Fred Thompson And The Soft Bigotry Of Low Expectations

4:26 am EST April 20th, 2007 | News | 16 Comments

Look, I expect the conservative movement to be a little chastened after their most recent champion, George W. Bush, turned out to be a drooling half wit disaster of a president, but I find the praise being larded out for the most banal, least insightful observations from actor Fred Thompson to be kind of embarrassing.

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16 Responses to “Fred Thompson And The Soft Bigotry Of Low Expectations”

  1. C.S.Strowbridge says:
    April 20, 2007 at 4:36 am

    I think he will grow in popularity until he reaches high enough to be a threat to Giuliani’s campaign and then they will destroy him. He doesn’t have even substance to win, at least that’s my opinion given the little I’ve seen of him.

  2. merlallen says:
    April 20, 2007 at 7:48 am

    What has he done, anyway? Why is this Hollywood actor their great white hope?
    Is it the genuine Southern accent? Because he looks tough?
    What?

  3. jimmmm says:
    April 20, 2007 at 9:17 am

    Crediting Bush with half-a-wit is crediting Bush with half-a-wit too much.

  4. Rheinhard says:
    April 20, 2007 at 9:17 am

    merl – yes, that’s it precisely. With people whining about nonsense like $400 haircuts, the Republican base seems among the most shallow, image-oriented people in the electorate. It doesn’t really matter all that much, actually, what a candidate says or believes, it’s all about whether they “look tough” and project some vaguely defined sense of manliness. Take Giuliani. Here’s a guy who by any sane measure should be generally anathema to the party: pro-choice, pro-gay-rights, anti-gun. All are major issues for the winger base, but so many are willing to toss these ideological differences aside because he “looked good on the TV on 9/11″ that he is currently leading the Republican pack against candidates with much more solid wingnut cred than him. Do we need further proof that these much vaunted conservative principles are just window dressing around what the right really wants, and that’s a strong daddy figure to make them feel all secure inside?

    So it’s OK that Thompson has done almost nothing of note in his political career. He looks like a tough guy in the movies and the teevee, and has the deep rumbly Souther voice. Much like Reagan, that’s all that matters.

  5. nihilistic_disintegration says:
    April 20, 2007 at 9:57 am

    I do like Thompson’s point that since criminals don’t obey the law, we shouldn’t have any laws. That’s brilliant!

    It’s kind of fun to watch the GOP crumble under the weight of its own ineptitude.

  6. Lib4 says:
    April 20, 2007 at 10:41 am

    I thought K-LO was in lust with Mitt Romney….someone is gonna be jealous……

    When can we expect the “regular guy” stories about Fred Thompson getting his $10 haircut at the local barber he’s been going to since he was a kid………..

  7. Quaker in a Basement says:
    April 20, 2007 at 11:24 am

    He paid ten dollars for that haircut?!? He wuz robbed.

  8. fd10801 says:
    April 20, 2007 at 12:46 pm

    You really hate this guy, eh?

    Good. He must be a threat.

    I’m liking him more and more every day.

    And, BTW, the award(s) for inane puffery in a speech have already been given to Sen. Ba-rock star Obama, on several occasions.

    His latest? Comparing hungry children to the dead victims of the VT shootings.

    He sounds like Tom Joad.

  9. Duros62 says:
    April 20, 2007 at 12:47 pm

    He sounds like Tom Joad.

    Maybe that’s what we need right now.

  10. fd10801 says:
    April 20, 2007 at 2:48 pm

    Duros62: The last thing America needs right now is melodrama.
    Hysterical BDS is pointless and unproductive enough.

  11. Dr. Anatole Gavage-Huskanoy says:
    April 20, 2007 at 3:19 pm

    Bush’s Derangement Syndrome: believing that he hasn’t lost the war.

  12. Dr. Squid says:
    April 20, 2007 at 5:02 pm

    BDS – saying that you don’t care to get conservative credentials

  13. C.S.Strowbridge says:
    April 20, 2007 at 5:10 pm

    “Hysterical BDS is pointless and unproductive enough.”

    BDS… The last defense of the truly hopeless.

    You don’t have to be deranged to hate Bush and what he has done during his time as president. You just have to be paying attention.

  14. fd10801 says:
    April 20, 2007 at 9:30 pm

    You don’t have to be deranged to hate Bush and what he has done during his time as president.
    Perhaps, but that doesn’t mean hating the President won’t make you deranged.

  15. TMLibsTFbraincells says:
    April 21, 2007 at 2:50 am

    You folks would lie if the truth sounded better…Well, glad we didn’t step in you.

  16. Nimrod Gently says:
    April 21, 2007 at 3:50 pm

    “Ba-rock star Obama”

    OH THE WIT

    “You folks would lie if the truth sounded better…Well, glad we didn’t step in you.”

    Dadaism is not a good debating platform