"Hello. My name is Jill Lawrence. I'm a jealous harpy and I hate Fred Thompson because he does not bow down to me."
Jill Lawrence pulls a Roger Simon
By Erick Posted in 2008 | Fred Thompson — Comments (31) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
By now we should all be familiar with Roger Simon's stunt. Fred Thompson, failing to bow down before Roger Simon, saw a campaign stop totally mischaracterized by Roger Simon. What was a light hearted moment turned into a moment of campaign ineptitude in Roger Simon's eyes. Luckily the moment was caught on film and the world could see for itself that Roger Simon was full of crap.
It's happened again.
Jill Lawrence, no doubt feeling slighted by the campaign for not getting a one on one with FDT, had her revenge in USA Today. She writes:
Bill Theobald of Gannett News Service … quotes [Fred Thompson] 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.
[Emphasis mine]
After putting that up, she had to correct herself when Bill Theobald told her she got it wrong.
Bill calls to clarify that Thompson said he doesn't like the process of running for president but he does want to BE president.
Perhaps she could have gotten it right the first time. After all, it wasn't even her own first hand reporting. She was reporting on what another reporter reported. Maybe if she didn't feel her ego had been slighted by the Thompson campaign she would have tried to, you know, get it right the first time.
By the way, the Thompson camp was kind enough to send me a transcript so we can see for ourselves just how inaccurate Jill Lawrence's third hand reporting was. The question was, "Do you want to be President?" Based on the question and just the first ten words, you'd think Jill Lawrence could have gotten it right:
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.
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.
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"Hello. My name is Jill Lawrence. I'm a jealous harpy and I hate Fred Thompson because he does not bow down to me." 31 Comments (0 topical, 31 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
Freedom of Religion not Freedom from Religion
...would be the capstone of an already long, honorable, and effective career for Fred Thompson.
Most of the others need to win the White House in order to define their public lives, Fred already has that definition.
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Brian Epps
RandomNumbers.us
Baad Spelarz Uv Tha Wurld, Yunyte!
But, there are folks on this site who'll swear that the media has not been unfair to Fred.
If Thompson can't overcome it in the primary season how will he be able to beat it when all the attention is on him in the general?
I think the man expected a coronation based on the attempts to draft him into the race and when it turned out that he would have to actually fight for it he wasn't ready.
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I am a Positivist Pastafarian for the alliteration alone.
Fred expected no such thing about a coronation and has handled his mistreatment by the media with skill.
Founder and contributor to The Minority Report and Editor for The Hinzsight Report
Personally I think it is one of the most slap-happy bungled messes of a campaign that I've ever seen. How many candidates have had the start and hype he had to only find themselves fighting from behind months later? Spin it how you will, and blame whatever news outlet you want, but this campaign has not set the world on fire.
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I am a Positivist Pastafarian for the alliteration alone.
...as your opinion of the campaign is just that, your opinion! Which by the way seems to be formed by the MSM due to your perceptions.
Founder and contributor to The Minority Report and Editor for The Hinzsight Report
You know...when Fred Thompson was given coverage fit for a king when he wasn't even running?
I don't see how people can blame the media for Fred when they hyped him to the moon for months.
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I am a Positivist Pastafarian for the alliteration alone.
...the news was the speculation not the candidate!!!
Once Fred announced then put forth his platform and detailed policy on issues (the only candidate who's done so BTW) the media turned, period!
You are free to pretend this isn't happening and true conservatives aren't shunned by the MSM but you'd be wrong!
Founder and contributor to The Minority Report and Editor for The Hinzsight Report
Fred will have to overcome unfair media coverage, just like everyone else.
Fred didn't expect a coronation. He's just doing it his own way. It works or it doesn't, but at least he knows it was on his own terms.
So now you are suggesting the media had a long-term plan to destroy FDT? You think they came to some sort of collective agreement to build him up in the press prior to his entry in the race, to build up the expectations so high that he could never reach them? Wow. Just wow.
It is monarchical and aristocratical government only that requires ignorance for its support.
- Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1792
No. The media has and needs no plan. Groupthink and a general hostility toward any conservative or Republican is enough. The lapdog media thinks like Nancy Pelosi because it is the way to get promoted within their world. There is no conspiracy. There is a general failing to print anything that upsets the existing bias.
