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Fred Thompson And The Soft Bigotry Of Low Expectations

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.

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


  1. Gravatar Icon 1 C.S.Strowbridge

    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. Gravatar Icon 2 merlallen

    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. Gravatar Icon 3 jimmmm

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

  4. Gravatar Icon 4 Rheinhard

    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. Gravatar Icon 5 nihilistic_disintegration

    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. Gravatar Icon 6 Lib4

    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. Gravatar Icon 7 Quaker in a Basement

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

  8. Gravatar Icon 8 fd10801

    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. Gravatar Icon 9 Duros62

    He sounds like Tom Joad.

    Maybe that’s what we need right now.

  10. Gravatar Icon 10 fd10801

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

  11. Gravatar Icon 11 Dr. Anatole Gavage-Huskanoy

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

  12. Gravatar Icon 12 Dr. Squid

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

  13. Gravatar Icon 13 C.S.Strowbridge

    “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. Gravatar Icon 14 fd10801

    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. Gravatar Icon 15 TMLibsTFbraincells

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

  16. Gravatar Icon 16 Nimrod Gently

    “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

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