Fred Thompson is blogging, too. Say what you will, but he clearly gets the new media.
Instapundit breathlessly swoons over the fact that Fred Thompson is using online video and blogging, intoning solemnly that “he clearly gets the new media”. Yes, Fred Thompson is using the web… just like every other of the 17 or so people who are running for president right now.Where would we be without our conservative pundit class?
A lot smarter.
Actually, Fred Thompson, Dennis Kucinich, and Jim Gilmore are the only three 2008 presidential candidates (as listed on WashingtonPost.com) that blog. That’s out of a field of 18. That makes 17% of candidates blogging. So, no, Fred Thompson isn’t blogging “just like every other” candidate. He is one of three of eighteen.
Fred Thompson – Yes
Tommy Thompson – No
Tom Tancredo – No*
Mitt Romney – No
John McCain – No
Ron Paul – No*
Duncan Hunter – No
Mike Huckabee – No*
Sam Brownback – No*
Jim Gilmore – Yes***
Dennis Kucinich – Yes**
Barack Obama – No*
Bill Richardson – No*
Mike Gravel – No*
John Edwards – No*
Chris Dodd – No*
Hillary Clinton – No*
Joe Biden – No*
And yes, I caught the blatant strawman argument in which Willis engaged. Glenn said, “Thompson is blogging” and Willis changed it to “Thompson is using the web.”
More Willis baloney below the fold.
* Has campaign blog, but candidate doesn’t blog
** Blogs on blog.thehill.com, but doesn’t seem to have his own blog
*** Yes, but infrequently enough that he didn’t have any posts on the front page
My methodology in composing the above list was to go to each candidate’s website and search for any link to a blog. If there wasn’t one there, I concluded they didn’t have one. I scanned the first page of the campaign blog to see if the candidate had posted. If they hadn’t, I concluded they didn’t blog.
Glenn Reynolds:
Somehow, this post manages to be both “breathless” and “solemn” at the same time! How do I do it? Ah, that’s the secret that eludes the lesser lights, isn’t it?
Oliver Willis:
Reynolds responds by saying one can’t be breathless one moment then solemn the next. Really? Really? A law professor and that’s the best non-response (note that like cons always do he never challenges the central premise of what I wrote, that Thompson is doing nothing new here except get Glenn Reynolds all hot and bothered) he could come up with? Sheesh.
No, Oliver, you need to work on reading comprehension. Glenn Reynolds made a wry comment about you calling his post both breathless and solemn–with the insinuation that those are emotions that do not usually occur in close proximity. He did not say that “one can’t be breathless one moment then solemn the next.”
Updated: To correct Jim Gilmore as blogging occasionally.
3 Responses
June 14th, 2007 at 9:18 am
Jim Gilmore does blog. He doesn’t post every day, but he does write his own entries on the campaign blog under “Notes from the Road.” He also holds live chat sessions regularly on his official site.
June 14th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
Fred Thompson is a neocon globalist not unlike McCain.
Although Fred Thompson is tougher than McCain and Giuliani on border enforcement, which isn’t saying much seeing how they line up with Barack Obama, he had a rather lackluster record on immigration while in the Senate. As one commentator notes: “Overall, Americans for Better Immigration gives [Thompson] a career grade of C; on chain migration, C; visa lottery, C-; reducing unnecessary visas, F; on reducing asylum fraud, C-; on reducing amnesties, D; and on interior enforcement, C+. Although he was tough on border control, he was lacking in almost every other area.”
Fred Thompson also supports affirmative action, and ideologically worships free trade, regardless how much it harms America. Historically, conservatives have opposed free trade, but Thompson, like others, has been “neoconned” into backing it.
He furthermore is a “fellow” at the American Enterprise Institute, one of the largest (and most sinister) neocon think-tanks, which demonstrates where his true loyalty lies. If you did not receive the Burkean memo, the transformation of the Middle East to liberal democracy is Jacobin, not conservative. There is not a single thing conservative about the membership of AEI. They are neocon / neoliberal globalists.
Why are neoncons backing Thompson? Ideally, being ex-Trotskyites themselves, neocons would prefer a liberal candidate, like McCain, Giuliani or Romney. But they see that conservatives deplore these candidates, and now are going to try to peddle Fred Thompson, who is just socially conservative enough and just tough enough on the borders, even if it is feigned, to woo naive GOP voters. But let’s hope this nefarious neocon plot fails.
Let’s pray that the more real conservatives learn about Fred Thompson, the more unacceptable he will appear. Use your BRAIN America, and not fall for sharply dressed, full set of ’sexy’ hair (Romney/Edwards), nor for someone who ‘Acts’ on TV.
A Dean of a College I know was touting a large RUDY sign. I asked him why Rudy, and he said, “Because he’s from MY state…I gotta support the home team!”. This guy has a MASTERS DEGREE and TEACHES! He has no friggin clue. I encourage all of you to not vote on ‘popularity’ but rather on who is the best candidate for the job. Fred Thompson will KEEP US IN IRAQ FOR A LONG LONG TIME according to his Fox News interview. Please research for yourselves America. It should make you puke if you truely knew who some of these people are.
Only Dr Ron Paul can lead us BACK to the Constitution in ‘08.
June 16th, 2007 at 7:12 pm
I fail to see the point of this post?
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