Captain's Quarters -

Right on! Couldn't have said it better myself!

Fred Thompson has shown how to respond to those of the Moore ilk. I read the letter he sent, and frankly it is poorly written and smacks of smarminess and vitriol.

Fred Thompson clearly indicates he has the grit and experience to deal with the far left attacks in a way none of the other potential candidates do... through the drive-by media. Thompson brings a rare mass media insiders savvy to the race. Don't forget that Fred Thompson is a rather famous Conservative Republican who somehow developed a nice career in film and television.

And as a fellow Southerner (in fact a true redneck from the Appalachians of Tennessee) I can tell you that the common sense, slow talking and friendly Thompson is a candidate shrill Hillary and inexperienced Obama probably don't want to see.

Run Fred. We need you.

Ken

Fred Thompson has shown how to respond to those of the Moore's ilk. I read the letter he sent, and frankly it is poorly written and smacks of smarminess and vitriol.

Fred Thompson clearly indicates he has the grit and experience to deal with the far left attacks in a way none of the other potential candidates do... through the drive-by media. Thompson brings a rare media insiders savvy to the race. Don't forget that Fred Thompson is a rather famous Conservative Republican who somehow developed a nice career in film and television.

And as a fellow Southerner (in fact a true redneck from the Appalachians of Tennessee) I can tell you that the common sense, slow talking and friendly Thompson is a candidate shrill Hillary and inexperienced Obama probably don't want to see, or debate.

Run Fred. We need you.

Ken

Pwn3d!1

Fred makes my heart sing.

Sometimes a cigar is NOT just a cigar

This is the image America has been craving for about 15 years now.

You wanna know what this is? It's Lloyd Bentsen smacking down uppity Dan Quayle in the 1991 presidential debate. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. You're no Jack Kennedy.

America loves it when a grown-up beats the crap out of a little brat strutting around pretending to be bigger than he really is.

We love it.

If he gets into the race, I just hope that Fred can be as good off the cuff as he can be reading prepared material. In Orange County he tried ad-libbing some of his speech, and it didn't work so well. He should've taken some of those improv classes while he was learning to talk to a camera.

A lot of people, myself included are going to be really, really ticked off if Fred:

1) doesn't run or,
2) somehow doesn't get the nomination

I am sure that he has some problems (all the others do) but Fred can squarely kick the crap out of anyone the Dems can put up and they know it.

Watched Thompson's reply a good half dozen times already... and I get a bigger laugh out of it every time.

Go Fred!

Somewhere... a "filmmaker" is cussing and breaking things in his house...

A Fred/Hillary debate....I'd pay big money to watch that on pay per view!

I have a slow Internet access, so I spent a few minutes loading the clip (do you admire me already?). What can I say?? WOW...

I told a good friend after last year's SOTU speech that Fred Thompson would spank Hillary in a debate because he's got a great command of the issues, is gravitas personified & he's a smooth, likeable speaker.

I haven't changed my mind. In fact, that belief has gotten reinforced several times since.

And I agree with the commenter that intimates that the difference between 'Shrill Hill' & Mr. Thompson would be quite striking.

Fred Thompson has shown how to respond to those of the Moore's ilk

this is very reminiscent to how many bloggers respond to fact-based arguments, like the one Moore made. All he did was call him crazy and use empty rhetoric saying Castro was his "friend."

the responses to the tape by bloggers on here also bolster the criticism of Republican voters... their most important factor is how "presidential" a candidate is.

Like it or not, Moore is one of the most important political figures in the country. Thompson can get away with brushing him aside as mearly a "filmmaker," but any American has the right to engage another in debate. And Moore has a high enough profile in representing a good portion of American's views that a debate between the two would be worthwhile.

I can understand how many of you like this video, but to call it a beat down or anything like it is rediculous. Very little substance, a lot of show.

Hard to give any gravitas to someone who doesn't know how to spell "ridiculous".

"...down-home rhetorical spanking..."

Now that's definitely gonna leave a mark!!!!

OMG! I misspelled a word. Good one, NahnCee. You really deconstructed what I had to say and made me look a fool. You're good.

Think maybe I should seek mental treatment too?

"...down-home rhetorical spanking..."

