posted on September 12, 2007 11:22:41 AM new
Old School Inanity
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: September 9, 2007
WASHINGTON
Dying for a daddy, the Republicans turn their hungry eyes to Fred.
Fred Thompson acts tough on screen. And like Ronald Reagan, he has a distinctively masculine timbre and an extremely involved wife.
In his announcement video, Mr. Thompson stood in front of a desk in what looked like, duh, a law office, rumbling reassuringly that in this “dangerous time” he would deal with “the safety and security of the American people.”
As Michelle Cottle wrote in The New Republic, far more than puffy-coiffed Mitt and even more than tough guys Rudy and McCain, the burly, 6-foot-5, 65-year-old Mr. Thompson exudes “old-school masculinity.”
“In Thompson’s presence (live or on-screen),” she wrote, “one is viscerally, intimately reassured that he can handle any crisis that arises, be it a renegade Russian sub or a botched rape case.” But she wondered, was he really “enough of a man for this fight,” or just someone who meandered through life, creating the illusion of a masculine mystique?
Newsweek reported that some close to the Tennessean “question whether moving into the White House is truly Thompson’s life ambition — or more the dream of his second wife, Jeri, a former G.O.P. operative who is his unofficial campaign manager and top adviser.”
It took only two days of campaigning to answer the masculine mystique question. Fred gave an interview to CNN’s John King as his bus rolled through Iowa.
“To what degree should the American people hold the president of the United States responsible for the fact that bin Laden is still at large six years later?” Mr. King asked.
“I think bin Laden is more of a symbolism than he is anything else,” Mr. Thompson drawled. “Bin Laden being in the mountains of Afghanistan or — or Pakistan is not as important as the fact that there’s probably Al Qaeda operatives inside the United States of America.”
Usually, you can only get that kind of exquisitely inane logic from the president. Who does Fred think is sending operatives or inspiring them to come?
Fred is not Ronnie; he’s warmed-over W. President Reagan always knew who the foe was.
Fred followed W.’s nutty lead of marginalizing Osama on a day when TV showed another creepy, fruitcake manifesto by the terrorist, who was wearing what seemed to be a fake beard left over from Woody Allen’s “Bananas” and bloviating on everything from the subprime mortgage crisis to the “woes” of global warming to a Kennedy assassination conspiracy theory to the wisdom of Noam Chomsky to the unwisdom of Richard Perle to the heartwarming news that Muslims have lived with Jews and not “incinerated them” to the need to “continue to escalate the killing and fighting” against American kids in Iraq.
Can we please get someone in charge who will stop whining that Osama is hiding in “harsh terrain,” hunt him down and blast him forward to the Stone Age?
Fred must have missed the news of the administration’s intelligence estimate in July deeming Al Qaeda rejuvenated and “a persistent and evolving terrorist threat” to Americans.
Pressed by Mr. King on the fact that the Bush hawks went after Saddam instead of Osama, Fred continued to sputter: “You — you’re — you’re not served up these issues one at a time. They — they come when they come, and you have to — you have to deal with them.”
Democrats pounced. John Edwards issued a statement saying, “That bin Laden is still at large is Bush’s starkest failure.” John McCain and Rudy Giuliani also stressed the need to take out Osama.
Fred quickly caved on the matter of men in caves. At a rally later in the day he manned up. “Apparently Osama bin Laden has crawled out of his cave long enough to send another video and he is getting a lot of attention,” he said, “and ought to be caught and killed.”
He continued to insist that killing bin Laden would not end the terrorist threat, without realizing that this is true now because, by not catching bin Laden, W. allowed him to explode into an inspirational force for jihadists.
Republicans are especially eager for a papa after their disappointing experiences with Junior. After going through so many shattering disasters, W. seems more the inexperienced kid than ever.
In Australia, the president called Australian soldiers in Iraq “Austrian troops,” and got into a weird to-and-fro on TV with the South Korean president.
W. cooperated with Ropert Draper, the author of a new biography of him, yet the portrait was not flattering. Like a frat president sitting around with the brothers trying to figure out whether to party with Tri-Delts or Thetas, W. asked his advisers for a show of hands last year to see if Rummy should stay on. And W. is obsessed with getting the Secret Service to arrange his biking trails.
