fuck fred thompson & his red pick-up truck

MOST LAUGHABLE POL OF ALL TIME: How skillful is the modern press corps at inventing reasons to vote against Dems? As we all know, John Edwards’ big house and fancy bouffant show what a big fake and phony he is. But has any pol ever offered a funnier narrative than Mr. Populist himself, Fred Thompson, who actually rented a red pick-up truck to ride around in when he ran for the Senate? Recently, Noam Scheiber described it:

SCHEIBER (4/27/07): By the time Fred Thompson decides whether or not to join the presidential fray, you will have heard the story of his red pickup truck at least a dozen times. The truck in question is a 1990 Chevy, which the famed statesman-thespian rented during his maiden Senate campaign in 1994. The idea was that Thompson would dress up in blue jeans and shabby boots and drive himself to campaign events around the state. Upon arriving, he'd mount the bed of the truck and launch into a homespun riff on the virtues of citizen-legislators and the perils of Washington insider-ism. For good measure, he'd refer to himself in the third person as "Ol' Fred" and the Chevy as "this ol' baby."

It’s the funniest thing of all time! In reality, Thompson was a wealthy lobbyist when he rented his little red anti-Corvette. But the funniest thing about Scheiber’s piece is his credulous opening sentence, the one we highlighted in the passage above. Here at THE HOWLER, we’ll take a wild guess—no, you won’t “hear the story of his red pickup truck at least a dozen times” in the coming weeks. That’s because of an obvious fact: As a general matter, the modern press corps recites these tales only when they cut against Dems.

What kind of pickup trucks to democrats genuinely enjoy?

Fake truck populism = "Hollywood values"

You heard it here first

can we plz get this $400 haircut-level coverage??

I would like to see Thompson in an old grumpy fart-a-thon versus Joe Don Baker. They could compete to see who can say "well, whoop dee shit!" in the most curmudgeonly way possible. Thompson would have both hands tied in front of him, just so that he couldn't pass capital gains tax cuts and anti-abortion legislation behind him during the competition.

i see a red truck and i wanted painted black.

This will probably be the year than Bob Somerby finally has his first heart attack, from Maureen Dowd coverage if nothing else.

Is this really the best you can do?

Barring the impossible dream of Ron Paul getting the nod, Fred Thompson is this country's last hope. I may even campaign for him.

man i hate richard land.

http://www.economist.com/images/ga/2007w21/Presidents.jpg

real chevy truck drivers for truth '08

haha, i'm taller than mccain and giuliani

STRONGO FOR PRESIDETN

Barring the impossible dream of Ron Paul getting the nod, Fred Thompson is this country's last hope. I may even campaign for him.

what the fuck does he stand for that is in line with your views? what does he stand for AT ALL?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4StOJjpmXQ

WTF is it with tennessee republicans & corny-ass schticks? b/w lamar and his flannels & now fred thompson and his pick-up truck.

i dunno fucking fred thompson on his red pick-up truck just seems gross

snorggirljeep.jpg

re: MSNBC article - what is obnoxious (among other things) is that Franklin, TN is an extremely wealthy, picturesque (and UBER Republican) town 45 min. south of Nashville. It's full of Benzs, retirement condos and fancy boutiques. The only time one sees a rusted out pickup if someone from a neighboring town is driving THROUGH Franklin.

fuck that good ol'boy shit, dude. you're in franklin.

lol @ notorious racist shouting out ron paul

yay for american narratives

xp, maybe

http://www.buddytv.com/articles/Law_&_Order/Images/fred-dalton-thompson-5.jpg

^Kelsey Grammar in 20 years

Grammer, even

MATTHEWS (3/29/07): Let’s talk about gritty New Hampshire. I love New Hampshire. I always brought my kids up there when they were young. It is a state that looks for toughness. [Addressing Pat Buchanan] You won up there. It looks for grit. It looks for the outsider a bit. It’s great American state. It’s really live for your guy.

MARGARET CARLSON: The Granite State looks for granite.

MATTHEWS: They are looking for a tough guy who’s got a little five o’clock shadow, like you. They’re looking for a guy like you, Pat.

Here is Fred Thompson going in there. John McCain certainly deserves to be president, based on his contribution to this country over the years, but he ran once. How many chances do you get? And in comes Fred Thompson, looking like the Daddy party, if there ever was a guy that looked like the Daddy party, the Republican. Can he win this thing?

CARLSON: He does look like the dad. He has everything that Pat says. He’s handsome, he’s charming, he sounds like a president, he looks like a president. But Pat says he might not have the fire in the belly. That could help him, not having the hunger. Not being “willing to do anything” could help him.

