Byron York interviews Fred Thompson for a piece in National Review. Apparently, the former senator has about had it with the media attention on his wife.
And if they are going to talk about her, the least they could do is get the facts straight:"She has taken a lot of comments that should have been directed toward me," Thompson told me. When he started looking into running for president, Thompson said, there was a lot to be done and very little time to do it, and his wife played a key role in getting things going. "We started literally from the kitchen table a few months ago," he said. "While I did the things that I felt like I needed to do - I had a contract with NBC television, I had a contract with ABC radio, I was chairman of the advisory board on international security for the State Department, and a lot of other things - while I was disengaging from that and getting my thoughts together on issues and things of that nature, public comments I knew I would be called on to make, I asked her to do certain things for me. She did what I asked her to do."
Some of the reports, Thompson said, have contained substantial factual errors. "Things that you would think could have been checked fairly readily," he told me, "but things that are clearly erroneous - like she's not a lawyer and she's never been married before. I listened to a news show with an expert commentator about a week ago talking about Jeri, and in a short segment he had four totally erroneous factual errors about her."Fred should take comfort that the opposition (be it Republican or Democrat) is focusing on his wife. That's a sign of weakness. If the best they can do against Fred is to raise questions about his current wife, Fred is a very strong candidate indeed.
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 2)
1. Fred simply is still in the woods waitng to come out in the sunshine. Therefore there is little to offer the media otherwise he may be looked at as a live candidate and he cannot do that by the rules.
The aggressive reporters then assume, a few dig a little and the results are a composite of a little here and a little there. It is a poor composit indeed and the First Lady to be should feel treated poorly. Fred to his credit got tired of this and make a statement. Now he is being pounded on for not coming out sooner , bla bla bla
Don Jones
MyManFred.com
Don Jones at 3:40AM on Aug 7th 2007
2. Oh, now it is completely clear.
He is the washed up, overexposed boob from Shady Hollar, not her.
What is the critically important task he asked her to comlete so expeditiously, wax her legs?? or his bald head...
Please don't tell me she consults a Hollywood Astrologer!!!
MyFabulouslyIntersetingManFred.com (gay lifestyle domain name)
Manfred at 4:50AM on Aug 7th 2007
3. I agree that it is a sign of weakness for Fred Thompson's critics to be focusing upon his wife.
Who cares what her education or occupation is/was unless you want a Hilliary first lady who wants to conduct a 'healthgate' fiasco. I am more concerned about the candidates, not their spouses. I take that back...Although I am a registered democrat and unfortunately voted for Bill Clinton twice, the LAST thing we need is a Hilliary-Bill team in the White House. They both have disgraced the party and this great nation on multiple fronts too many times. If Al-Quaida thinks we have no morals, must be destroyed, etc., what will they think if the Clintons return to the White House?
...by their fruits ye shall know them...
Debi at 5:24AM on Aug 7th 2007
4. Give the guy a break ...let's hear what he has to say about the important issues...Democrats and Liberals getting nervous already?
Mario Scolaro at 12:10PM on Aug 7th 2007
5. I am a Tennesseean but it is unlikely that I will vote for Fred Thompson; however, I must agree that
focusing on his wife is silly and irrelevant.
Will at 1:41PM on Aug 7th 2007
6. She's not an attorney?
What a relief!
Mike at 11:26AM on Sep 28th 2007
7. I respect Fred for getting his house in order before he makes a decision as important as running for President of the United States. We need someone in office with some sense. I also cannot begin to comprehend the American citizen who can justify putting another Clinton anywhere near the White House after Bill's "Legacy". I mean, I think these liberals were a hitting the same "didn't inhale" peace pipe and fried something.
NC Boy at 3:38PM on Aug 7th 2007
8. I don't care what Jeri Thompson did, or does. Is she running for anything?
DeWitt Harden at 2:32PM on Aug 7th 2007
9. Is Jeri Thompson running for office?
DeWitt Harden at 2:31PM on Aug 7th 2007
10. PLEASE SENATOR THOMPSON ANNOUNCE YOUR CANDIDACY FOR PRESIDENT of these United States of America. You can best hillary, in fact, you are the only one that can and then do a darn good lob as the PRESIDENT. Do you realize just what she will do to the United States Of America? We will be the laughing stock of the world if SHE gets elected. No one else would be a decent person in the white house, can you imagine the Clinton's on there again? OMG would that be a mess. I can barely stand to think about it. In fact, I need a blood pressure pill and a sedative RIGHT NOW! This is getting serious, really serious. Senator, please do not do this to me and the rest of the country PLEASE!
BOB WAYMAN
MOLON LABE
GOD, PLEASE HELP US!!
Bob Wayman at 2:46PM on Aug 7th 2007
11. We generally don't eyeball a candidates wife unless she is a total sleeze, and then it's the canditates judgement which is questioned. It's hard to determine the quality of a canditates wife; For example, Nancy Reagan was questioned for possibly
causing Reagan's divorce but turned out to be a great First Lady, while Rosalind Carter (Christion Conservative)turned to be (or was already) a complete dullard. I'll surely go with Fred.
Claude Gray at 3:20PM on Aug 7th 2007
12. I think we need to know more about Fred other than his wife and his acting credentials. Agreed that he is most likely the only Republican who could beat Hilary BUT I have strong faith in the Bill/Hillary team. He may have lied about sex but it didnt kill anyone like our current administrations lies did and continues to do until some one with guts stops it
Linda Hogan at 3:42PM on Aug 7th 2007
13. Regardless of what Jeri does or did or did not do for a living, she isn't running for Office.
I just wish Fred would officially announce his run for President. I would get out in full force to support him. He was good as a Senator and would be GREAT as our President.
Monte at 5:20PM on Aug 7th 2007
14. Jeri Thompson is a beautiful woman who is
married to wonderful man; so what if she is
twenty plus years younger than he. They have
two little ones; so what if he is old enough
to be their grandfather. He is apparently a viral
man as well as a man of moral substance and political prowess. In my eyes, the very fact
that Fred chose Jeri to wed, says one thing:
she herself must have lots of personal
charisma and political savvy. Also, the more
FDT's opponents attack Jeri and the more often
he stands up to defend her, the more sympathy
votes she will garner for her husband and the
more votes he will gain when married men begin
to identify with him and seek to emulate his
chivalrous and protective attitude toward women.
We women yearn for the restoration of lost chivalry
among men. We have been liberated to the extent that being "feminine"--especially one blessed with pulchritude--is suspect. Thus, I say, thank God
for Fred Dalton Thompson and for his wife Jeri.
She will make a most lovely and charming First Lady.
And I would surmise that she will never attempt
to act, as HRC in her husband's terms in office, as if she is the one that voters of this country
elected. I will state again, as I always do,
Fred Dalton Thompson will be the 44th President
of the USA. Our destiny demands it. And Mrs. Fred Dalton Thompson--will make a superb First Lady.
She must be very special if a man with the stature
of FDT chose her to be his wife. I would like
for him to know this: the more often that he is attacked through the cowardly criticism and defamation of his wife, the more often the attackers will feel the sting of public rebuke--where it hurts most--in the polls and in the voting booths.
sarah sawyer at 11:09PM on Aug 7th 2007
15. Linda Hogan: Bill Clinton probably did more to cause 9/11 than Bush. Had he shown even a little backbone to al queda they might have not been able to do what they did. Had he not been so politically correct they would not have had the opportunities that they had. Had he gone after them for real instead of in court following the first attack they might have been unable to make the second one.
Bob Anderson at 4:49AM on Aug 10th 2007