Ed Morrissey opines that Someone Must Be Very Worried because the NYT did a story today on Fred Thomspon’s wife and the LAT had a piece that alleges that Thompson did lobbying work for pro-abortion groups.
To Ed:
All it indicates to me is that Pinch Sulzberger and his staff seem very worried about a Thompson campaign, so worried that they have already started attacking Fred’s family rather than discuss his policy stands, contained in essays that he has published for months at Townhall and ABC. The caliber of these attacks show the quality of the opposition to Fred, and also give Fred some indirect credibility, as his opponents don’t appear to have confidence that they can beat him on the issues.
Well, no.
What it means is that Thompson is the new flavor on the menu and he will get his turn at a raft of stories, both trivial and important. We have gone through big media attention to Romney, Hillary, Obama and Rudy (not necessarily in that order) and since those stories are dormant for the moment, they will move on to Fred because he is fresh meat. Sometimes I think people forget that a main job of newspaper reporters is to fill space and so anything new means something to write about about, even if it is largely silliness (like John Edwards’ hair).
The story about Thompson’s wife is wholly predictable and, as I argued a month ago, a legitimate political story–as is anything that might affect voters in the primary. The story about Thompson’s lobby work is wholly legitimate as it fills in gaps about his career. As such, Ed is on thin ice, I would argue, in assuming that either story means anything sinister. At a minimum, I certainly wouldn’t assume that there is some MSM conspiracy to “get” Fred Thompson. Again: what we have here is holiday-week laziness (the Jeri Kehn Thompson story in today’s NYT Style Section) and a legitimate story in the LAT that one should expect from a candidate who is perceived to be a front-runner for the GOP nomination.
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I personally wonder what DETAILED policy stands Fred Thompson has actually taken for the conspiracy minded cabal of “liberal” newspapers to attack. By the way Ed, what REALLY happened in Roswell?
Comment by Talmadge East — Sunday, July 8, 2024 @ 12:07 am
Always good to check in on how the nutroot mass psychosis is hallucinating on recent issues.
Clinton Inc is the ultimateMega-corporate “packaging” combination in the Spouse Derby, and Giuliani has much more of an issue than Fred. Mr. Elizabeth Edwards is a repeat of Mr. Teresa Heinz Kerry. And Jeri is into having children, which Mr. Michelle Obama’s wife is not. Oh yeah, and what about the Gore-bot if he throws his hat in the ring with a hopeless recidivist stoned slacker for an AGIII scion? After all the piety about rock lyrics?! Hmmm, lots of action right across the board! And thankfully, the libs always do the Voter the courtesy of sharing the voices they hear in their heads!
The NYT, its pilot fish, Clinton Inc and the nutroots are all really really scared of Fred, that’s for sure. He may not be Reagan, but compared to the B-List political bozos on the other side, he doesn’t have to be.
Comment by daveinboca — Sunday, July 8, 2024 @ 12:59 am
If anything, one would expect Fred’s allegedly-closeted pro-choice stance to appeal to Times readers, of either the New Yorker or Los Angelino breeds.
And what self-respecting NYT reader hasn’t taken a trophy wife or husband on their way up America’s social ladder?
Comment by Chris Lawrence — Sunday, July 8, 2024 @ 1:15 am
As a Republican, I would say the MSM is actually doing the job. This kneejerk reaction if it is negative against their candidate, the media must be wrong, is ludicrous. It is important to me that Thompson and his wife were lobbyists. But even more important is the fact Thompson was a Nixon mole on Watergate and asked a key question about taping while letting people believe he thought up the question but in reality he knew all along makes me not want this man anywhere near the WH.
His “I cannot remember” on his lobbying for a pro-choice group did not sit well either. But neither does his being coy about entering the race and being an analyst after the last Republican debate. Disgusting that we have ten Republicans running, each of them campaigning hard, and this wannabe doesn’t believe he has to campaign but will be crowned — this is not Hollywood where you play the President as an actor — it is reality. Being President isn’t memorizing some lines in a script — it is serious business and last thing this country needs is someone connected to Watergate who was a mole for the Nixon WH.
I, for one, am proud of AP for digging into this Mole story by actually listening to the tapes and finding out Fred Thompson was a mole. No matter what some conservatives say, the media is doing its job. Will criticize the media when they are wrong but in this case they are doing the job of investigating which I find totally refreshing.
Comment by Concerned Republican — Sunday, July 8, 2024 @ 9:33 am