The media isn't trying to sell us Fred Thompson. If anything, the opposite is true. they're dead set on turning us away from him. They ate into his poll numbers for a while, but now he's getting around them and his supporters are defending him. We're managing to shout over the media and get to the people. That's why you're seeing this uptick.
The media, conservative pundits included, are dead set on Rudy McRomney being the choice. They are stomping their feet and behaving like defiant children, refusing to tolerate Fred Thompson's presence in this race. See, us conservatives were SUPPOSED to see that it was hopeless and settle for someone like Romney. Instead, we found our own guy, dusted him off, and prodded him into running. Now, it's his job to convey to others what we saw in him to recommend him for the job. He's had everyone against him, left and right, but he's still managing to break through.
If the conservative pundits had given him anything approaching a fair shake, he'd be leading Rudy in every poll. Since they didn't, we'll just have to do it a bit more slowly and methodically. The result will be the same.
I think you are wrong. What I see in the newspapers is positive toward Thompson, even to the point where they sometimes misrepresent his record to sound more moderate, in order to make him more appealing to the general electorate.
I realise that for a strong conservative, that would be considered “negative” since it makes some other conservatives question him. But it helps build him up as electable when the media says he’s not an “ideologue”.
Further, as the FredHeads will attest, they LOVE Fred’s position on his religion for example, so it’s hardly “negative reporting” when the media tells us Fred doesn’t regularly attend church. I mean, some evangelicals don’t like it, but most of the Fred supporters have explained that this makes Fred more likeable and believable.
And I see very little in the paper about how large blocks of people won’t vote for Fred. Instead, the most negative they get is to QUESTION why some groups aren’t supporting him.
ON the other hand, I REGULARLY read articles in the mainstream press about how Romney won’t appeal to evangelicals (even though the evangelical “spokepeople” seem to be saying the opposite), how a “Mormon” can’t win the election (have you seen a poll anywhere about whether a “Church of Christ” member can win the election? Of course not. But the media runs poll after poll asking about ROmney’s religion).
There are also regular stories about how the south won’t like him because he was Governor of Mass, how conservatives should reject him because in the past he wasn’t true to our principles, etc. etc..
I see the media selling Rudy, I USED to see them selling McCain but in my opinion, McCain has been replaced with Fred Thompson.
As a last data point — look at how people get castigated when they try to find negative news articles about Fred. Most of them the Fredheads point out are actually POSITIVE for him, not negative. It’s rare that a posted article is admitted by the FredHeads to actually be attacking him.
So, I restate my proposition: The Media is largely supporting Fred. They supported Fred before he entered, giving him plenty of coverage which drove up his numbers.
When he entered, a small but loud group of CONSERVATIVES and other republican pundits found fault with Thompson, and THOSE complaints resonated with a portion of the conservative population who was waiting for a savior. THAT’S what drove down his numbers, his seemingly lackluster run out of the gate.
THEN, the mainstream media kicked in to prop up his candidacy, and now his numbers are swinging back up. And the attacks on Romney have been stepped up.
I believe an honest search of threads on FR will show that the number of negative mainstream articles about Fred is less than the number of negative mainstream articles about Romney, Hunter, Tancredo, or even Ron Paul who we all know is being pushed by a portion of the mainstream media.
Where are all the Thompson hit pieces?