Fred’s Talk To The People

I linked to this video yesterday but I think it needs a whole post of its own.  Its a 17 minute video of Fred spelling out who he is as a candidate for President.  His views on everything that matters in this country is laid out there for all to see.

This is reminiscent of Reagan’s talk to the people of
North Carolina in 1976. Simple, straightforward, modest production
values–just the candidate in front of an American flag and an Iowa
flag–but (to use the word again) compelling. Reagan’s 1976 talk enabled
him to recover after a string of primary defeats, winning in North
Carolina, then going on to come within a handful of delegates of
wresting the nomination from Ford. Will Thompson’s talk move voters in
Iowa? Does his campaign have the money to get it on the air? Throughout
the state? Or even in a few of the most important markets? Beats me.
But we have here a serious man, making a serious case–and doing so in
the context of a campaign that has otherwise descended into mere
caterwauling.

Whats impressive to me is that this is no 30 second commercial.  This is the nuts and bolts of what makes Fred tick.  He put out white papers on everything from Immigration to National Security while the other candidates were producing 30 second commercials.  Peter again:

While the other contenders are frantically saturating the Iowa airwaves
with 30- and 60-second attack ads–Romney is guiltiest, if only because
he’s richest–Thompson has sat himself down, looked into a camera, and
spoken for a quarter of an hour, calmly and straightforwardly making
his case. I myself find this impressive–in a way, moving. Thompson
seems to have stepped out of the eighteenth century. He trusts voters
to think. And if the comments on YouTube are at all representative,
plenty of people agree.

From the start Fred has not been playing the typical Presidential election game.  He doesn’t lay down at the feet of the MSM or the rest of the beltway politico’s.  He has come out and said this is me, I will not change for anyone and if you like what I have to say then vote for me.  If not then vote for someone else, but I will do it my way, win or lose.

I respect that greatly.

UPDATE

Rich Lowry with the obligatory “Fred doesn’t like campaigning post” where he says the man didn’t shake many hands.  Kinda weird seeing as how at this event I personally attended I watched as he spent 15 minutes shaking hands, signing autographs, taking pictures.  And this was at a California event of all places.  Take a look at this post of mine with pictures of his hand shaking.

SeeDubya takes on Rich and all the others who slam Fred for not having enough ambition:

Will people please shut up about this stupid non-issue. The man is
running for President of the United States and he’s skidding around
Iowa in the snow in a charter bus kissing snotty children and eating
“colorful” local food, which I think in Iowa is when they put salt on
the french fries. People claim they despise politicians for their
pathetic ambition and then here comes someone who conspicuously refuses
to salivate on cue and say I AM THE GOLDEN CHILD! BOW DOWN AND WORSHIP
ME!!! Oh, well, he must not really want it then.

No, he doesn’t want to be President. He just loves debating with Ron
Paul. He just loves fielding moronic questions from ham-headed local
reporters. He just kissed off a plum lifetime job on one of NBC’s
flagship dramas, where the catering truck was right there and the
interviews by the entertainment press were light and fluffy and
respectful and there weren’t any “hand shows” about global warming.

Of course, he’ll always treasure those hours spent in briefings
talking about ethanol subsidies to policy wonks. You just know he gets
a warm fuzzy feeling coming up hat in hand to strangers, asking them to
keep his campaign bus fueled and his commercials on the air. And he
just gets his rocks off on having James Dobson wonder whether he’s
really a Christian or not. Woo hoo!

And isn’t great, getting to spend all this time away from his
family? Is his baby son going to start talking one of these days? Hey,
he’ll get a call about it. He likes having people nationwide sniff
about his wife and call her a control freak and whisper about their age
difference. He loves how that makes her feel and hey, he just knows
this kind of thing is gonna be great for their marriage.

And yet he’s still out there, throwing snowballs. He doesn’t want to be President, you see; he’s just a masochist.

I swear, if I was in Fred Thompson’s shoes and someone asked me one more flipping time
about the “fire in my belly” I would unleash the longest, foulest
stemwinder of pure wild-eyed Clark Griswold-esque profanity ever
broadcast on Iowa Public Television.

People complain about politicians who only want power.  People so full of ambition to be President they have dreamed about it since they were toddlers.  They complain about those who will say or do anything to get that power.  Now that someone has come along who is doing things his way, telling people that campaigning sucks, telling people about his beliefs and principals, not changing who he is for anybody, they complain about that.

I guess they want the next slick willy like Mitt to lead them. 

Sad.

Curt

See author page