Same Bushit, Different Prey.
If you're like me (and I know I am), when you started hearing about Fred Thompson's obscure but increasingly noteworthy campaign, you may well have said "Who?" As I started hearing more about him, it became clear why the conservative intelligentsia, so to speak, was rallying behind his presidential bid: he's Bush all over again.
1. For most people, he's a cypher. (Easier to craft your own narrative that way.)
2. He's a big fan of the "when I bite into the apple, the worm better watch out for itself" theory of economics.
3. He has no shame, as evidenced by his career as a highly-paid lobbyist, willingness to deny human evolution, and openly lie about his own past.
Remember G-Dub's boasts of 'signing into law' education reform in Texas that increased access to education among the state's poorest kids? Remember how nobody reported that he was such a complete asshole that he had vetoed the legislation, only to have it overridden and find himself compelled to sign? That's Thompson, right there.
Fred Thompson's political resume is a little on the thin side. He was a senator who developed a reputation for avoiding hard work; he was a high-priced corporate lobbyist; and in 1973, he was minority counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee.
That last one is apparently a point of some pride for the actor/lobbyist/lawyer. On his exploratory website, Thompson boasts that he "gained national attention" as the "hard-charging counsel" who took the "lead" in revealing the audio-taping system in Nixon's Oval Office.
It all sounds quite impressive -- just so long as you overlook the fact that Thompson was actually relentlessly partisan and anxious to protect Nixon during the Watergate investigation.
And as the Boston Globe notes:
Thompson tipped off the White House that the committee knew about the taping system and would be making the information public. In his all-but-forgotten Watergate memoir, "At That Point in Time," Thompson said he acted with "no authority" in divulging the committee's knowledge of the tapes, which provided the evidence that led to Nixon's resignation. It was one of many Thompson leaks to the Nixon team, according to a former investigator for Democrats on the committee, Scott Armstrong , who remains upset at Thompson's actions.
"Thompson was a mole for the White House," Armstrong said in an interview. "Fred was working hammer and tong to defeat the investigation of finding out what happened to authorize Watergate and find out what the role of the president was."
No wonder he's the darling of the right-- IOIYAR is a way of life for him, too.
1. For most people, he's a cypher. (Easier to craft your own narrative that way.)
2. He's a big fan of the "when I bite into the apple, the worm better watch out for itself" theory of economics.
3. He has no shame, as evidenced by his career as a highly-paid lobbyist, willingness to deny human evolution, and openly lie about his own past.
Remember G-Dub's boasts of 'signing into law' education reform in Texas that increased access to education among the state's poorest kids? Remember how nobody reported that he was such a complete asshole that he had vetoed the legislation, only to have it overridden and find himself compelled to sign? That's Thompson, right there.
Fred Thompson's political resume is a little on the thin side. He was a senator who developed a reputation for avoiding hard work; he was a high-priced corporate lobbyist; and in 1973, he was minority counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee.
That last one is apparently a point of some pride for the actor/lobbyist/lawyer. On his exploratory website, Thompson boasts that he "gained national attention" as the "hard-charging counsel" who took the "lead" in revealing the audio-taping system in Nixon's Oval Office.
It all sounds quite impressive -- just so long as you overlook the fact that Thompson was actually relentlessly partisan and anxious to protect Nixon during the Watergate investigation.
And as the Boston Globe notes:
Thompson tipped off the White House that the committee knew about the taping system and would be making the information public. In his all-but-forgotten Watergate memoir, "At That Point in Time," Thompson said he acted with "no authority" in divulging the committee's knowledge of the tapes, which provided the evidence that led to Nixon's resignation. It was one of many Thompson leaks to the Nixon team, according to a former investigator for Democrats on the committee, Scott Armstrong , who remains upset at Thompson's actions.
"Thompson was a mole for the White House," Armstrong said in an interview. "Fred was working hammer and tong to defeat the investigation of finding out what happened to authorize Watergate and find out what the role of the president was."
No wonder he's the darling of the right-- IOIYAR is a way of life for him, too.
posted by Matt Sandwich | 1:10 PM
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