Posted on 07/24/2007 6:45:38 AM PDT by indcons
Fred Thompson is laying on the southern-fried charm. It’s a tire-melting afternoon in June, and the son of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, turned two-term United States senator, Law & Order star, and now almost Republican presidential candidate has just arrived at the Clarion Townhouse hotel in Columbia, South Carolina, for a state-party fund-raiser. A crush of reporters has swarmed him, one of whom has just asked if today will be the day Thompson makes things official. Thompson delivers his honey-smooth reply as if on cue. “I’m just testing the waters, but the water is pretty warm,” he says as he plows toward the ballroom.
Inside, his wife, Jeri, and 3-year-old daughter, Hayden, hug Thompson. The family settles on the dais and is consumed in a lightning storm of flash photography. The six-foot-five, cigar-smoking Thompson’s calling card is his cozy, avuncular folksiness, and he seems nothing if not at home here among his people. Jeri is a formidable woman—a former Senate staffer and spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee who is said to be the true force behind her husband’s decision to run and a key operative in his campaign. She also happens to be blonde, gorgeous, and two dozen years younger than her husband. She is dressed today in a purple skirt cut an inch or so above the knees that has definitely caught the attention of the locals. Hayden, saucer-eyed and adorable in a flower-print dress, smiles shyly. Thompson is only 64, but the family tableau makes him look a bit old and wan.
(Excerpt) Read more at nymag.com ...
This article reads an awful lot like one I read in late 1979 with Reagan substituted for Thompson. The article conveniently calls Thompson and actor and ignores the fact that before he became an actor, he was—and still is—an accomplished attorney.
If Hillary can play a black southerner....
Go Fred Go~~!
Ain’t we all just playing a part?
I didn’t bother reading the article after looking at the headline. It’s as Yogi said years ago “Deja Vu all over again”.
Remember them attacking Reagan? Why bother reading it all over again? Waste of time.
Hum, they are slipping...
Oh well, Ron Paul is going to win the primary anyways ;-)
And that's a selling point? He holds dual memberships in the Hollywood Club and the Lawyers Club?
And the Federalist club and the gun club and...
Must scare the poo out of the liberals?
Courtesy Comment:
This is a typical low level hit piece article written in the same smugness that exemplifies the mentality of many New Yorkers.
I gather from some of the observations by the writer that Thompsons people are not his people, so to speak...
A further observation about the words chosen by the writer to describe Thompsons visit to South Carolina.
These particular words about Thompson and his family would lead any one with common logical sense to believe the limp wristed boy from New York may be just a little light in the pantaloons.
As an accomplished actor, how will we know until after the fact?
Eventually people are going to start saying, "C'mon Fred, it's time to sh!t or get off the pot." There's a danger of looking indecisive.
OTOH, it is summer and nobody cares that much about politics now. In fact, there's a widespread uninterest and lethargy about politics: the immigration debate, defeatism about Iraq, the whole Iraq imbrolio, etc have turned a lot of people off. The whole political forum has a bad smell. Declaring now might therefore have minimal effect. Wonder what others think?
Now she's formidable? I wonder if they are feeling a little backlash for pushing the "trophy wife" label.
I love the smell of Democrat fear in the air in the morning...it smells like...victory.
...the Margaret Carlson Club? I keed. It's a good thing that he broke it off with Margaret because I don't think Republicans would accept her as first lady. I wonder if they ever double-dated with the Carvilles.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.