The media is unfair to everybody unless perhaps they have a D next to their name.
this crap? I wish these folks would keep their opinions to themselves and do what they are trained to do: report the news.
For those reporters who do just that -- the vast majority -- I salute you.
based on the quoted text --
...he doesn't like modern campaigning, isn't that interested in running for president and "will not be devastated" if he doesn't win.
-- I don't see what the complaint is. The transcript that Thompson provides supports the quoted text.
He doesn't sound like he likes modern campaigning. What sane person does?
He isn't that interested in running for president. That's exactly what he said. Who can blame him.
He won't be devastated if he doesn't win. There is a possible difference of interpretation here. Reading Thompson's transcript I think one could come away with either of two impressions -- he won't be devastated if he doesn't win or, and this is closer to the wording, he wouldn't be devastated if he weren't running for president. I doubt if Thompson would disagree with either interpretation.
So, what's left to object to? Sure the MSM does a terrible job of covering the campaigns. The reporters are superficial, driven by the "horse race," and many have agendas. But the complaint seemed to be about the quoted text and how it somehow did a disservice to Thompson. On the scale of MSM offenses, this one barely moves the needle.
I went and read the entire piece (hardly a landmark bit of journalism) and it still seems factually accurate. It should have included Thompson's statement that he wants to BE president (the update does), but otherwise this seems like a lot of something about nothing. I certainly didn't get the impression that the reporter "hates" Fred Thompson. I guess I'm just not paranoid enough.
Maybe it's time for me to realign my expectations for Fred and Iowa. I have tried and tried to believe there is some momentum for him, but I just don't see it. Truthfully, it befuddles me. He is the consistent conservative in the race and he's never flip flopped. Huckabee and Romney can't claim either of those descriptions. Even Rush has called him the real conservative in the race, but he won't put his money where his mouth is.
Although Fred's had a very good bus tour, the numbers haven't moved in a big way for him. Just today, an ARG poll showed him at 7% and trailing McCain of all people. ARG's polls generally suck, but how can McCain be ahead of Thompson. This is the second time McCain's totally written off the state and yet he may outperform Fred.
I would like to think Fred's going to make a very strong showing, but I just don't see it. My feelings about Iowa are much the same as they were before the elections in 2006. My heart told me things might just be alright, but my head said Republicans would lose 30 seats and 6 seats. I feel the same way about Fred right now. Damn.
1) What exactly do you mean by this...
but he won't put his money where his mouth is
???
2) The ARG poll is proven to be completely unreliable! Given the way the caucus process in Iowa is structured, with the opportunity for votes to be swayed moments before the vote, it’s easy to recognize that making prognostications from polls days or weeks before the caucus date is really an exercise in futility. Even looking to polls for trends in this process is counterproductive due to the campaigning by influential caucus goer’s minutes before the vote.
Founder and contributor to The Minority Report and Editor for The Hinzsight Report
Fred supporters are prone to denigrate those who challenge his "slip shod" campaigning by quoting his early statement that he would run his campaign his way not as the media or traditional rules dictate. This is fine and commendable, but if it is not working, then it is Fred and his handlers who must assume the blame for failure not the MSM or other conservatives who fault him and do not support him.
Not that the MSM is above reproach, but ultimately you reap what you sow, or do not sow, whatever the case nay be.
How would you like to be a Republican who's letting press bias influence your primary vote? Everyone knows their far-left skew, but to trust them anyway? How embarassing.
reporters if they can't do their job? This is at least the third time that a "report" has been disproven by on-scene video. Time for the hacks to take a hike!
www.fred08.com
Redneck Hippie
Senator Thompson is my first choice... and in all reality, my only choice!
Sen. Fred Thompson is the only candidate who has detailed where he stands on the issues. The others tend to talk in Clintonspeak about what they believe, or what they say now is different than their record.
As President, I want a man who is uncompromising on his core beliefs. I TRUST FRED to remain true to his principles.
Clear. Consistent. Conservative.
I don't understand all this moaning about reporters. What, do you expect that they are all good at their jobs? In nearly every campaign, if a candidate gets tagged with a label, reporters will find everything they can to re-enforce that label. It's not because they have it out for a specific candidate, it's because they lack imagination. I remember in 1988 they kept waiting for Bob Dole to blow his stack so they could write about him going over to the dark side.
