DId Pajamas Media do it? Of course not. But the rise of Fred Thompson to number one on the latest Rasmussen Poll before he has even announced is quite amazing. I submit it is the harbinger of a new kind of politics.
Without reference to McCain-Feingold or any other form of campaign finance regulation, Thompson, by going around the traditional political methods, is in the process of demolishing, or at least significantly weakening, the importance of money in politics.
No matter how you slice it, this is a good thing.
Thompson, via Internet blogs and videos, has gone directly to the people. Of course, he began with considerable fame from his acting career, but that is and was not enough.
Thompson has been paying attention to new media in a manner heretofore not used. Howard Dean (via his then campaign manager Joe Trippi) exploited the Internet from the outside. Thompson is doing it from the inside. He is indeed running for First Blogger. This is unprecedented and, so far, a brilliant strategy.
No doubt he will have difficulty keeping this up as times goes on. But if he maintains at least the spirit of this – with direct links to the American people – he will have changed our political landscape forever. We have all spent our lives bemoaning the role of Big Money in politics, but wrestling to find some way to restrain it without restricting free speech. Thompson may have found that.
Blog on, Fred!
Maybe. But most of the success of Thompson’s end run around the traditional political methods has to do with the lack of a good fit between Giuliani or McCain and the (dreaded) Republican base.
Well it truly is a surprise the Thompson moved up as quickly as he did, however it’s long been said that the conservative base had no candidate that they liked. Giuliani is too liberal for them, and McCain was not partisan enough in the past (despite his very conservative voting record). At last the conservatives have a candidate they actually like.
Whoo Hoo, when I began focusing my skills and work on the Internet, this was exactly the sort of thing I dreamed of.
I hope that all of our ‘representatives’ eventually make use of the Internet as a way of actually representing the views of their constituents.
Thompson’s rise has been amazing, and, while I’m a Giuliani supporter, he is saying a lot of the right things to attract me as a voter. It’s way too early to tell whether he’s a solid candidate or the Republican Howard Dean (I suspect the former), but he’s already made the race a lot more interesting.
Can’t help but wonder about the ramifications of this new style of campaigning–the standard campaign being the pouring of huge fortunes into TV mostly in order to cancel out the huge fortunes that your opponent is likewise pouring into TV, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Fred Thompson making few friends in the TV biz.
At first I liked Thompson a lot, but I have kind of began to think he is a little too slick.
There he is with his cigar sucking up to the hardliners and acting like God’s gift to the conservative movement. He is doing this in a very insular world where what he says is so much more important than what he is. In other words, blogging is not doing.
Thompson’s background is not that conservative and he was a supporter of McCain Feingold and was known to work with liberals like Diane Feinstein on that bill and others. His record on immigration was a lot more like McCain’s than Tancredo’s.
There is nothing wrong with that, but I get the feeling that we might be seeing a Republican Bill Clinton here.
I have not really gotten any idea on what he would do about anything, not really. I know he says and blogs the right things to keep the more vicious of partisans off his back, but I am just not buying it. Not yet. And right now I am more than a little disenchanted with the blogosphere in general.
Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.
Terrye,
Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.
That’s one reason I’m interested in Unity 08… I figure if you and I can occasionally agree, maybe a split administration could too
dclydew:
Unity 08? Is that some third party or something? Might as well vote for Hillary and get it over with if you are going to vote for a third party. Just what this country needs, another Clinton. Bill will be the elephant in the room. I hear he has made millions giving speeches. Think what that will do for his rate.
I have nothing against Fred Thompson, really, but I think it is a little early to be picking nominees, I do not trust polls this far out.
I do agree with a lot of what he says, but I also think that he is busy pandering to the base in the hopes that they will not turn on him.
This is not a criticism of Thompson so much as it the base. They turn on everyone sooner or later it seems. People have forgotten, but the right got really upset with Reagan when he actually talked to the Soviets. Called him senile and everything else. Now of course he is a saint.
I think the partisans are making it very difficult for candidates to be honest about the problems we face and what to do about those problems…. and then of course the same partisans scream they have been lied to or abused or whatever.
And I have to say that I have seen some things on the blogs in regards to issues like immigration that make me wonder if the internet is helping or hurting. Perhaps it is the echo chamber effect or the anonymity, but there are some very unpleasant people out there. {present company excluded of course}
For instance, why is it not possible to talk about real solutions to real problems without calling people traitors and idiotic stuff like that? Anyone who did not know years ago how Bush and McCain felt about immigration just was not paying attention. At least they have tried to deal with the situation, they have not just gone around yakking about “shamnesty” and spouting other meaningless slogans and one liners which are not solutions to anything.
And then of course there is the fact that most Americans are just not interested in another war with Iran or anyone else right now. That does not make them cowards or dhimmis either. People just get weary.
