[2ndDivisionVet]

"I believe the media has given a lot of good press to Fred and how he appeals to a wide range of people. That has led to the average republicans believing he can be elected."

Please show me some of those stories that were favorable to Fred Thompson, as much as I've searched, they come up missing

[CharlesWayneCT]

For example, THIS article, G.O.P. Hopeful Took Own Path in the Senate

Now, for the staunch conservatives here, the article will appear negative, as it suggests Thompson is not an ideological conservative. But remember our topic here is electability, which means appeal to the moderates and independents.

When a paper like the New York Times wants to attack a conservative, they paint them as a far-right whackjob kow-towing to the religious right and the rigid ideologues of the party.

So this type of story, which paints in a positive light what Thompson did, which describes in POSITIVE words how he has raised the fears of the "evangelical community", has the effect (and remember, the NY times is the New York paper, read by the New York style republicans) of making Thompson appear more reasonable, more easy to get along with, MORE ELECTABLE.

But I realise the difficulty is in recognizing that distinction. What we see as "bad" is, to a liberal paper trying to sell a candidate to the moderates, "good".

If the New York Times wanted to sink Thompson, this article would have been titled "In Senate, Thompson toed the far-right line".