Thursday’s political round-up

September 6, 2007

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

* As expected, actor/lobbyist/senator Fred Thompson launched his presidential campaign last night on The Tonight Show. When Jay Leno asked about the delay, Thompson said, “I don’t think people are going to say, ‘That guy would make a very good president, but he just didn’t get in soon enough.’ ”

* Speaking of Thompson, did you know that his given first name isn’t Fred? It’s “Freddie.” Seriously. Official marriage, birth and divorce records in Alabama and Tennessee show that the newest Republican presidential contender was born Freddie Dalton Thompson.

* Barack Obama had a different take on the experience question during an event in Iowa yesterday. Responding to a question from a voter, Obama said, “I find it amusing, the whole experience argument, because I’ve been in public service for over two decades now. I’ve been in elective office longer than John Edwards or Hillary Clinton. I’ve passed more bills, I’m sure, than either of them…. What people seem to mean when they say that I don’t have enough experience is I haven’t been in Washington as long as they have. Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a criteria for gauging experience.” It seems to me Obama should have been saying this months ago.

* Bill Richardson is still struggling to deal with his recent argument that “the Lord” and the Constitution want Iowa to be the first caucus state. Responding to the fact that the comments drew considerable online criticism, Richardson told CNN yesterday, “Bloggers can say whatever they want, but I care about the voters… I didn’t put my foot in my mouth. I stand by what I said. I make no apologies about it.” If you think message discipline is important, I don’t think Richardson is your guy.

* Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) held a campaign event in New Hampshire on Tuesday night. Based on this amusing picture, it looks as if six people showed up. That has got to hurt.

* And in Washington’s 8th congressional district, Rodney Thom and Darcy Burner were poised to have a tough primary for the right to take on Rep. Dave Reichert (R) next year. Thanks in large part to Burner’s support from the netroots, Thom dropped out yesterday and endorsed Burner.

Freddie Got Fingered.

  • Richardson needs to do more to explain what he said, because it was ambiguous and some people are taking it the wrong way. I care about it because he’s a Democrat and he’s going to make liberals look bad if he’s going to be quoted as saying something ambiguous and let a lot of bad misinterpretation get out there without countering it. “I stand by what I said” isn’t good enough, in this situation.

    See my several comments starting with 10 here.

  • ““I stand by what I said” isn’t good enough, in this situation”

    That might be what’s reported in this particular article, but that’s not all Richardeson said. A Richardson spokesman said soon afterwards the initial reports that Richardson was joking (and it should have been clear that it was a joke from the start). Richardson also said it was a joke later in the day.

    When he was saying “I stand by what I said” in this article he was referring to his serious comments about the Iowa caucus, not about his joke.

    This is largely a matter of poor reporting. It is quite difficult to determine to what degree Richardson’s campaign is also responsible without witnessing what was actually said to each reporter. As we’ve seen with all the stories about Gore “inventling” the internet and Kerry’s joke about Bush getting us stuck in Iraq being called an attack on the troops, the media has a tendency to continue reporting their nonsense stories regardless of how much they are contradicted with the facts.

  • His folks could have named him Freddie Ray. Or Freddie Bob. He’d sound like a rube, and the real rubes would love to elect one of their own: A guy with two first names. And a red pickup truck with a gun rack. If he’d blacken a few front teeth and don a pair of weathered overalls, he’d win the rural vote of the entire country. Julie-Annie and Brigham Romney wouldn’t stand a chance.

  • Ron Chusid,

    If that is the case, I wish Democrats would stop trying to make jokes. It just seems to me that Richardson spends a lot of his campaign time explaining gaffes and inconsistencies.

  • Steve –

    His earlier answer was good also. Look at Cheney and Rumsfeld they had a world of Washington experience.

    BTW, he has used versions of this answer for months.

  • doubtful –

    but that is who Richardson is. he has a sense of humor. he uses that to differentiate himself from his opponents. he has a hilarious set of very non-traditional TV ads in Iowa that are based entirely in his self-deprecating humor.

    i find it somewhat sad that the process is such that a sense of humor is now seen as a huge liability. the times and the job are serious, but that doesn’t mean the candidate should always take him or herself so seriously. a little humanity might be nice.

  • For any and all of you who might make fun of Fred Thompson’s legal first name being “Freddie,” remember that John Edwards’ legal first name is “Johnny.”

    Apparently, it’s a common practice in the south, or at least it was a generation ago. I have a friend whose father, Tom, is from Texas . . . and Tom’s full first name is “Tommy.”

    As someone whose own first name has been made a laughingstock by popular culture (and, no, I’m not gonna tell you what my name is,) I know all too well what it’s like to be ridiculed on the basis of a name. No one among us gets to choose his or her own name, and to use someone’s given name as the basis for taunting is childish. So, as much as I dislike Fred Thompson and will work hard to make sure he never becomes president, I have to say, we shouldn’t make fun of his name.

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  • In regards to Obama’s experience. On the John Stewart “Daily Show” Barack Obama had another pretty good response to that ‘experience’ dilemma.

    He said that Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld have probably one of the longest records of working in Washington; and that hasn’t shown to work out all that well. — This is not an exact quote, but something along those lines. He certainly does have a point. Taking that standard of Dick Cheney and Rumsfeld in account less is definately more…

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