Thompson hits ground running

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Omaha World Herald

BY ROBYNN TYSVER

COUNCIL BLUFFS — Fred Thompson, the newest Republican presidential hopeful, talked tough Thursday on the Iraq war as his fledgling campaign embarked on its first tour of Iowa.

Thompson called Iraq part of the United States' war on radical Islam. And, he said, any sign of retreat in the Middle East could have dangerous consequences for the global war on terror.


A day after announcing his candidacy for president, Republican Fred Thompson got his campaign started with stops in Iowa. He spoke to about 300 people in Council Bluffs.


"The most dangerous thing that can happen to this nation is a demonstration of weakness to the outside world or a demonstration of disunity," said Thompson, who served two terms as a senator from Tennessee.

"We have to demonstrate to friends and foes alike that we are determined and united, as American people, to do whatever is necessary to prevail, not only in Iraq but in the broader global war."

Read more: http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2835&u_sid=10125953

[dipsydoodle]

1. Sounds like a speech

off an old 78rpm record.

[deacon]

2. The Straight to the Hammock Express n/t

[rocktivity]

3. Iraq wasn't a Muslim country before Bush got there, Fred!

:eyes:
rocknation

[nodehopper]

36. shh now, you member of reality-based community you

[scarface2004]

4. is this the 'turn iraq into a parking lot' tough guy act?!?

thompson sucks ass!

[onehandle]

5. "Get off my lawn you rotten kids!"

"No, I'm not giving you your ball back!"

[Ganja Ninja]

6. "hits the ground running." The Rove hype machine is starting to

get reved up. The man is selling the same line of crap the rest of the GOP candidates are selling with the exception of Ron Paul. How does the equate to hitting the ground running?

[JNelson6563]

7. Oh yes Fred, do please take that route!

Get on out there and keep parroting lines from Bush Inc. He's at what now--the high 20's in approval rating? haha Yes Fred, by all means do pick up the mantle of our current naked emperor. The American people will love it! Really!

What a dumbass.

Julie

[POAS]

8. At his age all that running may be dangerous!

[Orsino]

9. "Blah, blah, blah...stay the course...blah, blah, blah."

The party of bad ideas, or none.

[mac56]

10. FREDERICK of HOLLYWOOD®!

:rofl:

[hatrack]

11. "Hits the ground boring" is more like it - he bored Leno's audience, maybe 200 turned out in Iowa

God, he's dull.

[Canuckistanian]

12. He's the kind of guy you can sit down and have a Geritol with

With that reassuring smell of Ben-Gay and tobacco.

[Bitwit1234]

13. Sign of Weakness?????????

With a president who spits and sputters and can't even find the right door to exit the stage, what kind of weakness does that show to the world.

[Felinity]

14. I'm going on record

Here's my prediction:

Just like Rudy (fishnets) Guiliani, the more the public gets to know Fred (I play important type people on TV) Thompson, the less they will like him.

And he does look a lot like Lyndon (only a mother could love that face) Johnson. Aqua Velva my ass.

[TwilightGardener]

15. MSNBC had a logo on screen: "Fred Thompson Campaign, Day 1"--

are we fucking going to be treated to his every utterance and bowel movement from here on out? MSNBC is promoting him, of course, because of Law and Order, but still--is it going to be, "Day 52"? "Day 67"? Holy Shee-ite.

[triguy46]

16. Fred Thompson opens campaign in Iowa with wife

Source: NY Daily News

His young second family at his side, GOP latecomer Fred Thompson auditioned before Iowa voters yesterday, declaring his conservative "core beliefs" hold the solution to the nation's problems.

snip

Jeri Thompson was heavily involved in the formative stages of the campaign as "she stepped in to do a lot of it" for her husband, said veteran GOP operative and Thompson adviser Rich Galen. Galen said the sniping is partly a product of her bombshell looks. He urged critics to back off.

"Look, she's either too involved or she's the trophy wife sitting out by the pool eating bonbons," he said. "You can't have it both ways."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/2007/09/07/2007-09-07_fred_thompson_opens_campaign_in_iowa_wit-2.html

---

I guess 'core beliefs' apply only to the current family, as once again, the repugs march out a multiply married candidate.

"Bombshell"???? Don't think so. Not even a hand grenade or cherry bomb. But put up against Fred, she's bound to look significantly younger and actually alive.

[TwilightGardener]

17. Why can't she be a meddling, control-freak trophy wife? Plenty

of younger gals who have their horny-old-dog husbands by the dick.

[triguy46]

18. I don't give a flip about their relationship....

but the media focus on the spouse is irrelevant. For Thompson, he is using her as a distraction, "watch the dancing lady", and the media loves it. We will continue to see this issue put front and center, about how she is 'intelligent, successful, articulate' as if that were an oddity for women. Maybe for repug women.

[CoffeeCat]

19. I live in Iowa...

...and yes there are some Fundie nutjobs who will vote for anyone who trolls out
the fake conservo-Jebus pontifications.

However, most people are not going to buy this. The average person understands
that a Hollywood actor with a wife half his age isn't exactly "conservative".

And Mr. Galen...calling her a "bombshell". LOL! Gee, that certainly helps
his conservative imagine. Why didn't he just call her a steamy piece of
choice sirloin? If he wanted to solidify the conservative image, he needed to
play up her intellect or her political knowledge--instead of labeling her
a bombshell and suggesting that everyone is jealous. Funny!

