WaPo’s Mash Note To Fred Thompson

12:59 am EST May 20th, 2007 | Uncategorized | 15 Comments

When Washington Post readers open up to the front of the B section on Sunday, they better have a bucket at the ready Redskins cheerleadersso they can puke after reading this love note to Hollywood actor Fred Thompson written by Liz Garrigan they’ve prominently published.

Garrigan goes on and on about the familiar tropes we’ve heard echoed endlessly about "dream candidate" Fred Thompson. She even has the nerve to write:

[T]heir John Wayne is standing just outside the corral.

Are you kidding me? Were the 6th grade cheerleaders too busy watching Hannah Montana to write this kind of nuttiness on their own? She clearly wants to position Thompson, who is from Tennessee, as not Al Gore because she mentions the former Vice President (and popular vote winner) twelve times to drive her point home.

Look, it’s one thing to write this kind of thing on a blog, Livejournal, or even on a Thompson campaign site but it is beyond me why the Washington Post chose to feature this kind of love letter "journalism".

I can’t imagine why people are so skeptical about the press nowadays.

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15 Responses to “WaPo’s Mash Note To Fred Thompson”

  1. Winghunter says:
    May 20, 2007 at 3:51 am

    Yeah! I thought it was GREAT also.

    Run, Fred, RUN!!!

    ( Isn’t it terrible how a conservative could sneak in amongst all those Liberal journalists?…Why there oughta be a LAW!! )ROFL!!

  2. August J. Pollak says:
    May 20, 2007 at 9:29 am

    Oliver, to be fair it’s an opinion article. It’s not like it’s a front-page article reporting something as fact.

    I actually don’t mind these. Like I said, the more Thompson is pulled into the race based on nothing but gushing articles about his stage presence and clever one-liners, the less people focus on his flip-flops on immigration and campaign finance, his trophy wives and notable philandering, and his unpalatable far-right-wing social views, which will all suddenly crash and burn on him as soon as he has to speak without an editing crew.

    It’s gonna be glorious.

  3. Tim says:
    May 20, 2007 at 11:06 am

    While the piece belongs in the Style section, I suppose we should feel lucky the editors chose to put it in Op-Ed rather than the front page.

  4. Chuck says:
    May 20, 2007 at 12:04 pm

    After about three paragraphs, I skimmed to the end to see if there was a punchline of some sort. The Al Gore slams were especially embarrassing. Yeah, it’s an opinion piece, but even opinions should be supported by some shred of evidence.

  5. Organic George says:
    May 20, 2007 at 12:53 pm

    I could not decide if the article was a Hand or Blow job.

  6. Marty says:
    May 20, 2007 at 4:14 pm

    Yeah, Oliver. I’m sure the Post have never run any kind of glowing puff piece on any Democrat. Obviously the tears didn’t short out your keyboard.

    You crack me up!

  7. Andrew says:
    May 20, 2007 at 5:18 pm

    I also enjoyed the WaPo story a great deal. It’s about time they started being fair and balanced in their coverage of candidates such as former Senator Thompson. Thanks for calling attention to it, Ollie.

  8. Oliver Willis says:
    May 20, 2007 at 5:38 pm

    I certainly can’t find those stories between the ones about insinuations about John Edwards and tall tales about the Clintons.

  9. von Neumann says:
    May 21, 2007 at 3:24 am

    Admit it, he has a shot, and makes you nervous.

    And again, as Mark Steyn puts it, the Democrats will wake up scratching their heads the day after Election Day.

  10. merlallen says:
    May 21, 2007 at 5:01 am

    Yep, the Hollywood actor Fred Thompson is a chickenhawk just like Marion Wayne was.

  11. z adura says:
    May 21, 2007 at 8:15 am

    von Neumann, he certainly makes me nervous. He seems even more unqualified than the current president.

  12. Nimrod Gently says:
    May 21, 2007 at 10:08 am

    See also this.

    The Republicans have a lot of work to do to make people want to vote for them considering what happened at the last election.

  13. Murray Bowen says:
    May 21, 2007 at 10:34 am

    z_adura: Pres. Bush was “misunderestimated” twice already… What makes you think the Democrats won’t make the same mistake a third time?

  14. Duros62 says:
    May 21, 2007 at 5:08 pm

    Because that isn’t a real word.

  15. What was my name again? says:
    May 22, 2007 at 2:49 pm

    Yuk, Yuk!

    In a surprise win, Former Senator Fred Thompson has been elected President of the United States. The Democratic Party has sent out 116,000 lawyers to sue Diebold, Ohio, Florida, and every Secretary of State in the Union. They are also suing the Republican Party, The Right to Life Party, and the Conservative Party in each state. They are also suing everyone named Thompson. They are suing everyone named Fred. They are suing everyone who voted for a person named Fred or a person named Thompson. They are suing everyone who live between the Rockies and the Appalachians…
    Please stay tuned after this commercial break for the names of the other parties being sued…