Michael Moore, maker of more fantasy films than Peter Jackson, decided today to challenge Fred Thompson to a debate prompted by, of all things, cigars.
Thompson, in less time than it takes for Moore to eat breakfast, dashed off a video response that took down Moore’s pseudo-intellectual bloviation faster than Mike Tyson demolished Michael Spinks.
I have two comments. First, Michael Moore is a fourth-rate intellect punching way out of his brainpower weight class. Thompson gave him exactly as much time as he and his “argument” deserved.
Second, I’m dying to see Fred Thompson in a real political debate. He has an excellent command of more issues than most of the folks in the race now, on either side. He has a sense of the dramatic we haven’t seen since Reagan. He knows who to take seriously and who to blow off. Even if he didn’t win the Republican nomination, his presence at the debates would immediately elevate them to the plane where they belong.
Fred Thompson spent most of his working career as a Washington lobbyist so he ought to be good in a modern media debate where substance doesn’t matter at all. His acting experience wouldn’t hurt either since for Republicans (and many Democrats, for that matter), “authenticity” has nothing to do with reality and everything to do with appearance, as in the case of McCain who mysteriously retains his reputation as a straight shooter even though he is only intermittantly consistent. Thompson is phony as a three-dollar bill.
Irrelevant non-responses are indicative of an “an excellent command of more issues than most of the folks in the race now”?
I can see why you have no other comments here.
My, my.
A bit touchy are we?
As for Thompsons lack of authenticity, I’d say he was at least as authentic as any of the other candidates. Put him next to an empty suit like Edwards or Obama and he’s look like the Rock of Gibraltar. Next to Clinton or McCain he looks much less dissembling.
I’m not sure what national politician who’s been around for a decade or so who hadn’t been shoulder-deep in the behind the scenes machinations of politics. Thompson is no different. He’s far from perfect. But he seems to be better-informed than any candidate I’ve heard thus far. Heck, I bet neither of you had heard of that imprisoned and tortured filmmaker before you saw that clip. Even assuming Thompson just found out about him yesterday, you can’t help but be impressed that he pulled the information and used it devastatingly on about two hours’ notice.
Hahahah,
Puh-leeeezz. Jimmie sez: “Heck, I bet neither of you had heard of that imprisoned and tortured filmmaker before you saw that clip.”
You’re right! But who’s smokin’ Cuban cigars in the clip? What are you smoking?
“Even assuming Thompson just found out about him yesterday, you can’t help but be impressed that he pulled the information and used it devastatingly on about two hours’ notice.”
Devastatingly?!? Geez dude, it’s obvious you worship the ground Thompson walks on, and you are probably right on about how recently he had learned of this guy, but does it address the issue at all? No. It’s just another hollow “comeback” typical of the right these days.
And you know that’s a Cuban cigar how, exactly?
Could it be that it’s a Dominican cigar (several brands made, incidentally, by people who fled Castro’s thugs)? Could it be that it’s a cigar made in south Florida by one of those exiled cigar-makers?
We only have Moore’s words on it and, as we’ve seen documented to a fare-thee-well, Moore’s not exactly a truth-teller.
Actually, it addresses the issue exactly. Moore wants to talk about the Cuban health care system in such glowing terms without mentioning the very salient fact that the last Cuban documentarian who tried to make an honest documentary about Cuba ended up imprisoned and tortured. Makes you wonder just how honest Moore’s film is.
Well, not you. I’m sure you don’t wonder. But the rest of us.
And that paragraph I just typed? Thompson said that, plus a couple more things, in under 40 seconds. Hollow? I’d say he packed his message about as full as it was going to get.
What a pussy response to any issue. Bolster your own fear of someone with false bravado. So Moore is fourth rate. He is an intelectual lightweight. He is also one of the most famous voices of the left and someone the right goes crazy about and can’t stop talking about so your and Thompson’s attempt to marginalize Moore is very transparent as what it realy is, fear he would kick Thompsons but in a debate. Let the Debate begin!
Jimmie said:
“Could it be that it’s a Dominican cigar (several brands made, incidentally, by people who fled Castro’s thugs)? Could it be that it’s a cigar made in south Florida by one of those exiled cigar-makers?
We only have Moore’s words on it and, as we’ve seen documented to a fare-thee-well, Moore’s not exactly a truth-teller.”
The Weekly Standard article to which Moore refers:
http://weeklystandard.com/Util.....1136E33842
“I was 30 minutes late. Thompson, who was on the phone with Howard Baker, his political mentor, didn’t seem to care. He hung up, extended his large hand, offered a friendly greeting, and led me to his office. We were alone. Thompson’s work space looks just like what the home office of a successful politician or CEO should look like–though a little messier: a large desk, dark wood, leather furniture, lots of books and magazines and newspapers, a flat-screen TV, and box upon box of cigars–Montecristos from Havana.”
So no, its niot Moore making anything up. Its Thompson being a major hypocrite.
Okay. Let’s assume I accept that his cigars are from Cuba. So what?
Does having a box of cigars from Cuba equate to toadying up to one of the most repressive dictators in the Western Hemisphere, completely ingoing his decades of torture and murder? Does one box of cigars hold the same moral weight as walking amongst people living in shacks within sight of the fine hotel I’m sure Moore stayed in because they’re not allowed anything more?
I’m afraid you’re going to tell me the answer is “yes”.
The issue is not hypocrisy. That’s just a boogeyman you guys on the left like to fling around because you have nothign else.
Tell you what. When Moore goes to Cuba and makes the documentary Castro doesn’t want him to make, come back and tell me about Fred Thompson’s hypocrisy.
Paul – You summed things up perfectly. Moore is a fourth-rate intellectual lightweight and one of the leading voices on the left. Thanks for saying that so bluntly.
As much as the “right” would like it to be so, repeating a meme over and over does not make it true. There is no debating the likes of Thompson or any of the prototypical wingers who comment here.
The imprisonment and torture of those who disagree with Castro is not a “meme”. It is fact. I’m sorry you think it otherwise. Perhaps reading about the man Thompson mentioned might help sort things out for you.
Okay. Let’s assume I accept that his cigars are from Cuba. So what?
Possession of Cuban cigars by American citizens is illegal and punishable by fine or imprisonment. Now I think it’s a silly law. However, a conservative “law and order” Republican should respect it. Somehow, I doubt that the Department of Justice will do anything about it.