Fred Thompson Too Sane for President?
Lots of talk today on this piece written by Paul Marks. He nails the frustration I’ve been having as well.
Fred Thompson is in the middle of a 40 town Iowa tour – so he is hardly lazy. And he does go on television shows – thus dealing with critics, such as myself, who attacked him for not going on enough shows. But what sort of person would enjoy all this?
A lunatic. Someone who was interested in office for its own sake – not as a means to reduce the size and scope of government.
What the media, including Fox News (the only non-leftist news station and, therefore, of vital importance in the Republican nomination process), are saying is that Fred Thompson is too sane to be President. It is not enough to produce detailed policies for dealing with the entitlement program Welfare State (a cancer that is destroying the United States and the rest of the Western World), or producing a new optional flat tax (individuals could continue to use the existing system if they wished to) to deal with the nightmare of complexity that the income tax has become.
It is not even enough to have a long record of service, going back to Watergate and taking down a corrupt Governor of Tennessee in the 1970’s. And having one of the most Conservative voting records in the United States Senate – before leaving it in disgust at how the system did not allow real reform.
No – someone has to enjoy the prospect for office for its own sake, not to reduce the size and scope of government and restore a Federal Republic. One must enjoy the whole process of politics – i.e. be crazy. Or one must pretend to enjoy it – i.e. be a liar.
And then people complain that politicians are either crazy or corrupt. When they shoo away anyone who comes along who is neither crazy or corrupt.
I think he’s right. Thompson is running the kind of campaign — substantive, policy-laden, not based on gimmicks or sound-bites — that pundits and journalists say they want, but he’s getting no credit for it from the people who claim that’s what they want. It’s like in Tootsie when Dustin Hoffman tries doing the things he’s heard women say they want from men, only to discover that they don’t really want those things at all.
Here’s what it really comes down to. Fred Thompson is doing what a whole lot of us have wanted politicians to do for a very long time: step away from the dog and pony shows, meet us as equals, and respect us enough to tell us exactly what you want to do and how you want to do it. He ought to get a lot of credit for that. We should be insisting that the other candidates do it, too. Perhaps we can send that message by giving him a few primary wins. Or we could send the message that blow-dried hair, a pretty delivery style, and attack ads that you only kind of “release†(Huckabee, you passive-aggressive ninny) are what we really prefer.
Remember, you encourage the behavior you reinforce.
Thompson is a serious candidate who takes the voters serious as well. He doesn’t ask you to vote for him because he can think of clever one-liners, he asks you to vote for him because he thought deeply about problems and knows what to do about them.
But, he won’t be rewarded for it. That much is clear.
As usual we can conclude one thing: what the masses say they want is all too often the opposite of what they’ll do / support when push comes to shove.
True, but they’ll still whine about it later.
This is something I’ve been saying for a while. It’s a point I brought up when then folks at National Review endorsed Mitt Romney. People keep complaining that Thompson hasn’t run a good enough campaign, but they’re putting style of substance with that accusation. As is noted above, Thompson has run a serious campaign with none of the grandstanding, pandering or baby-kissing nonsense that usually goes into national politics.
It’s the sort of political campaign we all talk about wanting to see when we start getting cynical about politics. I suspect the real problem is that the media makes its bread and butter off of controversial campaign and attention-grabbing grandstanding. But Thompson isn’t willing to dance for them, so he gets tagged as “lazy.†Not because he is lazy, but because he won’t be their trained monkey.
Thompson is a guy who has laid out detailed positions on all sorts of issues. He never gets dinged for misrepresenting facts in debates. And I like the fact that he’s not consumed by ambition. That’s exactly the sort of person we should want as president.
But our moronic news media, which pretends to disdain overambitious candidates and to care about policies — doesn’t really care about substance. For them, it’s all about the horse race, the gimmicks, and the pizzazz. Big Media editors are every bit as superficial as you voters, if not more so.
Well, that’s pretty much the point I was making the other day. One can easily understand why Thompson isn’t overly happy about showing up for this stuff. And it all meshes rather nicely with what he’s been saying, all along.
And I think Paul’s correct as regards Fox. So much for the myth that Fox leans right… they have a genuine conservative in their midst, and ignore him in favor of the RINOs like McCain, who don’t even bother to show up in the state.
Make sure to read all of See-Dubya’s excellent post as well.
I’m still supporting Fred. We’ll see how that goes tomorrow. With that, I’ll leave you with video of my buddy at the Conservative Voice.
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Posted by Jay on January 2, 2008 12:35 pm
» Filed Under 1st Amendment, Liberal Media/Bias, News, Politics As Usual, Video
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4 Responses to “Fred Thompson Too Sane for President?”
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Barry Goldwater knew in his heart of hearts that he didn’t have a chance to beat Lyndon Johnson. Barry had more concern for this country’s well being and future than Fred Thompson possibly ever thought of. Barry was a man of genuine integrity and despised the political BS that permeates the political process.
Yet he went through the battle and fought the good fight to reclaim the Republican party from the eastern liberals.
Of course Barry was one of a kind that will possibly never be seen again in American politics.
Edward, perhaps I’m slow, but what is your point? Barry isn’t running for prez, so i don’t get it.
Rush Limbaugh may have just had a MAJOR affect on who gets the nomination by saying that Huckabee and McCain were NOT conservative. Politico’s banner story is on this and Drudge has linked to it as well. Hopefully this will help Fred and Mitt!
Great summary and series of links. Go Fred!