Now that's definitely gonna leave a mark!!!!

this is very reminiscent to how many bloggers respond to fact-based arguments, like the one Moore made. All he did was call him crazy and use empty rhetoric saying Castro was his "friend."

No - he pointed out that Moore treated Castro as a friend would. And did not call him crazy - jsut suggested Moore might look at the mental hospitals next time he was in Cuba - especially the ones housing political prisoners. Perhaps mental help might alleviate Moore's obvious idiocy when it comes to his vacant support for a torturing dictator.

Is it empty rhetoric to call attention BACK to the point Fred Thompson made int he written piece to which Moore was responding with a taunt about healthcare? You know, the torture victim of the dictator Castro?

YOU LOSE that point, moron.

Or are do you need mental help to clear your mind to see that? I suggest you seek help.

the responses to the tape by bloggers on here also bolster the criticism of Republican voters... their most important factor is how "presidential" a candidate is.

Like it or not, "being presidential" is a huge part of actually being effective in office - you have to sell your ideas and carry across your ideals. Inability to do so will end you up like GW Bush. Or are YOU too stupid to see that?

Like it or not, Moore is one of the most important political figures in the country. Thompson can get away with brushing him aside as mearly a "filmmaker," but any American has the right to engage another in debate.

Bull. He is famous for being famous for chasing dound an automtoive exec, and doing a hatched job via the editing room to make things look different from the way they really happened.

Also, NO American has a right to engage another in a debate. Where did you invent that one? Moron.

I'd no sooner debate with you than debate a chimp. I'm fisking you here to educate you.

Face it: Moore is just a film maker - he is very good at producing slanted pieces of propaganda through clever editing and usage of scene setting, cutting things that make him look bad or disprove his points, and getting by on innuendo, disingenuous comments and a carefully woven tapestry of half truths and lies of omission. His job is to make this appear to be the way he wants them to be, not to reflect reality, but to bias it and bias the viewer. In other words he is trained in make-believe and lying.

Michael Moore is not sufficiently objective to be believable on public policy - he's as worthy of credibility on Castro as Leni Riefenstahl was on Hitler in The Triumph of the Will.

And that is what Fred Thompson was calling attention to, in an offhand and humorous way. Humor - you know, that thing you left behind in your haste to wallow in practiced skepticism.

And Moore has a high enough profile in representing a good portion of American's views that a debate between the two would be worthwhile.

And what would Moore have worth saying that hasn't already been ripped to shred in Thompson's written critique? He has nothing of intellect to contribute - with Moore, as with all his propaganda "documentaries", there is bias and form, but no substance upon complete critical examination of ALL the facts.

Compare to Fred Thompson as a lawyer, federal prosecutor, Watergate lead counsel, and 8 year Senator.

I can understand how many of you like this video, but to call it a beat down or anything like it is rediculous. Very little substance, a lot of show.

The substance is lacking in your shallow reply. If it only takes me a few minutes to Fisk it like this, yours is the weaker one.

Sorry fella, you lose. And like Fred, I don't have any more time for you - again, this is for YOUR education. I'll not argue with the humorless lackawit that you have proven yourself to be here.

Sorry Tom, unlike your hero Michel Moore, you cannot edit reality. You Lose.

Ya blew "mearly" too, Tom.

Yeah, I know, those grown-up keyboards are soooo hard for your pudgy li'l fingers to type on. Poor widdle baby...

Tom, what Fred did is called cutting to the heart of the matter. Moore is now pimping a movie that asserts basically that Cuba is a better place than the US. Fred did a simple compare and contrast. While film-makers that criticize Castro are locked up in Asylums, those that criticize Bush are given Oscars.

R.e. snarking you for a misspelling: the occasion for the snarking was your misplaced criticism. The Fred Vid was 38 seconds long. He made a point, emasculated Moore and got off stage, to call it a 38 second video a lot of show makes me wonder how you sit through half hour TV shows,

Let's cut Tom some slack here. If he was using a good browser like Firefox, or circumspect enough to review his posts he wouldn't make misspellings. We all misspell in the heat of passion. He obviously felt too deeply about the issue to re-read what he wrote. Actually if he had re-read it, this thread wouldn't be so long, as he would have realized how foolish the post was and would have deleted it

Let's cut Tom some slack here. If he was using a good browser like Firefox, or circumspect enough to review his posts he wouldn't make misspellings. We all misspell in the heat of passion. He obviously felt too deeply about the issue to re-read what he wrote. Actually if he had re-read it, this thread wouldn't be so long, as he would have realized how foolish the post was and would have deleted it

sorry about the double post, I am getting error messages when I post.

billh - I get those error msgs too. Just ignore 'em. It posted.

