Posted on 12/30/2007 9:33:29 AM PST by jellybean
Transcript: Fred Thompson on 'FOX News Sunday' Sunday , December 30, 2007
WASHINGTON — The following is a partial transcript of the Dec. 30, 2007, edition of "FOX News Sunday With Chris Wallace:
"FOX NEWS SUNDAY" HOST CHRIS WALLACE: After months of campaigning, Americans will actually start to vote this week Thursday night in the Iowa caucuses.
Joining us now from the campaign trail in Ames, Iowa is Republican presidential candidate and former senator Fred Thompson.
And, Senator, welcome back to "FOX News Sunday."
REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE FRED THOMPSON: Thank you, Chris. Good to be with you.
WALLACE: You're getting headlines in the morning papers for some comments you made on the campaign trail yesterday. Let's take a look. You said, "I'd like to say I'm only consumed by very, very few things, and politics is not one of them."
Then you went on to say, "I'm not sure in the world we live in today it's a terribly good thing that a president has too much fire in his belly." Senator, don't voters want someone who really wants to be president?
THOMPSON: Well, Chris, what you just read is just another case of me being just as open and candid as I can possibly be when average citizens ask me questions in a public forum. And you add a little journalistic malpractice to that, and this is what you get this morning.
The latter part of that comment, for example, about my not being consumed with politics, was that I am consumed — the very next sentence, as a matter of fact — that I am consumed with the notion of what's going to happen to my kids, my grandkids and my country, and that that's why I was running for president.
But I was very — we had a long discussion from which they cherry-picked, of course, to try to make a little interesting story out of it, about the future of the country and why I was doing what I was doing, why my family was making the sacrifices they were making for me to be able to do this.
I've never been personally consumed. It's not a part of my identity — politics isn't, and never will be. I've said that I don't like every aspect of the way that people have to campaign nowadays in terms of process taking precedence over substance.
But I'm in the middle of a 50-town tour in the state of Iowa, working day and night. I think that pretty much speaks for itself.
WALLACE: Senator, let's look at the latest numbers out of Iowa. According to the Real Clear Politics average of recent polls from the state, you're running third, but a distant third, trailing Huckabee and Romney by more than 2-1.
If that's the way the world turns on Thursday night, is that good enough for you to get any bounce out of Iowa? How do you have to do there?
THOMPSON: No, that would not be good if that turns out to be that way. They've got an outlier poll in there that nobody really takes seriously. It's got me at about five or something. Then they put that in the mix.
But most of the polls that have been reliable in the past have me in the teens or the high teens, still third, but pretty close and showing movement.
And if you look at the latest national poll, the Rasmussen poll, I'm within, I think, six of the top. We're all kind of bunched together. So again, it depends on the polls that you're looking at.
But we have every reason to be optimistic. We've shown movement, and I think we're going to do better than that.
WALLACE: Well, you have a better sense of it than any of us. You're in that 50-town tour. How do you think you're going to do on Thursday night?
THOMPSON: That's the first time you've ever acknowledged that, Chris. I appreciate that.
Maryville native advising Thompson in race By Joel Davis
of The Daily Times Staff
Bob Davis has faith.
When the 46-year-old Maryville native resigned as the chairman of the state Republican Party in August to take a job as a senior advisor to presidential candidate Fred Thompson, a former senator and television actor, he didn’t make the decision lightly.
“It was a big decision to step down for something like this, but my friend was running and I wasn’t not going to be part of it,” Davis said during a telephone interview Wednesday while he was waiting to catch a plane to Iowa for the last days of campaigning before the state’s Jan. 3 caucus.
“Besides my father, (Thompson is) the finest man I’ve ever met. He’s a man of integrity. His word is his bond,” Davis said. “He commands respect based on the things he’s done in the past. He’s a good decent man. He’s the one man I believe could unite this country and become president.”
Thompson is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, and this is not the first time Davis has been involved with Thompson’s political career. From 1994 to 2002, Davis served as Thompson’s top aide in Tennessee. He also served as campaign manager for the then-senator’s successful 1996 re-election campaign. The days before the Iowa caucus will be busy for everyone involved in the campaign. Davis describes the process of getting the message out to voters as “hand-to-hand combat.”
