Posted on 10/28/2007 12:45:41 AM PDT by Doofer
The case appeared to be open and shut. The county sheriff had been caught selling an illegal whiskey still from the back of the county jail. The buyers were a federal informant and an undercover federal investigator. The sheriff, to elude honest police, had even escorted the illegal still out of town.
But for Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Thompson, few cases would prove easy. Today, as a Republican candidate for president, Thompson is cultivating an image as a tough prosecutor who, like the character he played on TV's "Law & Order," battled powerful criminals during his three-year stint as a prosecutor. He was "attacking crime and public corruption," boasts a video played at his campaign events. During a candidate debate this month, Thompson said he spent those years "prosecuting most of the major federal crimes in middle Tennessee -- most of the major ones."
But a review of the 88criminal cases Thompson handled at the U.S. attorney's office in Nashville, from 1969 to 1972, reveals a different and more human portrait -- that of a young lawyer learning the ropes on routine cases involving gambling, mail theft and, in one instance, talking dirty on CB radio. There were a few bank robbers and counterfeiters. But more than anything, Thompson took on the state's moonshiners and a local culture, rooted in Tennessee's hills and hollows, that celebrated the independent whiskey maker's battle against the government's revenue agents. Twenty-seven of his cases involved moonshining -- more than any other crime.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
The young Fred Thompson...
“FRed Thompson as Jed Clampett” Hit Piece PING!!!
LOL! The drive by media is so desperate to paint FRed in a bad light, they are giving him all kinds of FRee publicity to whet the average voter’s curiousity!! :-)
FWIW, I always thought Jed Clampett was a very wise man. FRed strikes me the same way.
If he has no respect for small business and our Constitutional right to go blind from a bad batch of hooch, I can’t stomach the man...
Guess I’ll have to switch to Ron Paul, where the grass is greener, and could be made legal one day...
And the Average voter is where Fred will win this thing.
What I find funny is that this L.A. Times guy probable thinks his article paints Fred in a bad light...[grin]
Doncha mean where the shrimp is... shrimpier ?
Well I will get the munchies...
Would you prefer Ron Prawn deep fried, baked, or skewered ?
Choices, choices...
I go with the last. He seems so easy to skewer.
Good “point”...
Raw prawn can also.
Yep, this is comical and yet more evidence that the Liberal elites think Conservatives are a bunch of hayseed hicks.....can't be a'votin' fer that Fred feller, he agin' moonshiners.....
This article is silly.
A case involving a county sheriff could ever be a simple “open and shut case.” And by definition, it can’t be routine when the head of law enforcement is the one the law enforcement is brought against.
>> But more than anything, Thompson took on the state’s moonshiners and a local culture, rooted in Tennessee’s hills and hollows, that celebrated the independent whiskey maker’s battle against the government’s revenue agents. Twenty-seven of his cases involved moonshining <<
When the county SHERIFF is the one RUNNING the moonshine, you can be well assured the county is an organized-crime fiefdom, not the good-ol’ boys being harrassed by big government.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.