't: substance over image and the difference between the two.
Morris finds fault with Thompson because:
* He does not know enough about the details of the Terry Schiavo case to comment. * He is also unfamiliar with the proposal to lower soaring insurance premiums Floridians must pay for home storm coverage since the hurricanes. * He didn't know enough about drilling in the Everglades to comment.
I find it refreshing. Most politicians who do not know the specifics of a particular subject would merely answer with platitudes, misdirection, or broad generalizations. How often do we hear a politician say "I don't know"? I personally would much rather hear that said then a five minute dissertation of painfully obvious drivel. He could have answered the Shiavo question with something inane like "It's always an unfortunate tragedy when a young person suffers a debilitating disease or injury" if he did not know the specifics. That's the kind of response the politicos expect and that middle America balks at.
Do we expect our politicians to know everything or do we just expect them to pretend they do? Have the D.C. insiders become so desensitized to political BS (like what Morris wrote for Bill Clinton during his administration) that they no longer understand the difference between informed comment and obvious pandering for the great media sound bite; "I feel your pain" comes to mind.
Now that Morris has damned Thompson for a failure of omnipotence and a lack-of-enthusiasm for failing to try and bluff the public, what are his other grievances?
Staff turnover, lobbying influence, non-conservative positions, and because Thompson said that Iraqis were supporting us because of al Qaeda's ban on smoking.
It's easier to throw out baseless accusations which require no research than to review the facts and form an opinion. So I will not try to answer all these accusations. But let me discuss two of the most irritating lies in his column.
Morris loses credibility with his complaint about Thompson's al Qaeda comment. What Thompson referred to were the reports that al Qaeda in Iraq was killing and maiming Muslims they caught smoking. This heavy-handed treatment of Iraqi Sunnis along with other atrocities as noted by Thompson caused them to turn on al Qaeda. It brings great discredit on Morris's typically straight shooting analysis that he has parroted the liberal crank websites with this pabulum. Even the New York Daily News which broke the story of Thompson's comments didn't try to make it look like smoking was the only factor for which Thompson attributed the change in Iraq.
Most damaging is Morris's claim:
"As a lobbyist, he helped the attorney representing the Libyan terrorists who blew up Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, to fight requests to extradite them to the U.K. to stand trial."
His misrepresentation of rather innocuous work reflects a hyperventilating New Republic article in which the magazine demonizes lawyer Thompson for logging a few hours assisting a senior partner by researching venue questions. Apparently TNR, the purveyor of the Scott Thomas lie, is now offended at the thought that an American could help the enemy. Pot, kettle, black.
TNR is perplexed that an international flight of an American carrier, carrying people from many nations, originating from Germany, blown up over Scotland, and attacked by Libyans would require a couple of hours to research jurisdictional issues. TNR implies that since jurisdiction was immediately obvious, who knows the nefarious goings on that Thompson spent the rest of that three hour billing on? Again, Morris really goes bottom feeding to legitimize such nonsense.
Even the New York Times which broke the story seemed subdued and provided rare, fair context about a conservative politician. As they rightly note, all criminal prosecutions require a defense or else they can't be tried and that Thompson was not a member of the defense team and was only consulted because of his specialized knowledge. That's a far cry from the misleading impression Morris and TNR gives of the matter.
Look, I happened to fly to Germany on my first military duty assignment a few days after that terrorist attack. I attended a memorial service in Wiesbaden for Sgt. Willis Larry Coursey who died on that plane. I still have the memorial service program stashed away. It was my first eye-opening personal experience with the brutality of terrorism. I don't take it lightly although I won't try to say I ‘feel the pain' of Sergeant Coursey's family as Dick might urge me to say. To equate a few hours researching jurisdiction to sympathy for those terrorists is the typical beltway nonsense that turns us in the heartland away from beltway insiders like Morris.
He likes Hildabeasts feet better.
I am beginning to believe that you competitors should get new attack lines. These have been debunked and buried... like most of the other Republican candidates have.
