Fred Thomson's speech

[Anonymous]

Is it just me or is he very difficult to understand?

[jsteele]

uh-huuh, uh-huuh. The man has a frog in his throat. WTF was that story about John dating an exotic dancer?

[Anonymous]

I thought I imagined it.

[Anonymous]

He was so annoying I turned him off. wish I'd heard the dancer story though!

[Anonymous]

The exotic dancer is only a small part of the story of his history with women. Look up the piece about how he treated his first wife when he got back from Viet Nam.

[jsteele]

I know about how he treated Carol, but I just didn't get the exotic dancer thing. The audience seemed embarrassed. I almost expected him Thompson to turn to McCain's kids and say, "Kids, your mom was a stripper". Then, I was suddenly struck by the fear that the story was going to lead to the exotic dancer moving to Alaska and I suddenly imagined a Darth Vader voice saying "Sarah, I'm your father".

[Anonymous]

pretty funny that they enlisted their own professional actor to get up and say sp is legit. no one else could probably have looked even mildly believable.

[Anonymous]

OMG, jsteele, you just made me snort my iced coffee out my nose.

[Rich]

I hope your evaluation of Thompson is correct. I, for one, understood him easily, despite coming from no further south than NY City. And I thought the stuff about what a cut-up the young JM was made a pretty good intro and contrast to the description of the POW years. For a guy who never managed to make his own candidacy believable, I think he gave a really effective speech for McCain. And you've seen enough from me to know I'm not happy saying that.

[Anonymous]

Marie, the Flame of Florida! Good times. Good times. He'll always have the valtrex to remember her by!

[Anonymous]

I thought the speech was great and really energized the night--sadly whatever was said would be sure to offend someone from this liberal site.

[Anonymous]

The speech was wonderful, but not nearly as good (couldn't be) as the material Thompson had to work with. McCain's life story is amazing, inspiring, riveting. I completely agree that no one can question his character or sense of duty after what he went through.

[Anonymous]

I learned a lot about McCain that had been alluded to in the past. I was really impressed with his background. As far as delivery, Fred Thompson doesn't give a riveting speech but the content was excellent. It also hit back at Obama in many ways and it worked, for me. I am an undecided republican leaning voter.

[Anonymous]

Say what you will about McCain's politics, but the guy went to hell and back when he was in the service. Can you imagine spending a full two years in solitary confinement? I can't even get off this board for a few days! And for all of the complaints about his age and health, it's really amazing that he is still here and out on the campaign trail everyday. I couldn't do it and I'm more than 30 years younger. I think mentally and physically, the guy is just tough.

[Anonymous]

Rich wrote:I hope your evaluation of Thompson is correct. I, for one, understood him easily, despite coming from no further south than NY City. And I thought the stuff about what a cut-up the young JM was made a pretty good intro and contrast to the description of the POW years. For a guy who never managed to make his own candidacy believable, I think he gave a really effective speech for McCain. And you've seen enough from me to know I'm not happy saying that.

I'm guessing they also figured that the Dems might make use of this. I didn't know much about him till I read the Post piece on his early years and it appears that up until he left for Vietnam he was something of self-destructive rebel (Post piece stopped before we saw how he matured) who couldn't get ahead because he was so busy telling people to "f" off. The Republicans probably figured they should get this out and own it first.

I fell asleep before Thompson finished (not his delivery, I'm just an early riser) but I have to say the speech was quite effective in showing how noble McCain was in captivity. The problem is, of course, that being president calls for a very different skill set which I'm not sure he has but if the McCain campaign can keep the POW story before the electorate, people may be convinced to vote for him.