Over at Volunteer Voters I found a link to a Fred Thompson interview (transcript) published in a small bi-weekly paper in Waverly Iowa. I'll concede that Thompson seems somewhat flippant in the interview, and perhaps that is what motivated the interviewer (according to another report--below) to flatly say, "I don't know why he's running and neither does he." I'm not sure what qualifies as a "rationale" for a candidacy, but Thompson seems to supply one to the interviewer . . . read for yourself. Which leads to my charge of bias . . .
Yesterday I read a report of Fred Thompson's retail campaigning in Iowa on the politico blog. ("Fred Thompson: Lazy as charged" - Roger Simon - Politico.com). From reading the story, it could be argued that Thompson doesn't have "energy," but "argu[ing]" isn't what journalists do in news reports, right? In any event, an aversion to gladhanding or schmoozing is not the same thing as being "lazy," and Simon tips his hand (I believe) in this attempted dig on Thompson, who jokingly said, "I'm about the violate my 'silly hat rule,'" when handed a fire helmet while visiting a fire station. Thompson ultimately opted out of trying on the thing, and this is what Roger Simon had to say about the incident:
"In point of fact, the “silly” hat was the one Chief McKenzie wore to fires and I am guessing none of the firefighters in attendance considered it particularly silly, but Thompson was not going to put it on. He just stood there holding it and staring at it."Actually, Thompson's wife took the hat from him in short order and put it on, but, yes, a fire helmet is a "silly hat" if donned by a grown man, who happens not to be a fire fighter, who is wearing a dress suit, who is running for President.
Tip o' the hat to Political Animals
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