Fred Thompson hit the crucial home run.

And, fast!

One of the best commentaries on this came from someone who pointed out that Fred Thompson "entered" the OODA LOOP. (Something that gives American pilots the edge in dog fights.)

He did this quickly. He did this without calling up the media and asking them to give him "sound bite" room.

Fred Thompson is using the Internet. With a speed unseen, before. And, this is just the start.

In other words? Michael Moore made snide remarks; I'd guess because he thought Fred Thompson was an easy target.

And, what Fred did, in under a minute, is show whose the boss. That Michael's film about Cuba's health system overlooks the truth. Where people in Cuba can be put in mental hospitals, and electro-shocked for years; if they don't sing Castro's praises.

ANd, then he ends the spot with "A mental institution, Michael."

In less than a minute Fred Thompson showed he understands the American public. He understands the frustrations of watching the media set the standards for PHONY DEBATES. And, he went round 'em.

PERFECT.

Fred is more than Mikey can chew.

One of the magical things about Broadway, is that no matter the star. And, no matter who wrote the vehicle. The ultimate test was passing and getting critical acclaim.

In other words? No matter the star. No matter the writers. Or anything else about the production. There comes a time you step out on stage. Are seen by a few. And, from that? From that opening night on. You're either in a hit. Or the show bombs.

And nobody ever really found the "magical formula." That you could repeat. And, be guaranteed success.

Here, where Fred Thompson gets mostly great reviews. Especially when you think he's been linked from Drudge, Lucianne, and InstaPundit, is to recognize the strength of the Internet. And, how it connects people. Getting them to see a "less than a minute long clip" ... by reaching people one at a time. It's not your 7:00 PM news show anchor who gets you to watch.

And, Fred flew over the heads of all those hired hands at all the other campaign headquarters who have not done this.

In other words? Fred steps forward with a FIRST. And, it worked.

Will it work forever? What works forever?

Does it matter when you're the first?

Well, it matters when you can hit one out of the ballpark like this; while all the efforts of the debates end up "on the cutting room floor."

In a media world where your mistakes hurt ya. Because "that kind of news travels far."

And, yes. In politics (as in business where there's competition), you need to find a way to put yourself, or your products, FIRST.

No question Fred Thompson did that.

Some people still find that his approach lacks seriousness. And, yes. It does. If you compare it to Abraham Lincoln's way, back in 1860. Where he had spent the two years before; in debates he forced on Douglas; to gain national recognition ... He then did a masterful speech that's still analyzed to this day. At Cooper Union.

FIrst comes the ambition. If a man doesn't own this, he has nothing really to run on. Except the fumes of wealth. And, lucky breaks when our parties decide they can run crap. And, we can't do anything about it.

THe donks, by the way, are short on talent. And, I mean this in that no one is yet approaching the voters with a likely candidate. It's all crap picked behind the scenes.

If I had to guess? Fred Thompson, today, scared the pants off of Hillary Clinton. She'd prefer running as Rodham. But she knows a winning name isn't something to slice off, just because you haven't really got a relationship with your husband. But I digress.

Today, Fred Thompson showed America you don't need a million dollars, and staff out your ying-yang; as you travel about this country. You can campaign from your living room. Or your desk.

That's what works! That's what's new.

And, that's what depends on receiving audience participation.

How quick was Fred? Michael Moore dropped his challenge just the day before.

So, credit Fred Thompson with being quick.

Those are all advantages.

Hope there's more ahead for this stuff, too. Isn't that the exciting piece? How unexpected this was?

