Posted on 12/21/2007 3:24:25 PM PST by JRochelle
I thought I'd said all I was going to say about Roger Simon's article in The Politico yesterday afternoon in the comments at Hot Air, but as more comes out about the article, I think it is worthy of a dedicated post.
Simon (not the Roger L.Simon of Pajamas Media with whom I interviewed Fred Thompson in November) put up a post called Fred Thompson: Lazy as charged (bad link earlier, now fixed -ed).
The article was damning—brutal, even—and highlighted what appeared to be a huge gaffe in his bus tour through Waverly, Iowa:
...Thompson rode four blocks to the local fire station. Local fire stations always have captive audiences (unless there is a fire). Inside, Thompson shook a few hands — there were only about 15 people there — and then Chief Dan McKenzie handed Thompson the chief's fire hat so Thompson could put it on.
Thompson looked at it with a sour expression on his face.
"I've got a silly hat rule," Thompson said.
In point of fact, the "silly" hat was the one Chief McKenzie wore to fires and I am guessing none of the firefighters in attendance considered it particularly silly, but Thompson was not going to put it on. He just stood there holding it and staring at it.
To save the moment, Jeri Thompson took the hat from her husband’s hands and put it on her head.
"You look cute," Thompson said to her. She did.
Within the context of the rest of the article, Simon's snide editorial reference to the firemen being a "captive audience" would almost go unnoticed.
His description of what happened next, however, used an unambiguously doctored quote. We know this because the events were captured in a video shown at CBS News (click image to watch):
What Fred actually said: "I've got this silly hat rule that I'm about to violate."
Read the whole thing.
Does your link work?
Got a link?
This was a really interesting look at how dishonest the MSM is about Thompson -— busted on video.
Hmmm...still seems damning, in that he called the fire hat a “silly hat”...
In defense of Fred, I think “silly” may have modified “rule”, not “hat.”
It’s about looking silly in the hat. Dukakis or Kerry style. Not about the hat being silly. Fred obviously has a lot of respect for firefighters, law enforcement, etc.
Hmmm...still seems damning, in that he called the fire hat a “silly hat”...
perhaps but it is clear the voters in Iowa are still moldable by the dinosaur media. A good DBM template can make or break and candidate.
The problem is the non-information age connected voters are still dependent on CNN, ABCCBSNBC, et al for all their opinions.
cut the audio out, show just the picture of the hat and face and put in a voice over “Thompson hates firemen”
Written, yes....there's no hypen. However, we can go only by his spoken word.
Ah, English, what a crazy language. (Not that others are better.)
Who are you - Mike Geragos?
Don’t know who Mike Geragos is. Sorry for my ignorance, but the answer is “no.” Did you intend some sort of sarcasm?
Yeah, I understood it too. He wasn't calling the fireman's hat "silly."
1. Simon does need to apologize;
2. The phrase “silly hat rule” was a minor (but very minor) mistake. Whether or not
3. The hat indeed would have looked silly on Fred. Even setting aside the “play acting” silliness, there’d be the issue of size. Fred’s huge; his hat size must approach an 8. The fire captain looked average-sized, suggesting a hat size of 7 1/4 or less. Ever seen a guy try to put on a hat that was 3/4” too small for him? Pretty silly-looking.
(correction to point 2 above)
2. ... Whether or not he meant “silly rule” or “silly hats,” it’s ambiguous, and technically that’s Fred’s fault. Again, though, this is about a 0.2 on the gaffe Richter scale.
Semantics are fun. When you look at the video, though, it’s clear that it doesn’t really matter whether the hat was silly or the rule was silly. After Dukakis’ and Kerry’s silly hat moments, even the local firemen seem to know that Fred would’ve looked goofy with a big-ass metallic fire helmet on his head. No harm done. Laughter all around. Jeri shows her political acumen by jumping in (she is very good).
Politico should fire this guy. Their credibility has suffered hits in the past, and this joker is a loose cannon.
It’s not a gaffe. He was speaking figuratively. ;)
Good one!
God Help Hillary or Obama if he called a fireman's hat a 'silly' hat.
The reporter in this case has nothing to apologize for. There isn't any difference between 'I have a silly hat rule' and 'I have a silly hat rule I'm about to violate.'
So please continue to find excuses about why this man who has never led men in his life is not cutting it out there on the trail.
That can be read:
1. "I've got this 'silly hat' rule", or,
2. ""I've got this silly 'hat rule'".
I have no doubt Fred meant it the second way.
Yeah, Roger Simon has an agenda - - I wonder which of the other guys he is spinning for?
Fred did not call the fireman’s hat “silly”. Get a clue.
But, I don't watch crap about Scott Peterson or Michael Jackson (I think google showed him also). If I did, I wouldn't know how to parse a sentence.
I don’t really care, but who is Simon’s preferred candidate? The answer tells us who is desperate enough for childish nonsense like this—which, as we see from some of the replies, is eaten up by the public-schooled masses.
Are you serious?
Putting on these hats makes candidates look ridiculous. I don’t give a damn how you or anyone else ‘understood’ the term ‘silly hat.’
He’s not going to play these games and what does ‘leading men’ have to do with anything? Who are you shilling for?
Never led men? You know you’re spewing delusional ranting, don’t you buddy? Who’s your guy? Be a man.
How very interesting!! I'm glad someone's busted Roger Simon for his perfidy!
That can be read:
1. "I've got this 'silly hat' rule", or,
2. ""I've got this silly 'hat rule'".
I have no doubt Fred meant it the second way. Yeah, Roger Simon has an agenda - - I wonder which of the other guys he is spinning for?
I think it's pretty obvious that Thompson meant it the first way, but didn't mean that it looked silly on firemen, just on pandering politicians. Fred's refusal to do a dancing bear routine for the media is the best aspect of his otherwise poorly realized campaign.
what does ‘leading men’ have to do with anything?
Your first leadership position shouldn't be president of the US. Now of course some clown is going to post some long, unreadable thread that always gets posted about what a great leader he was in the Senate where he authored three bills in his career - mostly renaming post office-type stuff.
And yeah, he called it a 'silly hat.' And no, I'n not knocking him for saying it - though I'd be proud to have a hero offer to let me put on his helmet. I'm knocking how you Fredheads are acting like Clinton, trying to unparse the words he used.
Yeah, I keep hearing that from establishment party types, RINOs, and the dying, socialist "mainstream" newsrooms.
So I guess it must be true.
-----
No Republican, I assure you. Simon was a columnist for the Chicago Sun Times for many years. I haven't heard anything from him for about 10 years, but I know from his columnist days, that he was a hard-core leftwinger. I'd bet he's an Obama guy, but he loathes conservatives in any event.
Hank
Thanks for the info. It makes sense. You know, with the way he lies and everything.
FRegards,
LH
He was calling the RULE silly, not the hat. But I don’t expect any honesty whatsoever coming from you anyway, so piss off.
But don't worry - I can't blame calling a fireman's hat 'silly' as the reason he is going to drop out after NH after getting 3%.
Though I do agree that the hat would look silly on him, given that firemen are not allowed to take golf carts to the floors of the burning building but instead must climb stairs with heavy equipment.
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