Candidates know when they get labels - when they do it is incumbent on them to do everything they can to overcome that label. It doesn't matter if the label is fair or not - reporters will always be ready to pounce and it's part of the process.
Fred got tagged with 'lazy' early. He KNEW that, but he has not been able to dispel the label. I don't think he's worked hard enough to do so, frankly. And no, don't sent me that link about the period in November where he had a fair amount of events - he just didn't do the job.
McCain is at risk of being labeled the 'old' candidate. So he makes jokes about it and keeps up the busiest schedule. People worried about Paul Tsongas health so he responded with an ad that showed him swimming butterfly stroke in a race. Fred seems to think 'I'm not lazy, so I shouldn't have to prove that'. Life isn't fair, Fred - and politics certainly is not.
The reporters have nothing juicy to print about Fred so they pick at whatever they can for a headline.Boss says interveiw Fred-Fred won't play so let's make a story out of a part of a quote.And WAM! there's some more "Lazy Fred Thompson" crap.The Lazy and old(he's 65) bit ought to be wearing out soon.Even the Boss is gonna what somthing meatier than that,espeically when Fred takes Iowa.Go Fred!
When Fred wins Iowa there will be some really meaty headlines - though I'm not sure how they will pick between the one about pigs flying and the other which deals with Hell freezing over.
It is monarchical and aristocratical government only that requires ignorance for its support.
- Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1792
And johnny-one-note eccentrics. The very fact that the man has a broad-gauge view of how society works and the importance of traditional values impresses me.
What impresses me even more is how Fred does NOT kow-tow to silly newsies and pundits like Roger Simon. He is a man of integrity. He does what he says he'll do. He wants to enforce laws even when a significant number of people believe the laws are unfair or should be modified [illegal immigration---build the fence, dammit!]
But what impresses me the most is that he's not consumed by Potomac fever, not driven by overwhelming ambition, not determined to "rescue" the country from evil-doers of one stripe or another.
Fred is comfortable in his own skin, as the French say, and he drives hyperactive meddlesome busybody MSM types to new heights of nuttiness by disdaining the process of getting nominated---a process which has driven a class-warfare type like John Edwards to virtually LIVE in Iowa over the last two years, when he wasn't picking up "consulting fees" from offshore sub-prime mortgage hedge funds!---a process which obviously needs reform of one kind or another.
I'm born & bred a Midwesterner & have lived in MI, WI, MN, IL, and Missouri episodically for almost three decades. I find it refreshing that a very sane & relatively sober jurisdiction like Iowa has a prominent place in the nomination process for both parties. Ditto NH, with its rock-ribbed Yankee backwoods common sense mixed with chattering-class urban professionals. Even SC, with a strong accent on traditional values & a good mix of urban & rural, piedmont & tidewater, black & white---the Palmetto State fits into a manageable extension of the first two states, so that anyone pulling off the hat trick of taking all three demonstrates a real political attractiveness that might work nationwide.
But to follow these three states with a Super Tuesday for what may be all the marbles doesn't seem sensible---even for political junkies. The front-end lopsidedness of the newest version of primary madness might end up deciding the candidate for one or both parties TEN MONTHS before the election---leading to incessant and what will seem like interminable campaigning for both parties.
I happen to like a horse race better than most---but this newest version of primary retail politicking might eliminate sincere thoughtful candidates and give the overall advantage to energizer bunnies with nutjob attitudes and single-issue agendas.
I'd like to see a final two of Fred Thompson and Barack Obama---both seem less driven by power-mad constituencies of hysterics and are not prisoners of the press/electronic lords of Mordor.
Sadly, Gresham's Law may be driving out the best candidates--- leaving the field to chronic campaigners who simply love the adulation of the masses filling the cavities of their own personal emptiness.
Founder and contributor to The Minority Report and Editor for The Hinzsight Report
Who in their right mind would WANT to run for president. Long, arduous hours. Hopping from appearance to appearance never staying in 1 spot long enough to do more then shake a hand, drink a coffee and pee.
I'm more surprised that a man in Fred's position in life would choose to do it making him an even better choice.
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It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
--Aristotle
Where selfish ambition ends, "humility," a redeeming quality, and an important leadership characteristic, begins. Our nation would be well-served to wholly embrace and elevate "humility," as a part of public service again.
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