Tom Shipley,

Go over to Moore's site and read his letter. It's full of innuendo and short on facts itself. In a nutshell, Moore claims that Castro's health program is better than the one the "Bush Administration" (aka the US Government) provides to "9/11 heroes" (if so, why did Castro import health care from Spain?). He then goes on to claim that Thompson's cigars originate in Cuba and that it is hypocritical for Thompson to have "Cuban" cigars (aside: Montecristos are made in the Dominican Republic as well, so it is possible, and likely, that Thompson's cigars are non-Cuban). Moore further claims that, as a result of our lack of medical our life expectancy is lower than in other developed countries, and we have higher infant mortality than those countries. He's right only about the numbers -- but not by much, and healthcare is only one of many variables that go into determining a country's death rates on either end of the scale (try diet on the high end, for example, or even the much higher incidence of illegal immigration, which might tend to drive our numbers in the direction of -- say, Mexico (19.6/75.6), as opposed to (6.4/78.0) for the USA).

So, Moore uses factoids, and what does Thompson retailiate with? The moral equivalent of "I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an opponent who has none."

Moore can certainly reply using the youtube route, but he is reactive, not proactive at this point.

All the snippiness with another poster aside, what astounds me is how fast a turn around this was.

And then how FAST this spread on the internet - the view counts on Breitbart were massive, then it was on YouTube. And linked to from God knows how many sites.

Something out of the ordinary is going on here - something beyond the control of the big news organizations, big money and the political parties' power brokrers. I think the traditional folks that run the parties on both sides are scared to death of this decentralization of the campaign mechanisms. Its a threat to their old way of doing things, their ability to control (via money and exposure) the candidates and the messages.

Given Fred Thompson's blogging quick responses at Redstate, his own blog and podcasts at ABC News, surprise videos (Political Cameos?), and other internet presences, is he the one to fulfill the promise of Internet Campaigning that Howard Dean only scratched the surface of?

The inside the beltway gang like Novak seem bewildered that Fred isn't playing their game - they are still used to being the only game in town.

Right now, he, without a big staff, or pollsters, or handlers, and only a minimal amount of help, is hitting all the right notes on the net. And that baffles the old guard as Fred continues to poll well in spite of not having spent a nickel on ads.

It makes me wonder - are we seeing the end of the TV influenced candidate that started with JF Kennedy and culminated with Reagan as its master practitioner, and the beginning of the Internet Candidate, starting with Howard Dean, but progressing to Fred Thompson who has the stage presence, internalized values, common sense sensibilities, and quick wits to thrive in this environment?

Maybe we are seeng the start of the new paradigm.

I don't know much about Thompson so far, but I like that in this age of the easily offended worriers, the man had the guts to go on camera with a cigar in his mouth.

Where's he stand on the issues?

Fred Thompson pimp-slapped Michael Moore so hard that his mama probably felt it! That was great! The best part: Moore puts his silliness up on his web site in the morning, and a few hours later, Fred had that reply filmed and up online. That's internet speed, baby, and it's the kind of thing that will eat a conventional candidate's lunch.

First off, I'd like to thank the editorial staff of Captain's Quarters for reviewing my work so thoroughly. Leave your pay pal info and I'll leave you all a nickle.

Second off, Moore is challenging Thompson to debate healthcare. Calling him a "friend" of Castro and bringing up the documentary filmmaker are classic "straw men." Fact is, we don't know what Moore's opinion of Castro is. We don't know how he portrays his regime in the film... we'll have to wait and see for that.

And if Thompson and so many others are attacking Moore as a "friend of Castro," what do they have to say about those 9/11 first responders who went to Cuba for the medical treatment they could not get in the US?

Are they friends of Cuba? How come no one asks THEM about their opinion of the treatment of Cuban artists, etc., etc.

Oh, I know, they are being USED. Michael Moore is using his liberal sorcery to make them get treatment in Cuba that they could not get in the US. He doesn't really care about them because he's an evil liberal only out to attack Bush.

Oh, and the Weekly Standard did report the cigars were from Cuba, not the DR. So Moore breaks the embargo to help 9/11 responders, and Thompson breaks it so he can puff cigars... wonder how much of Castro's 4tune is made up of Rich White American money from men who like Cuban cigars?

Like it or not, "being presidential" is a huge part of actually being effective in office

Thanks for proving my point Ordinary. And you're right, Americans don't have a right to debate. They have a right to challenge anyone to a debate. Just as the person being challenged has a right to turn them down.

Oh, and there are two misspellings in this post. A special prize for the blogger who can find them first!