Folk Ways (Fred in South Carolina)

The Washington Post ^ | December 12, 2007 | Dana Milbank

[2ndDivisionVet]

Tell us, Fred Thompson, about your national security policy.

"The good guys win and the bad guys lose -- how 'bout that?"

Profound. And your economic policy?

"Free people, free markets, doin' free things together."

Well said. Do you worry that tax cuts might cause lost revenue?

"It ain't lost, it's in my pocket."

As for how he came to hold certain views on health care, he has this answer for his audience in Anderson, S.C.: "I had a conversation with my little mama back in Franklin, Tennessee."

His 87-year-old mother's advice also persuades him to reject the new National Intelligence Estimate reporting that Iran has suspended its nuclear program. "Remember whatcha mama told ya," the former senator from Tennessee recommends. "If somethin' appears to be too good to be true, it probably is."

Is it possible to be too folksy? Thompson seems determined to find out. The big man with all those Hollywood roles is trying to slow-drawl his way to the GOP nomination. To the extent that Thompson has a pitch, it's that he doesn't change his views like, say, Mitt Romney or Rudy Giuliani. "Where I stand does not depend on where I'm standing or what political office I happen to be running for," he asserts.

Mostly, though, he's recommending himself to voters as a good ol' boy.

"Y'all know where a man can get a decent meal in this town?" he asks the crowd at Mama Penn's Real Southern Cooking, next door to the "$5 Christian Bookstore" and a few blocks from the Baptist church with the drive-through Nativity scene. "I'm a Tennessee boy. I consider this my neck of the woods and I hope South Carolinians think this is my neck of the woods, too." The last part he pronounces "mah neck-uh-da woods."

[SuziQ]

The Washington Post will never like Fred. He just talks too unsophisticated for them. Never mind what he’s saying, they just don’t like the way he says it.

[jellybean]

Hey, Dana, did you write your snarkly little drivel when John Kerry went hunting in 2004 and asked, “Can I get me a huntin’ license here?”

Ping

[ImpBill]

They, the MSM, don't have to "get" Fred. It is refreshing, even in their attempt to "hay seed" him they are reporting it. The readers, the "real folk" will get Fred.

Fred Dalton Thompson is more than likely the "last great hope" for this Republic of "the folk" and "by the folk".

[LucyJo]

Are they certain he said, "mah neck-uh-da woods"???

We say it "mah neck-uh-thuh woods" here, but, of course, I "got mah raisin'" a bit south of TN. ; )

[wardaddy]

I hope they get him soon....though this could go to the convention

[Yaelle]

Holy heck, is this what they are resorting to now? What about the accents on Edwards and Bill Clinton? And what about the twangy lisp of Algore? I guess no one twalks funny in New Yawk.

[wardaddy]

btw....none of the media really get conservatism.....Fox’s news team doesn’t...they’ve proved it over immigration and now Fred.

The rest of the media doesn’t even care.

WSJ is milquetoast conservatism.

Really only Liddy, Rush, Savage is his way over the top way, Michael Reagan and a handful of others really understand where conservatism should be...I mean listen to George Will these days....he sounds like a Democrat

[maine-iac7]

[Liberty Valance]

Don't know about you folks, but Fred is looking better and better as this schlockfest continues!

Thompson/Poe'08!

[LadyNavyVet]

I bet Dana didn’t get snarky when Hillary belted out “I ain’t noways tiiiired...” Nope, that was high culture to Millbank. Sheesh.

[OKIEDOC]

Dana Milbank is a poor choice to make judgments on a Fred Thompson.

[carton253]

Since my heroes are Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and JEB Stuart, I am quite comfortable with Southerns. In fact, I prefer them.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

Oh they get him alright and it makes them wet their pants.

[SkyPilot]

Why Fred is not the front runner is beyond me.

The GOP has lost its mind.

[ejonesie22]

Indeed

[Caipirabob]

“I’m a Tennessee boy. I consider this my neck of the woods and I hope South Carolinians think this is my neck of the woods, too.” The last part he pronounces “mah neck-uh-da woods.”

Tennesee Boy BUMP!

[Fairview]

Since my heroes are Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and JEB Stuart, I am quite comfortable with Southerns. In fact, I prefer them.

Same heroes and same preferences. Though I doubt our Virginians of the nineteenth century talked like a Tennessee boy of the twentieth.

[Fairview]

Since my heroes are Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and JEB Stuart, I am quite comfortable with Southerns. In fact, I prefer them.

Same heroes and same preferences. Though I doubt our Virginians of the nineteenth century talked like a Tennessee boy of the twentieth.

[carton253]

No they did not... LOL!

[Wallace T.]

Unfortunately, the Civil War occurred before Edison developed the phonograph in 1877. It was not until the 1890s that mass production began. By that time, Lincoln, Grant, Sherman, Davis, Jackson, and Lee were all dead. I have heard a short recording attributed to the poet Walt Whitman, a native of Long Island, around 1890. His speech patterns were similar to those of the Archie Bunker character in the 1970s show, All in the Family. Probably an older person in an area near Arlington or Alexandria, Virginia, that has not become Yankeefied like the Northern Neck would come close to Robert E. Lee's speech patterns. Stonewall Jackson's old West Virginia hometowns are largely populated by descendants of the people who were there during his childhood. Replicating his speech patterns would not be hard.