(2008-01-14) — Republican Fred Thompson announced today he has pulled out of the race to set pre-primary expectations through media-driven political polling.
Former Sen. Thompson said he’s committed to winning the Republican nomination for president, and then the White House, but would no longer allow his name to stand in public opinion polls funded by newspapers and cable news outlets.
“The mainstream media shape public opinion about the candidates through their decidedly-liberal news coverage,” said Mr. Thompson, “and then they turn around and ask people what they think of those candidates. Well, if you feed slop to a pig, what do you think you’re going to shovel up later?”
The attorney who has also starred in movies and TV’s “Law & Order”, asked, “Do we really want The New York Times and the Washington Post to tell the Republican party whom we ought to pick to run against Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama?”
Mr. Thompson added, “If you polled the San Diego Chargers, before the AFC title game, do you think they’d choose Tom Brady to quarterback the Patriots?”
24 responses so far ↓
1 camojack // Jan 14, 2008 at 7:02 am
Polling? You scared me there for a moment…
2 JamesonLewis3rd // Jan 14, 2008 at 7:05 am
God Bless America
3 gafisher // Jan 14, 2008 at 7:30 am
“Well, if you feed slop to a pig, what do you think you’re going to shovel up later?â€
I’d hate to break it to him, but it’s not much different than what you’d be shovelin’ if you fed that pig filet mignon: “All The News That’s Fit To Print.”
4 boberinyetagain // Jan 14, 2008 at 8:00 am
Fair enough, good one Scott!
5 gafisher // Jan 14, 2008 at 8:27 am
One theory about the disconnect between the polls and the votes in New Hampshire is that people who wouldn’t vote for Obama were too politically correct to admit it. Perhaps Fred Thompson’s polling numbers reflect the reverse: people who support him but don’t say so.
In any case, I hope Fred and his supporters hang in there no matter how the next few weeks play out.
6 Libby Gone // Jan 14, 2008 at 8:47 am
I wonder what would happen if a former actor became President??????
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/rr40.html
7 Swerdloff » Blog Archive » Fred Thompson Pulls Out of Presidential Polling // Jan 14, 2008 at 9:07 am
[...] Fred Thompson Pulls Out of Presidential Polling: The attorney who has also starred in movies and TV’s “Law & Orderâ€, asked, “Do we really want The New York Times and the Washington Post to tell the Republican party whom we ought to pick to run against Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama?†Mr. Thompson added, “If you polled the San Diego Chargers, before the AFC title game, do you think they’d choose Tom Brady to quarterback the Patriots?†[...]
8 gafisher // Jan 14, 2008 at 9:15 am
Libby Gone Re#6: “I wonder …”
Maybe this? (-:
9 Hawkeye // Jan 14, 2008 at 9:19 am
Well said, Sir Scott!
10 Fred Sinclair // Jan 14, 2008 at 9:59 am
Quarterback for the San Diego Chargers - “We have reached a consensus, our poll indicates that Joe Lunchbucket, currently the night watchman at the Bedrock Gravel Company, at 72 years of age and 366 lbs; Joe is the #1 choice for the Patriots.”
Rah! Rah! Rah! Go Joe go!!!!!
Heirborn Ranger
11 Maggie // Jan 14, 2008 at 10:41 am
You might say Fred has surged in the polls.
12 Maggie // Jan 14, 2008 at 10:45 am
Libby Gone re#6,
You are always a step ahead.
(good morning)
13 PoliGazette » Fred Thompson Drops Out // Jan 14, 2008 at 11:02 am
[...] Via A Newt One: Senator Fred Thompson has pulled out of presidential polling. [...]
14 gafisher // Jan 14, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Libby Gone Re#6: Interestingly, it appears that Ronaldus Magnus is unique in having moved from the Silver Screen to the Oval Office. President Reagan was, of course, unique in many other ways as well, and undoubtedly one of our greatest Presidents. I don’t think we can honestly expect it to happen twice in our lifetimes.
15 woodnwheel // Jan 14, 2008 at 3:11 pm
“If you polled the San Diego Chargers, before the AFC title game, do you think they’d choose Tom Brady to quarterback the Patriots?â€
I’m no fan of the Patriots, but as someone who was pulling for Tony Dungy’s team to win, I take exception to you throwing salt in my wound
(Although I hear that San Diego’s back-up QB, Billy Volek, is a Christian, so I can’t complain too much.)
16 boberinyetagain // Jan 14, 2008 at 4:07 pm
wv = exhausted Troy
That sums up last night’s game pretty well…
17 onlineanalyst // Jan 14, 2008 at 6:16 pm
‘Tis a pity that even Pete DuPont in his WSJ column summarizing the positions of the presidential contenders on major national issues does not include Fred Thompson. DuPont missed the most articulate and well-thought out policy positions and its spokesman.
WV-= “willing” “aches” What I will not put up with if either McCain or Huckabee is the Republican presidential nominee.
Fred!-Mitt ‘08!!!!
18 prettyold // Jan 14, 2008 at 8:23 pm
re:14 ,gafisher, just because Ronald Reagon was the only President whe was paid for his acting ,doesn’t mean no other Actor has been President. Actually all Politicians consider themselves to be wonderful Actors . Even Ike admitted later he had told a lie.
I think we got a lot better break from the Actor ,than we have ever gotten from all the Lawyers.I agree with Shakespear about most Lawyers.
wv—sustains front— really I didn’t make that up. Come to think of it Hillary hasn’t done that very well ,lately.
19 MajorDomo // Jan 14, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Sadly, the so-called “news” media will be responsible for voters having the worst possible choices for president, come November: Clinton vs McCain.
20 prettyold // Jan 14, 2008 at 8:59 pm
MD ,I hope you’re not correct, at this time there are still many possibilities. I ‘m afraid if is Romney or Thompson ,one of “our” Liberal Republicans will run on a Third Party ticket . That could McCain or Huckabee. McCain is not running as a Conservative ,all you have to do is look at the Bills he sponsored, and his perfidious little backstabbing on the Judges. But I agree,it will be Hillary ,they have hardly started taking dirty tricks out of the bag. And we all know they have a very dirty bag.
measured—16 — No comment!!
21 gafisher // Jan 14, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Prettyold Re#18: “… doesn’t mean no other Actor has been President.”
I’d agree that we’ve had more than a few who acted (Bill’s impressive ability to jump into character was perhaps best seen at Ron Brown’s funeral) but as far as I could tell President Reagan was the only President who acted professionally outside of politics. (-:
(The next closest I could turn up were Pres. Taft, whose son played an unusual role, and of course President Lincoln’s sad end at the hands of a truly bad actor.)
22 MajorDomo // Jan 15, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Right on, PO
23 Fred Thompson » Fred Thompson Pulls Out of Presidential Polling // Jan 15, 2008 at 1:46 pm
[...] Scott Ott wrote an interesting post today on Fred Thompson Pulls Out of Presidential PollingHere’s a quick excerpt(2008-01-14) — Republican Fred Thompson announced today he has pulled out of the race to set pre-primary expectations through media-driven political polling. Former Sen. Thompson said he’s committed to winning the Republican nomination … [...]
24 Well Then… // Jan 17, 2008 at 5:55 pm
[...] folks over at Scrappleface have this blub about how Fred Thompson has pulled his name from pre-primary polling done by cable and news [...]
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