Fred Thompson: Too Much Fire in the Belly May Not Be a Good Thing In Dangerous World
Posted on December 30, 2007
I’m sure you all heard about USA Today Dowdifying Fred Thompson’s comments by now. Once again the blogosphere unravels the MSM attempts to twist the truth. The truth of the matter is that Thompson is getting punished for breaking the mold. As long as Newsbusters has something up I am confident the blogosphere is well informed of USA Today’s deception.
“I like to say that I’m only consumed by very, very few things and politics is not one of them,†Thompson said at a town hall meeting in nearby Burlington. “The welfare of my country and my kids and grandkids are one of them. But if people really want in their president a super type-A personality, someone who has gotten up every morning and gone to bed every night thinking about for years how they could achieve the presidency of the United States, someone who could look you straight in the eye and say they enjoy every minute of campaigning — I ain’t that guy.â€
Thompson said some candidates have become too absorbed by the process and have lost sight of the ultimate need to serve the country.
“Nowadays, it’s all about fire in the belly,†he said. “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.â€
Burlington attorney Todd Chelf, whose question elicited Thompson’s response, said he appreciated the reply. “It’s almost refreshing to see that kind of response as opposed to what we get normally,†he said. “I think there’s a passion there. I think that it’s an old-fashioned passion.â€
“I am not consumed by personal ambition,†Thompson said. “I will not be devastated if I don’t do it. I’m not particularly interested in running for president.†He said others encouraged him to run and he decided it was the right thing to do.
Personally I think this answer is refreshing. It shows that he is running for President because he cares about the country instead of personal ambition. I don’t know about you, but I like that. In other words, he is honestly running for President, not pandering for it. Main thing is that the answer is far from how the USA Today reported it.
» Filed Under News, Politics As Usual, War On Terror
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It speaks volumes about our culture when someone is amazed when a politician tells the truth. Thompson just said what any observant person already knew. Thompson is not a candidate that has any vigor for the position he is seeking. His actions have already spoken louder than his words ever could.
FOX STABBED FRED IN THE BACK!
At the end of the noon news, the announcer claimed that on FOX News Sunday Fred said he didn’t really care about being president; he only cared about his kids and grandkids. The made it sound like he is an old man that wants to stay at home and sit by the fire playing with the grandchildren!
This is not their first attack - even ABC picked up on their distortions. See: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2007/12/the-passion-of.html?cid=95308070#comment-95308070
The transcript of the interview is on the Foxnews website and my email to them follows. FOX NEEDS TO BE FLOODED WITH COMPLAINTS ABOUT THIS!
I never thought I would hear FOX News twist someone’s statements as maliciously as you did when you smeared Fred Thompson at the end of your noon (Eastern) news report. Fred’s statement, “… 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” was clearly intended to emphasize with personalization that his focus is the well-being of the people of this country, not political games. You chopped apart his sentences - leaving the word, country, out completely - distorting his intent and misleading your viewers by portraying Fred as an old man who is uninterested in the presidency and only interested in sitting at home with his family.
Your contorted representation is without excuse. There is no connection between your report and the reality. No literate person could have mistakenly interpreted the meaning of his statements. This was plainly willful and plainly dishonest. If you think you viewers are the type to tolerate willful deception, or too dense to see through it, you are sadly mistaken. Either you are fair and balanced with everyone or you are not fair or balanced at all.
Even if you don’t care about being fair to Senator Thompson, you had better start caring about being fair and honest with your viewers. And you had better consider how your dishonesty reflects on every other reporter and commentator affiliated with FOX. No one watches FOX to be lied to. You owe it to them to make it right.