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(s)Elections See other (s)Elections Articles Title: Fred Thompson, The Tennessee stud The debate has been tough, the agreement elusive, but now the talking is over and the new definition of American conservatism is the holding of views identical to those of Fred Thompson. Although he has left it late, there was never much doubt that Fred would make a run for the White House, inhibited only by his endearing sense of outsiderdom. "I've got a lot to learn about Washington," the hulking former Tennessee senator, and star of the TV series Law and Order, recently admitted. "The other day I spent some of my own money." You'll hear a lot about Fred's money, or the relative lack of it, in the months ahead, and a lot about his women, too. There will be a wholesale retelling of the many folk tales that surround him - the one about Viagra being based on his DNA, the one about the dog that tried to hump his leg during a walkabout and was later found floating down a river, and the claim that global warming is caused by the emissions from Fred's ears. His heavy footprints have been thudding around Washington for years, yet for most of that time the sense prevailed that he wasn't cut out for, or particularly inclined towards, high office. The slow pace of life on Capitol Hill manifestly bored him, and while others would slog selflessly through long nights of committee work, Fred was firmly of the "let's wrap it up and go for a drink" persuasion. When, last week, he finally announced his candidacy, he did it in his own laid-back way, with an appearance on NBC's Tonight Show, hosted by the comedian Jay Leno. This was not the forum for a policy debate, but Thompson, 65, nevertheless offered a tantalising glimpse of the Reaganesque mix of patriotism, decency, plain-spokenness and simple values that he hopes will transport him to the White House. Asked by Leno about America's dented image in the world, the candidate shook his jowls, and in his rich southern baritone growled: "I think that goes with the territory. "We're more unpopular than we need to be, that's for sure, but our people have shed more blood for the liberty and freedom of other peoples than all other countries put together [loud applause]. And I don't feel any need to apologise for the United States of America." Not that Fred is out to be a Reagan redux. Or even the kind of conservative many conservatives would necessarily consider to be a conservative. He voted against the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton, whom he likes and discreetly admires; is comfortable in the cutesy-liberal Hollywood firmament; and on the crucial conservative litmus test of abortion has taken positions that appear, to say the least, ambivalent. All this, compounded by Fred's polished communications skills, abundant charisma and ability to blow his stack on cue, is likely to play well among voters grown weary and sceptical of neo-con ideology. Even before his run was confirmed, he was polling a strong second among Republican candidates, behind Rudolph Giuliani, the lavishly-funded former New York City mayor, but Rudy is dogged everywhere by questions about his personal and financial propriety, and beyond the Big Apple is mostly seen as a man whose busted political career was saved by Osama bin Laden. Who else is there? Mitt Romney, the Mormon ex-governor of Massachusetts, is a screaming no-hoper, while if poor John McCain of Arizona loses any more friends Angelina Jolie may have to adopt him. Fred, it would appear, is on his way, but - as tends to happen on the road to the White House - the focus is as much on where he has come from as where he is headed. He was born in Lawrenceburg, a small town in southern Tennessee, the son of a used car salesman, and was originally christened Freddie Thompson, although he later slimmed the name down to Fred, apparently to give himself more gravitas. He grew up big, 6ft 5ins and broad shouldered, but with a reputation for indolence that he has never quite shaken off, and little obvious sign of ambition. While still a sports-mad schoolboy he fell for a local beauty queen, Sarah Lindsay, whom he impregnated, and, in keeping with the traditions of the rural South, married in a shotgun ceremony. Early fatherhood seems to have changed him, however. For contrary to the expectations of Sarah's wrathful parents Fred threw himself into his studies, winning a place at law school, and later establishing his own successful practice. It was around this time that he read, and was heavily influenced by, The Conscience of a Conservative, the landmark book by the Right-wing Republican Senator Barry Goldwater, and although he recalls that "I didn't know of any other Republicans in Tennessee at that time", his entry into politics was secured. The Watergate hearings of 1973 first brought him to prominence. Summoned to Washington as an assistant counsel to the committee investigating President Richard Nixon, he remembers being torn between his ideological loyalty to Nixon and his rising suspicion that the president was, indeed, a crook. His powerful appearances in the televised hearings earned him a degree of celebrity, out of which he fashioned a book and a speaking tour, and a few years later he was offered a part in a Hollywood courtroom drama, Marie. The film flopped, but the critics loved Fred's portrayal of a country lawyer. "A natural star," raved the Los Angeles Times, "70;it makes you want to commit a crime just so you can hire the guy." Soon he was appearing in movies with the likes of Robert de Niro, Sean Connery and Clint Eastwood, yet politics continued to consume him. In 1994 he won a Senate seat, only to abandon it eight years later in a fit of despair following the death - from an accidental overdose - of his daughter, Betsy. Long divorced from Sarah, he was alone, although far from lonesome, and he publicly declared that he had had enough of politics. Now Fred's back by public demand. And with a glamorous new wife, 35-year-old Jeri Kehn, at his side; at least when she can get to his side. "All these women," she recently complained to the New York Post, "they just won't leave him alone. I can't get up at a cocktail party without coming back and finding some girl sitting in my chair." This is the kind of flattery Fred is unusually comfortable with. At an appearance before senior Republicans investigating possible skeletons in his closet, he declared: "I was single for a long time. I got chased by a lot of women, and usually I got caught." It is going to be a long road; an expensive and exhausting one. Giuliani has already spent more money than Fred has raised, and the Law and Order man continues to be dogged by the perception that, for all the volcanic huffing and puffing that attends his presence, he lacks the application to see demanding jobs through. Rebutting such allegations is not easy, although help will be waiting when Fred visits his old home town, Lawrenceburg, next week. In his last school yearbook, he penned a parting note: "The lazier a man seems, the more he plans to do tomorrow."
Poster Comment: Alright....months away from Fred's a Fag headlines ?
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#1. To: Eoghan (#0)
Actor. Republican. Israel. The probability that Fred is gay is only 99.9999%.
They forgot to mention Freds visit to Tel Aviv for anointment. An oversight surely.
If Fred Gwynne was still alive, that's the 'country lawyer' from My Cousin Vinnie that could gather votes. Thompson gathers the usual good 'ole country boy Tel Aviv mitzvah...
Home of Fred Thompson's favorite Jewish banker. Like Fred said "he used a lot of his own money." G-d Bless Tel Aviv.
The probability that Fred is gay is only 99.9999%. lolololol
Register to vote for Ron Paul NOW.
I'd vote for a gay Herman Munster over a straight Fred 'Swamp Thang' Thompson any day of the week. Only Sen. Joe McCarthy could smell a Soviet Jew in Hollywood a mile away...
I heard him on C-Span today. Typical warmonger.
Thompson Urges No Letup in Terror Fight ign swing in Iowa after entering the presidential race last week. ``We must send a message to friends and foes alike that we are determined.''...``We are in a conflict with people who are trying to get their hands on the most destructive weapons known to man,'' Thompson said. ``They are without rules and without conscience.''...``It's in our blood, it's in our tradition,'' said Thompson. ``We do whatever's necessary, hitch up our britches and come out the other end.''...``We need to choose the path of more strength, more determination, more prosperity and more opportunity than we ever have before.''
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