I also think that the blogs and pundits sometimes throw gas on a fire if you know what I mean. They love to provoke, it is good for traffic.
I don’t even go to most of my old haunts on line anymore. Lucky for Roger I still show up here from time to time and bother him.
So maybe the Rasmussen poll is right or maybe this is a passing fancy, who knows. But whatever it is I have the feeling, I am being managed. And I do not much like that.
You don’t bother me at all, Terrye. I find you interesting.
As to the endless campaign, yes, it can be wearying. But I have an intuition, unfortunately, that what lies ahead is grim. I’m glad in the end that Fred T. and all the others will be in front of us for a long time before we make our final decisions.
Roger:
Yes, I think there are some scary things ahead as well. But I also think that most of the American people have had enough, right now. And that will remain the case for some time. The United States was in conflict with the Soviets for years, but we were not always fighting a Korean or Viet Nam war either.
I think people are tired of turning on the TV and seeing some crazy people in the Middle East somewhere blowing something up, shooting people, throwing people off buildings and in general acting belligerent, hostile and daft.
They want a little peace and quiet. That might not be possible, but it is what they want anyway.
And I think Fred Thompson would probably not roll over the crazy people. But neither did Bush for all the good it did him.
My point is that I don’t really considering blogging to be reaching out to the people. I think it is a strategy designed to get a message out and garner support. And a candidate can do and say all sorts of things a real president can not. Especially when the real president has a Democrat controlled Congress to contend with.
I think that Thompson’s willingness to do an about face on issues like immigration shows us that he can abandon one principle for another if it suits him. He is a politician. Like I said, that is not a bad thing, but it is a little reminescent of slick Willie, a man who knew how to govern by the polls. He might not have accomplished a hell of a lot, but people liked him.
I have a feeling people want some more of that. So out come the cigars and the one liners.
Well, wadayaknow?
The mayor (Bloomberg) might as well been reading this blog.
He understands the dollar, but what else?
I suspect Bloomberg is also Like Fred T. trying to go around the beaten path.
Terrye,
Unity 08? Is that some third party or something?
Nope, its a shared ticket (One Dem, One Republican) in either order for P/VP. The idea is that a Internet based convention will be held, where all American citizens can vote on the candidates, the winning candidates will form a unity ticket and hopefully be a third option without being a third party.
I am doubtful that it will work, but its something I’ll be keeping an eye on. I think it might depend on who gets the other tickets… After all, If Hillary wins the Dem and Fred wins the Repub… we could end up with a Rudi/Obama ticket, or a Richardson/McCain ticket.
I personally think that sharing power at the executive branch might calm the waters a bit. I doubt it would stop partisan BS, but it might stem the recurring push for impeachment from whichever side isn’t in the WH and the bullheaded naysaying from whichever party isn’t in control.
I don’t know that I’ll vote for them, but I’m interested enough to keep an eye on it (and I can dream, can’t I?
)
“I personally think that sharing power at the executive branch might calm the waters a bit.”
This episode of Frontline last night showed the difficulties of having to pick a strategy to fit circumstances in Iraq without the benefit of a post 9/11 foreign policy on witch BOTH parties are on board.
Now imagine having the added burden of doubt as to the loyalties of those advising the president.
Sorry but I rather keep it the way it is.
Al Gore, John Kerry, or even Jimmy Carter back in the whitehouse, solo, would be superior to any kind of dual mumbo-jumbo. I say that fully aware of how awful that would be.
The founding fathers tried that with letting the vice president be the runner up. You see how well that worked out with giants like Washington, Adams, and Jefferson in the same cabinet. Though reconciled long afterwards, Adams and Jefferson stopped speaking to each other for years, and you might recall a famous duel that put Alexander Hamilton six foot under and ended Burr’s pursuit of an imperial presidency. Not surprising that electral college got changed to a Pres/Veep ticket shortly thereafter.
Term limits on congress would help more than anything, since the problem is there more than the whitehouse (of either administration). With a term-limited Congress, *all* the presidents since Carter would have accomplished more worth accomplishing, and even Carter wouldn’t have been any worse.
Fred in the lead, McCain dragging up the rear. Is there a message in there? Rudy has always been a mixed bag, bob and weave and try and sell himself as a terror fighter. But what is he actually selling? There is no there there with Rudy. Mitt is the former governor of the most liberal state in the union — what does that say about him, might as well vote for Hillary and get the real deal.
Fred is moving up fast because he has the vision for America which is sorely lacking with this President and the Democrat Congress. FRed is a true federalist, not a nanny state clone. People took a chance on the Democrats in 2006, couldn’t get worse. Well, yes it could and did. What a dismal failure that has turned into. The people won’t do that again.
Thompson/Steele, what a winning pair that would be.