Thompson Slandered by the Media...

First thing this morning, I saw a short piece on Fox and Friends about something that Fred Thompson had said yesterday while campaigning in Iowa. The problem for me was that it didn't sound like something that Thompson would say, unless he was intentionally torpedoing his campaign. The report, allegedly from a reporter with Thompson on the campaign trail, indicated that Thompson had said that he had little interest in the Presidency, and that other people had gotten him into it. That sounded a bit strange to me, since one of the reasons I like Thompson is that he is a very good communicator, and he certainly would know that such a wishy-washy statement would be disastrous to his campaign. So I was more than a little skeptical about the report, and proceeded to do what I usually do (and which I hope everyone does these days) - check out the source material.

After not finding it on FoxNews.com, I figured if anyone had the inside scoop on this (including Thompson's real quote), it would be Jim Geraghty at NRO's Campaign Spot. And I was right. Geraghty had the goods posted yesterday in his post: Fred Thompson, Knifed By Half-Quotes Again. Inexplicably, that was in plenty of time for one of the Fox News producers to have done a much better story on what the candidate had actually said, as opposed to what was reported that he said. So once again the media comes out looking poorly, having greatly mischaracterized and pulled out of context both the questions to Thompson that elicited his response, and what Thompson actually said.

The report apparently stemmed from a blog post at USA Today introducing another reporter's short article from the campaign trail: Thompson: Doesn't like campaign process, 'will not be devastated' if he loses. That particular post has been updated several times, and I'm uncertain if the above headline was the original one, but the blog's author does post both the original story and a link to Jim Geraghty's response, albeit in a somewhat snarky way. But if you read the article and then read the actual transcript of Thompson's statement, it doesn't look too good for either the reporter or USA Today. All involved are professionals, and are well aware that the way in which words are put together (especially in a blog post title and a 49 word introduction to a 185 word article) can totally change the meaning of whatever words were actually said by the subject of the article. My feeling is that if a reporter is limited to an under 200-word article, and more space than that is needed to convey the actual meaning of what was said by the subject of the article, either request to do a longer article or don't do one at all.

The real story, of course, is that Thompson hates what the political process has become, and does not suffer fools gladly. Unfortunately, some of those fools happen to be reporting on his campaign, and view Thompson with disdain because he refuses to play their game. That's refreshing to me. Campaigns, and the media that covers them, have become so self-involved and self-important that they've lost touch with the average voter. For instance, let's take a look at the recent Democratic Presidential nominees, together with "She Who Feels That She Is Owed The Presidency". (That would be Al Gore, John Kerry, and Hillary Clinton.) The commonalities among them are that 1) they all act as if they are better and smarter than everyone else, especially their subjects; 2) they all feel that they were born to be President - it is one of their birthrights; and 3) they all feel that everything they have done in life previously is in preparation to being awarded the Presidency. Individuals like that feed off of the media, and vice-versa. I posit that voters are finally getting fed-up with them - and Fred Thompson is the antithesis of that type of candidate.

The problem - since Thompson doesn't play the media's game, they will do everything in their power to misrepresent and discredit him. And that just makes people like me, and other people who prefer the real to the prepackaged, and the gently offered to the "jammed down our throats", appreciate Fred Thompson more. Lucky for us that Al Gore invented the Internet, so that we can quickly discard reports like the aforementioned from USA Today in the wastebasket, and find out what's really going on by viewing transcripts and videos online.

Speaking of which, the transcript of Thompson's remarks after the jump, courtesy of Jim Geraghty and NRO...

"That is a very good question... Not because it's difficult to answer, but because I'm gonna answer a little bit of a different way than what you might expect. In the first is wanting the opporunity. I wouldn't be here if I didn't. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't. I grew up in very modest circumstances. And I left government and I and my family have made sacrifices for me to be sitting here today. I haven't had any income for a long time because I'm doing this. I figure if you're gonna be clean, you have to cut the [unintelligible] off. And I was doing speaking engagements, and I had a contract to do a TV show, I had a contract with ABC radio like I was talking about earlier and so forth... I guess one would have to be a total fool to do all of those things and to be leaving his family, which is not a joyful thing at all... if you didn't want to do it.

But I am not consumed by personal ambition. I will not be devastated if I don't do it. I want the people to have the best president they can have. (applause) When his talk first started it didn't originate with me. There are a lot of people around the country and both directly and through polls... liked the idea of me stepping up. And of course, you always look better at a distance, I guess. (laughter) But most of those people are still there and think it's a good idea.

I approach it from the standpoint of a deal... Of kind of a marriage. You know, if one side of the marriage has to be really talked into the marriage, you know, it's probably not going to be a very good deal for either one of them. But if you mutually think that this is a good thing — in this case, if you think this is a good thing for the country, the you have the opportunity to do some wonderful things together. I'm offering myself up. I'm saying that if I have the background, the capability and the concern to do this and I'm doing this for the right reasons... but I'm not particularly interested in running for president, but I think I'd make a good president. Nowadays, the process has become much more important than I think it used to be.

I don't know if they ever asked George Washington a question like this. I don't know if they ever asked Dwight D. Eisenhower a question like this. Nowadays it's all about fire in the belly. I'm not sure that in the world we live in today, it's a terribly good thing for a president to have too much fire in his belly.

I approach life differently than a lot of people. People, I guess, are wondering how I've been as successful as I've been in everything I've done. I've won two races in Tennessee by twenty points in a state Bill Clinton carried twice. I had never run for office before. I've never had an acting lesson, and I guess that's obvious. (laughter). When I did it, I did it. It wasn't just a lark. Anything worth doing is worth doing well. I've always been a little more laid back than most. I like to say I'm only consumed by very few things, and politics is not one of them. The welfare of my country, and my kids and grandkids, growing up, is one of them. (applause)

If what people really want in their president is a super type A personality, someone who has gotten up every morning and gone to bed every night and been thinking about, for years how they can be president of the United States... someone who can look you straight in the eye and say they've enjoyed every minute of campaigning... (laughter) I ain't that guy. (more laughter) [To questioner] So I hope  I've discussed that, or I haven't talked you out of anything. I honestly want... I can't imagine a worse set of circumstances than achieving the presidency under a false pretenses, especially if you feel the way I do. I've gone out of my way to be myself, because I don't want anybody to think they're getting something they're not getting. I'm not consumed by this process, I'm not consumed with the notion of being president. I'm simply saying I'm willing to do what's necessary to achieve it if I'm in sync with the people. And if the people want me, or somebody like me, I will do what I've always done with everything else in my life. I will take it on and do a good job. You'll have the disadvantage of having someone who probably cna't jump up and click their heels three times, but will tell you the truth. And you'll know where the president stands at all times."