Imagine if the Oscars had speeches from the losers. That’d be Fred Thompson’s talk in South Carolina. He thanks everybody but the bus driver. On Twitter, I read the assessment of it from Ana Marie Cox at Time.com: ” They say John McCain’s campaign came back from the dead. Thompson’s has committed assisted suicide.”
Sound bite: “We need to remember that we need to deserve to lead.”
Speaking of Thompson vs. the press, here’s a snowball fight between the candidate and Christine Byun of ABC and John Bentley of CBS. Note the bewildered voter witnessing the moment with a kid. We can imagine him trying to explain later that these people run the country.
In a mirror image of infamous the anti-Goldwater nuke ad, Fred Thompson raises the spectre of dukes in a 17-minute video aimed at Iowa voters. Johnson warned about Goldwater’s finger on the button; Thompson warns about bin Laden’s, but with slightly less subtlety.
Sound bite: “Most Americans know that the forces of terrorism will not rest until a mushroom cloud hangs over one of our cities.”
He also goes after his fellow Republicans and media with one swipe, bragging that when asked to raise his hand (the latest debate trick) he refused.
Sound bite: “If those other fellows can’t stand up to an overbearing moderator in a debate, I’m not sure how they could stand up to the leaders of Iran or North Korea…. What you see is what you get. I dance to no man’s tune.”
He hits every conservative chime he can, saying that the Democrats are ruled by the radically secularist ACLU and — here’s the kick to the kidneys — Michael Moore. But Thompson says he’ll protect us from that.
Here’s it’s opposite number, the nuclear “Daisy” ad from Johnson’s campaign:
Fred Thompson is characteristically late to the party of holiday (read: Christmas) messages. It’s a long and slow slide show of soldiers’ faces and an admonition to remember them. What, no red sweater?
Tax hater Grover Norquist asked the candidates to sign his no-tax pledge at the YouTube debate and here he gives his reaction, tweaking Fred Thompson for being refused and refusing to sign and then teasing John McCain for refusing to sign a pledge he signed back in 2000, “when he was a Regan Republican.” A brass Ronnie looks on approvingly.
Folksy Fred Thompson unveiled his 30-second “attack ad” during last night’s Republican debate. Here’s an extended version (2 minutes) that paints Huckabee, Romney and Giuliani as faux conversatives and calls folksy Fred the “true conservative.”
On Fox News yesterday, the nettlesome Chris Wallace asked folksy Fred Thomas why his campaign has been so “disappointing.” Folksy Fred says Fox may not like him, but plenty of other right-thinking folks sure do.
Sound Bite: “If you look at the national polls, you’ll see that I’m running second . . . I’m running ahead of a guy who’s spent probably $50 million more than I have and been running for a year longer.”
Laura Ingraham talks with Jeri Thompson, Fred’s wife (does her face look oddly frozen to you? find me a wrinkle, find me a muscle that moves). She doesn’t say much but then, she doesn’t speak much.
In this 30-second spot, folksy Fred Thompson sits at an old-time luncheonette counter next to a little girl with her grandma and tells us where he stands on illegal immigration.
Sound Bite: “Secure our borders and enforce the law. Giving up by granting amnesty is not the answer.”