“It’s getting down to crunch time,” he said. “The polls are all over the place. (Thompson is at his) best when he’s eyeballing people ... We’re going to 50 cities in Iowa during two weeks. You take it to the people.”
Davis, the son of former Blount County Mayor Robert J. “Bob” Davis Sr., and Lula Eggers Davis, is a 1979 graduate of Maryville High School. He first became involved in politics in 1978 when he registered fellow Maryville High School students to vote for Lamar Alexander in his bid to become governor.
This is not the first time that Davis has worked on a presidential campaign either. In 1988 he served as a district coordinator in Mississippi for President George Herbert Walker Bush’s 1988 campaign. This time around, Davis is playing a much bigger role. Despite his status as a senior advisor, Davis still seems to remain humble about his job.
Trustworthy source
“Senior advisor — when you get a certain age and your hair is as white as mine, that’s what they call you,” Davis said. “You do a little bit of everything. You’re part of the briefing before the day starts in the morning ... if it means taking the trash out or turning the lights on in the morning, that’s your role, particularly when you’re in the traveling party.” The routine is non-stop.
“You get up early, you give a briefing, you do a radio deal, you do some ‘Ask Fred’s’, you get out of the bus and eyeball people and walk the stores,” Davis said. “At the end of the day, we’re going to do what we need to do to be successful and move on to fight another day.” Most importantly, the job of advisor entails being a trustworthy source of information, Davis said.
“He (Thompson) wants folks to tell him what he needs to know — the truth,” Davis said. “He can trust that I have his best interests at heart, so from a political standpoint, I do the very best I can to suggest to him what might be the best scenario ... and you don’t sugar-coat anything, whether it be issues, polls, endorsement, or the amount of money you’re raising.”
A 1984 graduate of the University of Tennessee, Davis holds a bachelor’s degree in communications. Davis and his wife Linda have two children, a daughter, Ashton, and a son, Reese.
“I spend a lot of time with my family — the time I do have,” he said. “It’s tough to leave your family and go on the road ... but I just saw two Marines come through the airport and it’s nothing compared to what those men are going through.”
Davis lives in Nashville, but he spends as much time in Maryville as possible.
“Maryville is still and will always be my home,” he said. “I’d like to think that’s where I learned my values and the things I believe in. One of these days, I’ll make my way back there, but it’s not right now. We’re trying to do some good out here for a good man.” As for what’s next, once the campaign is done, Davis isn’t sure.
“You take it one day at a time, and you can’t look down the road like that,” he said.
“We’re just trying to do all we can to ensure this guy, this is one Republican that can unite our party and our country, can win in November.”
Video: Fred Thompson on Kudlow and Company 12.28.07
If you find any Fred news, please post it to this thread. Whenever possible link to the print version of the article. The page will load faster without all the ads and doodads clogging up the page and the entire article will be on one page rather than broken up into 2 or 3 pages.
Please check Free Republic's Updated Excerpt and Link Only or Deny Posting List due to Copyright Complaints before posting an article.
If anyone wishes to be pinged to this thread daily, let me know.
Where to find Fred on the internet:
I'm With Fred
Fred on You Tube
Fred's Blog
Fred's MySpace
Let me know if you'd like to be on The Daily FRead ping list.
“journalistic malpractice”
gotta love that!
USAT Reporter Caught in Distortion, Portrays Thompson as Unambitious By Tom Blumer | December 30, 2007 - 09:39 ET
Erick at Red State reports that USA Today reporter Jill Lawrence distorted what she reported Saturday on a statement made by Fred Thompson to a Burlington, Iowa audience.
Here, per Erick, is how Thompson actually responded to the question, "Do you want to be President?" --
The first place, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t. I wouldn’t be doing this. I grew up in very modest circumstances. I left government and I and my family have made sacrifices to be sitting here today. I haven’t had any income for a long time because I figured to be clean, you’ve got to cut everything off. I was doing speaking engagements and I had a contract to do a tv show. I had a contract with ABC radio…and so forth. A man would have to be a total fool to do all those things and to be leaving his family which is not a joyful thing if he didn’t want to do it.But here is what Lawrence posted:I am not consumed by personal ambition. I will not be devastated if I don’t do it. I want the people to have the best president they can have.