It could help him. And, you know, he’s smart. He’s articulate. He knows his lines. He can hit his mark.

someone tell me again, what is the difference b/w hardball and the view again?!?

hardball = more sassy

The Granite State looks for granite.

http://weeklywire.com/ww/05-22-00/memphis_poli.html/

The New York Post, of all venues, reported recently that the Tennessee senator had of late become something of a sex object for "Capitol Hill hotties," one of whom complained about "all these other women" who wouldn't leave the senator alone. "I can't get up to get a cocktail at a party without coming back and finding some girl sitting at my chair," the woman was quoted as saying.

Margaret Carlson, the writer for Time and host for CNN, is described this way: "She calls his apartment all the time. It's the joke all over Washington that Margaret has this huge crush on him. And Fred is clearly not interested."

dc apparatchicas got a daddy thing goin on huh

did the NYP crib that one from the Politico or something?

An old coworker of mine just up and moved to nashville because the DC women are so terrible

was he a girl or guy?

"was he a girl" duh, i really need to learn how to speak english one of these days

An old coworker of mine just up and moved to nashville because the DC women are so terrible

haha daria to thread

you're a really worthless prick.

hey I'm not the one slandering DC women wtf

next level

dude shes not even dead yet

wait, he moved to Nashville for the ladies?

beats moving to knoxville for the rallies

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42341000/jpg/_42341778_altman_duvall_ap203.jpg

dar1a's really a fredneck anyway tho right?

olive oyl & bluto

I would move to Knoxville, as I know there' a big dirt track there, but that's another story.

I like how I am somehow responsible for someone else's slanderous generalization - smooth

WTF is it with tennessee republicans & corny-ass schticks?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/82/Haroldcallme.png

jaymc, OTM.

Those commercials were OBNOXIOUS. Fucking Corker still won.

?

stop makin fun of ol' crinkly dick

Barrack is 6'1"? That's my perfect makey outy height compatibility!

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/11/20/14729/974

He went on to talk about the importance of adhering to conservative principles in order to prevent the “keys to this country” from being turned over to the Democratic Party, who Thompson said, “are apparently planning for careers in NASCAR. It’s a turn constantly to the left. They will soon wind up back where they started. And some of them are going faster than the others, but they’re all going in same direction in a not very perfect circle.”

Okay zowee: I would say I'd like to meet whoever came up with that metaphor, but part of me suspects it was a team of SCIENTISTS

working 16-hour days

since 1984

http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/lions_gate_films/alone_in_the_dark/tara_reid/alone1.jpg

dude is toast

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=cqmidday-000002631203

yeah, Thompson has been irrelevant since day 3

why did he run?

http://www.thefinalsprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/forrest%20gump%20running%20beard.jpg

why did he run?

loool

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O52YsKAaXzQ&feature=related

http://69.94.50.63/photos/ROPEBanquet2004/images/xLorrie%20Morgan.jpg

lol boots

way to go fred

lecherousoldgoat.jpeg

Yeah what'd Huckabee ever pull?

that's a rhetorical question, rite?

replace the jeans with a skirt and she's like an old cosplay ho

You like her hair.

yes i do

I don't

http://69.13.97.211/t-shirt-designs/prodimages/smiley%20face.jpg

wheres the eyebags

(cnn reporting he's dropped out)

RIP

heaven needed someone less popular than tom tancredo

up there taking a nap in heaven

up there fighting for tamper proof id cards

http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20080118/capt.8b5057e100ef4b6aa7b48b1c8d5801ea.thompson_2008_scpc104.jpg

did the pickup truck even make an appearance this time around?

RIP ol' baby

Transmission was on the fritz, Fred didn't have time to take it in to the shop.

i just realized i would've donated to fred thompson if he called his truck "ol' babby" instead

Is that press conference at a Wendy's?

Courtney Love to appear and offer Fred a boob

he'll be back as a VP nom

can the "heaven needed someone" line eat shit and die yet?

r.i.p.

heaven needed an unfunny meme that annoyed tombot

pour one out

I work in the Fred Thompson homeland, the right-wing suburbs in the counties south of Nashville, represented in Congress by the execrable Marsha Blackburn, and I saw a dude pulling a "Fred '08" sticker off his back windshield at lunch. Happy day.

Was he at a Wendy's?

xpost

he'll be back as a VP nom

Let's hope!

hey he's on SVU right now, sans red pick-up truck

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1420/762135560_80605eec8f_o.jpg

lol still classic (even if the "we're nightmares. pipe dreams are under the bed" punchline is recycled.)

http://www.fredstates.com/images/Bumpers/fdt_18.jpg

^^^ saw this on an Expedition last night, shedded tear.

Well that explains why his face looks so melty: he took a dunk in a Fry Daddy.