LLS
isn’t it amazing how those who were the central figures in past sexual scandals continue to receive credence? did anyone else go wild screaming at the TV when hannity and colmes had Bob Beckel opining on Larry Craig’s situation? Beckell who paid a prostitute with a CHECK???
If you have ever seen Dick Morris talk, the way he moves his mouth around, he is literally talking out of both sides of his mouth.
Some people are not going to like you. Oh well. I have some important differences with Fred on certain issues that I am still trying to evaluate and weigh, but I do find him VERY likeable. He has a good attitude about these things as evidenced by his response to Dobson’s comments. Maybe he will win them over eventually by not being overly sensitive about it and by recognizing that everyone is simply trying to choose the candidate who best represents their views.
Deep down the toe sucker is just mad because a conservative with real celebrity has entered the race against the media’s handpicked, political poodles.
I lived in Kansas for 16 years directly across the road from a working oil well, as do tens of thousands of others in OK, KS, TX, LA, and other places. Those folks do not have three eyes, cancerous growths on their butts, or any other unusual health problems. Drilling for oil in the Everglades won’t hurt you. Anything they spill will probably be better than the composted alligator crap that they pump out and treat for you to drink now. Same advice I will give to anybody else who doesn’t want to drill somewhere because of “environmental concerns.”
McFred??
Plus, he's only married to one woman at a time!
Jimmy Carter got us into all sorts of trouble by jumping headlong into unplumbed water. Give me the measured response of another Reagan any day!
Look in the dictionary under the word “opportunist,” and you’ll see Morris’ picture.
I look at Fred as the type of man that is not going to allow anyone to tell him what to do or think. It’s kind of refreshing, but will the Republican party allow us to make that decision or will they force someone else on us?
Greenie paulistinian.
LLS
Well, he didn’t approve of it, but I do. As long as it’s in YOUR frontyard.
I’m a little inclined to agree with Fred over the Terri Schiavo question.
I think Terri was murdered, and that the Florida judge was an accomplice to the murder. But it wasn’t the job of the Federal government to intervene, it was the job of the state governor. It seems to me that that is the proper conservative, constitutional position on that fiasco.
Jeb Bush is Catholic and pro-life, but for some reason he just didn’t follow through on this. He had grounds to act as governor, but he folded in the crunch. I fault the local bishop for his failure to do the job, and I fault former governor Bush for his failure to do his job. I believe the question Fred was asked was whether the Feds shouldn’t have done more to intervene. That may well have been a trick question, meant to entangle him between the conservative issues of federalism and pro-life concern. The obvious, and honest, answer is that the question is complicated and needs further study.
Ummm - putting a little spin on what he actually said, are we???
What he SAID was: "... Fred Thompson met with Florida Gov. Charlie Crist in Tallahassee this morning and said he wouldn’t rule out drilling for oil in the Everglades.
“Gosh, no one has told me there is any major reserves in the Everglades,” the former Tennessee senator said when asked about the issue. “Maybe that’s one of the things I have to learn while I’m down here.”
He continued, saying "I'm not going to start out by taking this, that or the other off the table in terms of our overall energy situation."
In other words, he'd take a look at the issue before jumping into a politically expedient answer. But, do you have all the great information on the BIG oil reserves in the Everglades???
Seems more like to me that either the reporter asked about something he was ignorant of in the first place (an ignorant reporter? nah, that can't be) - or it's just another one of those set-up questions to deliberately catch the candidate off guard - like the ridiculous question they sprung on Bush was back when about naming some ambassador to some podunk country.
Have fun with the spin - we know better
“I’m beginning to believe he may not have the energy to be President.”
Are you joking? Have you seen his wife? He’s got more energy than many men 1/2 his age.
Dick Morris doesn’t like Fred? Just one more reason to like him.
Unfortunately I agree - thompson sounds like he is fumbling for answers a lot and parsing his words lately...
I wish he would go back to talking like Fred and tell the reporters in plain englich to STFU when they deserve it..
You always post such rational and informative responses.
Everytime I find myself agreeing with a post lately, I look down to see your screen-name.
Always a pleasure to see you here maine-iac7! Have a great friday.
It is no wonder that he does not like Thompson.
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