This just isn't going to fly in Iowa.

[dancingme]

20. agreed - midwest middle aged women are not gonna go for this

and a lot of conservative middle aged and older men are not going to vote for a guy with a wife who looks this young.

[tanyev]

21. You know, I didn't realize that he is only 65 and that she is 44.

In the pictures I've seen, he appears older than 65 and she looks younger than 44. Maybe that's why seeing them together is more jarring than seeing Dennis and Elizabeth together.

[CoffeeCat]

23. Another thing that doesn't work in his favor...

...is that he looks so much better on the television shows. I suppose
a 1/4 inch of make-up takes off at least 10 years.

The disparity between what he looks like on a television show, and what
he looks like for real---is almost disturbing.

[ccpup]

24. exactly!

you put into words what I've been trying to figure out for days now. Those who "know" Thompson on L&O or the few movies where he had a handful of lines are going to be put into a state of unpleasant shock when they see the man up-close-and-personal. Where they're expecting a lively, well-spoken, energetic man with the inevitable creases and folds Time and Age leave with all of us, a "Leader" with poise and strength, they'll be met with a man nowhere near the TV image they "know" him from who thinks 10 minutes shaking hands is enough and who just appears to be not that energetic or intelligent. Include that with the image of him and his "young" wife by his side and I suspect BS radars will go off like bug zappers around a pile of horse shit.

I give him until the end of the year and then he'll fade into obscurity.

[AndyTiedye]

31. He Will Have Just as Much Make-Up in His TV Campaign Appearances

What he looks like in real life is irrelevant. Very few will see him up close.

[jodini]

25. yes, but

Thompson is such an old curmudgeonly fart and Dennis is so full of vitality and life. It makes the difference seem even more striking. I mean, seriously... could this woman really be into this corpse-like husk of a man?? He has a 10 month-old? Are you freakin kidding me? Holy god. He looks like he smokes about a thousand cigarettes a day and consumes nothing slightly healthy. Republicans are so weird that they would even be remotely excited about this dude. Yay, another old, decrepit, white guy has-been! I just don't get it.

[ShortnFiery]

22. Oh my stars!?!

Let the games begin ...

[Sukie1941]

26. Let us assure you

That mature women (who do vote) all across America are NOT impressed by an older man taking a younger bride, especially if he dumps the mother of his first children.

I can assure you that we will not give this duo any support, because millions of us ARE the mothers of the first children.

[Tanuki]

27. Anyone who thinks Jeri Thompson is "intelligent and articulate" need only read this

interview with Bill O'Reilly in 1999, in which someone put her out there to trash Bill Clinton. Having made her little point, the rest of the interview is an embarrasment of fumbling:
http://americaabroad.tpmcafe.com/blog/mrs_panstreppon/2007/jul/08/3_19_99_jerri_kehn_on_president_clinton

[triguy46]

28. If she's on the stump she's fair game. Let her answer for her sins.

[Bitwit1234]

29. So all we need to improve everything wrong in this country

and the mess bush has made, of the war, all the trillions poured into it, losing all the jobs overseas, opening this country to trade that is killing the middle class and etc needs only one thing to change it magically around.

All Baby Huey Thompson needs to do is bring this country back to family values and poof.....the country will change back to all the prosperity we had before bush stole office. We will have our jobs back, our money restored and the war gone. We just need to have our family values. Er..hold on there, could someone tell this to the sexual perverts and serial adulterers in the republican party????????????? We democrats got it right.

[triguy46]

30. Don't forget 'unity', the repug code word for...

domestic spying, elimination of habeus corpus and other little things that make us all one homogenized family.

[lpbk2713]

32. Add one more rethuglican snake-oil salesman to the mix ..... yaaawn.

It's getting kind of crowded. One needs a pictorial scorecard to tell them all apart. In the end, it will be the wannabe that gets the highest endorsements from the RW radio hatemongers that goes the distance. And you can believe OxyRush and Han-nutty have their palms stretched wide open.

[Doctor_J]

33. Please don't post any pics of Fred without his wife's knockers in the shot

Thank you.

[mac56]

35. You mean "The Thompson Twins"?!

:rofl:

[SlowDownFast]

34. Late entry could doom Thompson

Late entry could doom Thompson

By Ralph Z. Hallow
September 7, 2007


Although Fred Thompson has been polling highly, several analysts say his late entry to the presidential race will cause him to run out of steam.

Fred Thompson joined the Republican field yesterday already vying for the lead in one early presidential primary state, but analysts say as a first-time national candidate, he may have entered too late.

"The 'new kid on the block" gets a lot of attention, but can he prove himself so quickly to be everyone's friend in Minneapolis-St. Paul?" said Republican consultant Sal Russo, referring to the site of the September 2008 Republican National Convention.

"It even took Ronald Reagan his third try in 1980 before he could win the nomination."

more:http://washingtontimes.com/article/20070907/NATION/109070078/1001

[Dr Fate]

37. LOL! Sounds like your typical DLC rant from 2 or so years ago. n/t

n/t

[groovedaddy]

38. "Radical Islam" was not a force in Iraq before the invasion

what kind of fucking strategy is that? Another ignorant ass republican actor!