Bill Theobald of Gannett News Service has been following Republican Fred Thompson around Iowa. In a dispatch today from Burlington, Bill quotes the former Tennessee senator as saying he doesn't like modern campaigning, isn't that interested in running for president and "will not be devastated" if he doesn't win.This makes it appear as if Thompson is just going through the motions, doesn't it?To her credit, Lawrence updated within an hour when Theobald called "to clarify that Thompson said he doesn't like the process of running for president but he does want to BE president. He told the Burlington audience he would not have given up his acting career and time with his family to run if that were not the case."
She then posted a link to a transcript of Thompson's remarks at the Corner at National Review, and Theobald's original story (which I could not find elsewhere). Theobald's report began thusly:
Fred Thompson said Saturday he does not much like the modern form of presidential campaigning and that he "will not be devastated" if he doesn't win the election.But what originally caused Lawrence to take that bolded sentence and turn it into what she did? Was it "easy" because of the "lazy, uninterested" meme Old Media has been developing on Thompson ever since (perhaps even before) he entered the race? Is it, as Erick seems to believe, that Lawrence is "feeling slighted by the campaign for not getting a one on one with FDT"?"I'm not particularly interested in running for president," Thompson said, but rather he feels called to serve his country.
Regardless, it was clearly an error, in an answer to a question about Thompson's ambition for the presidency, to skip over the full context of his answer.
“journalistic malpractice”
polite way of making the point, “you’re in the tank for someone and everyone can see it”
My mom hadn't even heard of Fred Thompson until learning of him from me. This morning she called to say "The more I read about your guy Fred Thompson, the more I like him!" She had read this 'fire in his belly' article and loved what he had to say.
Until this morning, she was undecided and would probably vote for FDT because I support him (so he can't be that bad, lol). Now, she's a declared FDT supporter!
"The more I read about your guy Fred Thompson, the more I like him!"
That seems to be the most common reaction.
More Drive By Media "Talk about anything but Fred." I believe the only reason we are hearing what we are now is Fred is already hitting 3rd in the polls for Iowa and the 17-20% or much more “undecided” are not all THAT undecided.
DBM playing a little CYA?
"John [McCain] and I have some honest disagreements with regard to some domestic issues. We've looked at things a little differently over the years on some important things, so that has to be figured into the mix also.
But if you're strictly talking about national security, you certainly cannot avoid the fact that John McCain has vast experience."
Wow... a Presidential candidate not afraid to say something positive about another Presidential candidate! Impressive, IMHO.
THOMPSON: That's the first time you've ever acknowledged that, Chris. I appreciate that.
Does anyone else agree that Chris Wallace is contributing to the problem of the media, by misquoting or showing their obvious bias against Fred?
Glad to see Fred calling him out on it. This is another reason to vote for Thompson. He is not going to turn the other cheek the way Bush does when the left starts attacking. Fred will be on the offense, not defense.
THOMSPON PUNISHED FOR BREAKING THE MOLD Rick Moran
Fred Thompson says he is “not consumed by personal ambition.” He says that he won’t slit his wrists if he loses the presidency. He says “I’m not particularly interested in running for president, but I think I’d make a good president. Nowadays, the process has become much more important than I think it used to be.”
The press is having a field day, of course. They love it when a candidate seems to confirm all the supposedly nasty things they’ve been saying about him. Go here for a full transcript of what Thompson said in response to an earnest question from a voter who asked “if I caucus for you next week, are you still going to be there two months from now?”
It’s too late for Thompson to change the minds of the press regarding the importance of having an overweening ambition to be president. Collectively, it appears they have decided that this is an extremely relevant and serious criteria by which to judge a candidate’s worthiness for high office. Somehow, a candidate’s thoughtfulness, integrity, instincts, temperament, and views on the issues have become secondary to an artificial measurement of the heat given off from how much fire is in his belly.
Our gatekeepers are, if nothing else, consistent in their criticism of Thompson’s commitment to running for president. Ever since the first weeks of the campaign when the press woke up to the fact that Thompson was going to run the campaign his way and not the way that everyone (including the press) expected him to run it, the conventional wisdom developed that it didn’t matter what Thompson was saying or what he believed. What mattered is that he failed to meet the arbitrary standards set by the media denoting what might be termed “the cup of desire” test. Thompson refused to drink deep draughts and has been skewered for it.
