Fred Thompson and the Dark-Horse Effect
I'm notoriously bad at picking presidential candidates so it won't surprise you that I took a shine to Fred Thompson last cycle. But in a new essay at National Review Online, he reveals that he was fighting against an intractable media narrative that had no basis in fact.
As he launched his campaign, some folks started telling, well, lies, about how he wore Gucci shoes and refused to shake people's hands. Proof that he didn't want to be president was provided by an anecdote about how he rode a golf cart around the Iowa State Fair. That last one at least has an element of truth in that he did ride a golf cart from one end of the fair to another -- but it was to rush to a TV spot after a day of holding pigs, kissing babies and meeting with "the butter queen, the pork queen, and every other queen that was available."
He concludes:
So Mr. or Ms. Dark Horse, you have not played by the rules, you late-comer, and your belly fire is suspect. And people will go to great lengths to prove their suspicions correct. Therefore, you must be willing to run over your grandmother, mortgage your soul, and behave like an over-caffeinated Elmer Gantry in order to make up for your insolence. Only then will they be comfortable with the idea of your being president.
It's an interesting indictment of media inventions and well worth a read as you consider who to support for 2012.
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Mar '11
Re: Fred Thompson and the Dark-Horse Effect
I was a Fred supporter, too, and still think he would make a fine president.
May '10
Re: Fred Thompson and the Dark-Horse Effect
it's actually quite simple...if the media hates 'em, we love 'em, if they love 'em, they are gonna lose...
May '10
Re: Fred Thompson and the Dark-Horse Effect
I loved me some Fred. Still do. And that stuff is nonsense. I remember he was in a restaurant with Lori Morgan (this would be pre-Jeri, but he didn't have to change the tattoo much), and some waitress spilled coffee on him. Nicest guy you'll ever meet, the waitress said. You can learn a lot about people from waitress stories ("do you know who I am!" - John Kerry).
Howevvvvverrrr, I am leery about this desire for a white knight to ride in and rescue us. Mainly because we don't need it. Fred wasn't so much drafted, as he just timed his entrance. Poorly, as it happens (and it took him a month or two to hit full campaign stride). A drafted candidate never works, since the early 19th century.
Play with the team we got.
Nov '10
Re: Fred Thompson and the Dark-Horse Effect
I was a big fan but the way he ended his radio show was not good. A lot of people paid 50 bucks of so to get the podcast of his show and then it abruptly went off the air. No notice, no email, no refund of any money, just a "go to hell, we’re done."
Re: Fred Thompson and the Dark-Horse Effect
Fred was my man, too, Mollie. And I still love the guy. Just love 'im.
Mar '11
Re: Fred Thompson and the Dark-Horse Effect
Yes, Fred Thompson was my favorite, last time, also.
A cautionary tale, indeed - but there are others, such as, err, Sarah Palin's womb.
As we have previously discussed, Alinsky-ite tactics will be used against any R candidate, toned down a bit for any Rino squishes who are sure to lose.
Clearly it worked last time, and may well do this time, also :-(
Unless we fight like girls...
Oct '10
Re: Fred Thompson and the Dark-Horse Effect
My name is Severely Limited and I too was a Fred Thompson supporter.
I remember posting a bold comment on Megan Mcardle's old blog predicting he would sweep the primaries and take the general election.I was mystified when he faded so quickly. I can easily believe that the media was doing its best to stop him, his easy-going charisma and brains must have scared them. Be that as it may, he didn't have what it takes to counter them and would have fallen to Obama in the general, I'm sure. The mindless zombie hoards were not to be denied that one.
We have to message twice as hard. Another conservative network or two would certainly help and just wait until Ricochet hits puberty and starts packing on the muscle.
Re: Fred Thompson and the Dark-Horse Effect
Hey, Peter: I can one-up you on this one. I actually wrote a column endorsing him. Proving the magnitude of my influence, I think his campaign folded within days of my indispensable endorsement. But Fred has found a new calling -- as one of the funniest guys on Twitter.
Dec '10
Re: Fred Thompson and the Dark-Horse Effect
I voted for Fred in the FL primary, but the fix was already in. Huckabee was already playing McCain's VP role of attacking the challengers, then Crist and Mel Martinez pushed hard for McCain in South Florida, so it was all over. Never liked Crist or Martinez, and I saw enough of Huckabee in the Columia SC debate to turn me off him. Then those three sandbagged the rest of the field in Florida and it was all over; we got McCain.
I think Thompson is mistaken about what cost him the primary. Florida cost him the primary and that was the RINOs. Look for yourself at the near-universal approval of Thompson in the primary, in these comments. After Florida, I joined Ann Coulter's "Let's Get Drunk and Vote 4 McCain", movement, but it took a lot of beer.
May '10
Re: Fred Thompson and the Dark-Horse Effect
Love Fred, but the fact of the matter is that he was a bad candidate.
Need convincing? Check out this debate between him and Howard Dean last fall in Calgary, moderated by Ricochet's Mark Steyn. Thompson was lifeless, unprepared, rambling. Painful to watch, frankly, because Dean was everything Fred wasn't: energetic, prepared, on point.
Steyn's too much of a gentleman to admit it, but I have a strong hunch he was frustrated by Thompson's "mailing it in." (A couple times, in fact, Steyn stepped out of his moderator role to offer his own rebuttals to Dean--out of exasperation, it seemed, at Thompsons ineffectiveness.)
The reason the lacking-fire label stuck to Thompson is because it was true. Sorry.
Oct '10
Re: Fred Thompson and the Dark-Horse Effect
I never bought in to Fred Thompson's candidacy.
Oct '10
Re: Fred Thompson and the Dark-Horse Effect
They should call it "The Fred Thompson Effect".