“What kind of male,” one of his advisers wondered aloud, “obsesses over his bike riding time, other than Lance Armstrong or a 12-year-old boy?”
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There is more to life than increasing its speed. --Mahatma Gandhi
posted on September 12, 2007 11:52:29 AM new“I think bin Laden is more of a symbolism than he is anything else,” Mr. Thompson drawled. “Bin Laden being in the mountains of Afghanistan or — or Pakistan is not as important as the fact that there’s probably Al Qaeda operatives inside the United States of America.”
Another one that really doesnt care about capturing Bin laden??
"In my experience, those who do not like you fall into two categories: the stupid, and the envious. - John Wilmot, the Second Earl of Rochester
posted on September 12, 2007 01:19:36 PM new
"""his second wife, Jeri, a former G.O.P. operative who is his unofficial campaign manager and top adviser.”"""
posted on September 12, 2007 03:59:10 PM new
"MAUREEN DOWD"
ROFLMHO.....some will believe anyone/anything. But maureen dowd?????
Guess she's roadsmith's Ann Coulter. LOL
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"While the democratic party complains about everything THIS President does to protect our Nation": "What would a Democrat president have done at that point?"
"Apparently, the answer is: Sit back and wait for the next terrorist attack."
posted on September 12, 2007 04:03:44 PM new
"Can we please get someone in charge who will stop whining that Osama is hiding in “harsh terrain,” hunt him down and blast him forward to the Stone Age?
LOL The funniest thing she wrote.
Why would she ask for THAT when her own party was offered bin laden several times and REFUSED TO TAKE HIM.
See...it's those darn liberal double standards....expecting some one ELSE to do the 'dirty work' they should have done as AQ/bin laden attacked America and her interests FIVE TIMES during HIS administration.
How funny in a VERY pathetic sort of way.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"While the democratic party complains about everything THIS President does to protect our Nation": "What would a Democrat president have done at that point?"
"Apparently, the answer is: Sit back and wait for the next terrorist attack."
posted on September 12, 2007 10:58:23 PM new
linduh grunts,"" Linda_K
posted on September 12, 2007 04:03:44 PM
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"Can we please get someone in charge who will stop whining that Osama is hiding in “harsh terrain,” hunt him down and blast him forward to the Stone Age?
LOL The funniest thing she wrote.
Why would she ask for THAT when her own party was offered bin laden several times and REFUSED TO TAKE HIM.
See...it's those darn liberal double standards....expecting some one ELSE to do the 'dirty work' they should have done as AQ/bin laden attacked America and her interests FIVE TIMES during HIS administration.
How funny in a VERY pathetic sort of way."""
So, if that were true you're saying that bushit shouldn't go after bin laden because you THINK Clinton didn't. Well , I guess that's ONE excuse he hasn't used yet....and another is that he said bin Laden wasn't important and of no interest to him.....so WHY should Clinton have gone after binLaden ???....Maybe HE, LIKE BUSHIT, just wasn't interested ?????
posted on September 13, 2007 09:56:33 AM new
Yeah. Or find candidates who keep the wife they started out with. . . .
It'll be interesting to see what direction the religious right go in: A non-religious guy or . . . a Mormon guy. Most of the far-right churches preach against Mormonism, call it a sect or a cult, and even send missionaries to convert them. It should be fascinating to see what decision-making skills those preachers use to endorse a candidate. "Let's see. . . goin'-to-hell Mormon sect guy on first wife, with good moral values but maybe not the brightest bulb in the crate or . . . serial marriage guy who drinks a bit, smokes, maybe does other sinful things."
_____________________
There is more to life than increasing its speed. --Mahatma Gandhi
posted on September 13, 2007 10:11:05 AM newSee...it's those darn liberal double standards....expecting some one ELSE to do the 'dirty work' they should have done as AQ/bin laden attacked America and her interests FIVE TIMES during HIS administration.
And the ONE attack during the Bush administration killed almost 3000 people (more than the 5 combined in the other administration) and Bush still doesnt really want to capture him.
The 3000 deaths under Bush's watch doesn't mean a thing to him. It just helped him to launch his war.
"In my experience, those who do not like you fall into two categories: the stupid, and the envious. - John Wilmot, the Second Earl of Rochester
Not ALL conservatives are religious who hope to have a religious man as our CIC....AND there are conservative DEMS that are hoping/looking for that also.
