Posted on 10/25/2007 9:07:19 PM PDT by Calpernia
Fred Thompson’s presidential campaign continues to have more departures than a Greyhound bus terminal.
Thompson personally hired Jim Mills, a highly respected Fox News producer, as his press spokesman. Two weeks later, after Thompson hired William Lacy as his campaign manager, Thompson fired Mills.
Mills gave up a hefty paycheck at Fox to join the Thompson campaign. He told friends he considered Thompson essential to the future of America. His firing outraged colleagues at Fox. Because Mills joined a campaign, his chances of being re-hired are diminished. He is still looking for a job.
J. T. Mastranadi, Thompson’s director of research, quit in horror after Thompson’s wife Jeri began taking attendance at campaign headquarters in McLean, Va., one late Friday afternoon. Jeri Thompson actually called staffers at home to ask where they were and why they should be paid.
“The younger ones thought they were going to lose their jobs,” a former staffer said. “The more established ones were offended and asked themselves, why do I need this? One asked if Jeri would be calling him at 1 a.m. to check up on him when he was doing campaign work.”
Despite that incident, Jeri, formerly with the Republican National Committee and Senate Republican Conference, is highly respected in Republican political circles.
“Message-wise, Jeri is great,” said a former staffer. “She understands him and how he is best presented. She is a very bright and a good political thinker.”
However, this week, Nelson Warfield, Thompson’s media consultant, left in disgust as well, Top advisor Mark Corallo quit previously.
Warfield was offended by Mills’ firing, Jeri Thompson’s meddling, and Thompson’s “lazy” approach to campaigning, according to one former staffer. Corallo left out of loyalty to Mills and dismay over what he considered Thompson’s mismanagement of the campaign.
Asked for comment, Thompson advisor Mary Matalin called a story about the departures “a very old item” that “very much mischaracterizes the campaign effort.”
She said Lacy was hired “to pull together a first class professional operation commensurate with the task at hand, namely, getting the best conservative elected, which is the only way to unite the party, which is the only path to beating the liberals next fall.”
Matalin said Lacy “has in fact accomplished his mandate above and beyond what anyone thought possible after the other money throwing campaigns vacuumed through the political community.” Lacy “is doing far more with are fewer and less paid staff who are all there because they believe in Fred,” Matalin said.
Many staffers who have quit or were fired felt Thompson misled them about the energy he would put into the campaign. While Thompson shows up at fund raisers, he leaves quickly and doesn’t spend much time making calls to raise money.
“That’s just distasteful to him, or else he’s busy doing other things,” a former staffer said.
Early on, Thompson told campaign aides he was not going to be frenetic. As they understood it, that meant he would not pop in and out of states. Instead, he would spend three or four days in a state like Iowa, for example.
“We thought he would be going from town to town, spending two hours at a time and talking to people,” a former staffer said. “Instead, he gets out of a bus and wears a baseball hat. The reporters laugh about it,” he said.
Often, Thompson attends a few events a week.
“Instead of an all-out campaign, it seemed he thought of campaigning as a break from the rest of his life, which entailed hanging out at home with his wife,” a former staffer said. Meanwhile, he noted, campaign aides are expected to work around-the-clock.
If Hillary Clinton is the candidate and Thompson is matched against her, the former staffer predicted a Republican disaster.
“Hillary is tireless,” he said. “She doesn’t take anything for granted. Nor do the rest of the candidates on the Republican side.”
Hey, the attendance thing is funny!
:)
Did he plan the attendance?
“Thompson planned for them to quit. It’s all part of an ingenious strategy.....”
Which Thompson? The one that is running for president?... or Fred?
I guess when your candidate is lost in the ozone at 1% with no hope whatsoever, these trivial Fredbash feeding frenzies are all you got to make you happy. Its like the bush-haters jumping for joy over the latest Bush faux-pas, knowing full well that he will still be President the next day but getting off in the petty thrill of the moment.
Quite pathetic.
What I don't think he appreciates though is the general stupidity of a large share of the American sheeple who will let the enemedia and the novelty of a woman president sway them, especially when the witch is working 24/7 and Fred Thompson seems to think a 40 hour work week is enough to sway the fence sitters. He's going to have to work a lot harder to beat out Rudi Guilani (the media annoited choice who has wide and shallow support because the media keeps telling us only he can beat the witch). And, if he does, he'd going to have to work harder still to beat the witch. Gone are the days when someone can appeal to the logical thinking American and expect to win. There just aren't enough of us any more.
LOL!I assumed that. I just couldn’t resist making my comment. You inspired me.
I think it is Jeri doing the bashing. I just posted.
You don’t trust Newsmax?
Nurse Ratched.
Some of you Duncerts make the Paulites look sane ....
No, the Duncerts don’t take attendance. We know where we are.
A lot of managers have thought about doing this on a Friday afternoon! What I can’t believe is that people actually answered the phone.
I got stuck on that line too. Honestly, she has a good point. If they are paying people to work and they are sitting at home, then why should they get paid.
I think the people in this story have a few axes to grind.
(psst. Jeri, try timesheets! These are adults, not preschool)
Sure thing.
I can take solace in the fact that Hunter would condemn this kind of behavior towards a fellow Republican’s wife . It’s pretty low to say the least .
Do I really need to post more articles that show these same words and tactics being used against Ronald Reagan... used by the left and those in the Republican party that wanted to destroy him? No I did not think so... you already know.
These types of attacks will lead to Fred’s victory... because Reagan has shown the way... and Fred is the “real deal”!
LLS
I don’t believe Hunter is on this thread. I didn’t ping him.
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