I can’t think of any other candidate in the last 35 years who has been judged by such extraordinarily shallow criteria. There were whispers prior to Reagan running for President in 1980 that the candidate was too laid back. Indeed, Reagan’s loss in Iowa in 1980 was attributed to a “lazy” campaign. But no one accused The Gipper of lacking desire for the office or even that his laid back style disqualified him from consideration.
This is an entirely new phenomena in politics and is directly related to the fact that running for President has become pretty much of a 4 year undertaking. A large part of the reason for that is the ungodly sums of money that must be raised to build what amounts to a $100 million nationwide business whose only product is electing the candidate president. Those few candidates who can accomplish this have a huge leg up in the race.
Declaring early means wrapping up the party “whales” and “bundlers” who invest in a candidate as they would a promising stock or top performing mutual fund. When you consider the fact that the top 4 fundraisers in the race had all been mentioned as possible presidential candidates as far back as 2004, you begin to see where a candidate like Thompson, already at a huge disadvantage, would seek to break the mold and run a different kind of campaign, freed from the necessity of living up to anyone’s expectations about how a successful run for office should unfold.
Unfortunately, mold breakers are inevitably punished for their apostasy. In Thompson’s case, the candidate himself hasn’t helped much. Voters may not have been asking the questions raised by the media about Thompson’s demeanor and desire, but judging by the poll numbers, those questions may have been uppermost in their minds. The fact is, Thompson has failed to adequately address the issue – until he hit a home run with his response yesterday. Predictably, the press spun the story the way they wanted – an easy task given the complexity and subtly of Thompson’s argument. But an examination of his explanation reveals a refreshing honesty about the candidate’s inner thinking and what exactly is motivating him to run.
Surprisingly, the reasons are no different than any other candidate. A desire to serve, a belief that he can accomplish “special things,” the confidence that he is running for “the right reasons.” So if it is not his motivation for running that is in question, what exactly is it that has the press so doggedly determined to portray him as “lazy” or “lacking fire in the belly?”
In an age when candidates run campaigns that are dependent on emotionally connecting with the voter (usually by trying to frighten them to death about their opponent), Thompson seeks to engage people on an intellectual level. Rather than using rhetoric to inflame passions, the candidate tries to make the voter think. There is little pizazz and less of the campaign superficialities in Thompson’s effort than one finds in any other campaign. In short, as entertainment, the Thompson campaign receives failing grades. The candidate does not make good copy nor do his appearances necessarily make good TV. Rather than giving off sparks, the campaign emits a stolid, steady feeling of seriousness.
The press uses code words like “lazy” simply because they can’t bring themselves to describe the campaign and the candidate as “boring” – a description that would reveal them to be as stupid, shallow, and cynical as we all know that they are. In our media saturated world where people (and the press) demand to be constantly entertained, Fred Thompson fails miserably.
That is his greatest sin. He has broken the mold of what the press expects of a candidate and a campaign and is being punished for it. Not a very elevating reason to eliminate a candidate from serious consideration for the presidency but given the reality of presidential politics and the times we live in, it is perhaps not surprising.
Unfrickena\believeable. Why would you ask him a question like that? Totally loaded question. Why wouldn't he ask if Fred Thompson is prepared to be POTUS, not Huckabee? It's Fred's interview not Huckles.
Fred is not afraid to talk “process” about campaign journalism! Most candidates are too afraid of the media to mention that the jounalist’s pee pee is hanging out (naked as an emperor)!
Fred is so dam* refreshing. We need him!
Worth repeating!!!
What the crap? I am reading the transcript and commenting as I am reading it. But is this idiot Wallace going to go down the line of if Fred thinks each candidate is fit to be President? Just damn. It's a good thing Fred is pointing out there flaws making them unfit, but I doubt the nimwit Wallace expected Fred's quick comebacks and solid response. Wallace never acknowledges Fred's answer with a, "That's a great point Senator" or "You know what Seanator, you are correct".
"Hello. My name is Jill Lawrence. I'm a jealous harpy and I hate Fred Thompson because he does not bow down to me."
How did I know he was going to bring this up. This is such a non-issue, the media will try to spin it against him again...
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.