Fred Thompson Responds To CBS Story

By: John Bentley
Topics: John McCain

(CBS)

From CBS News' John Bentley:

(CHAMPION, PA.) – Earlier today, Fred Thompson blasted Barack Obama on John McCain's behalf and introduced Sarah Palin as "the most remarkable success story in the history of American politics."

I thought that was overstating the case a bit; Thompson disagreed, and wrote me to say so.

"Seems as if, all of a sudden, some of my old buddies over at CBS have become very sensitive to what they consider to be hyperbole on the presidential campaign trail. Imagine that," Thompson wrote, referring to me pointing out that George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt have rather remarkable success stories, too.

"I didn't realize that the mainstream media considered winning the Revolutionary War and freeing the slaves to be political events. But, nevertheless, it just occurs to me that this woman went from the PTA to becoming the vice presidential nominee, and along the way became Governor."

Thompson goes on to say that Palin "defeated... the big oil companies" and reformed energy policies in Alaska, and that if she were a Democrat, the media would be much more interested. "If she'd been a liberal woman doing all this, CBS and the other networks would already be fighting over the rights to create a television series about her."

Thompson doesn't specify what kind of television series he has in mind, but one can suppose it would be part of the "Law and Order" franchise.

If you'd like to listen to Thompson's full statement, click here.

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by pr_boxer September 11, 2008 9:43 PM EDT: This Tennessean is soooo glad "fast" Freddy Thompson is no longer embarrassing us by living here. To Washington DC... KEEP HIM PLEASE; Reply to this comment


by ladysa September 11, 2008 9:03 PM EDT: Why has palin suddenly become the roll model for mothers of special needs children? She is not new in the field, there are many many children with special needs and has been for many years, it bothers me to think that she has a patent on this. Please stop this foolishness. Let''s get back to the issues of the presidial compaign. The real facts are, Americans are suffering from the incompent governing of thr republicans and the cable news , the media are making themselves look really silly running after every incoherent statement the republicans make, today they revered to palin as wonder woman and that makes me think they have a brain disfunction. Why don''t you get the true facts and report them, rather than hide them from the public. Every thing possible was vetted for Obama you hid nothing. Any woman that would get on the bandwagon for Mccain and palin because she is a woman, in my opinion doesn''t know her own idenity should you care to know, read the word of God.; Reply to this comment


by hhcainrk September 11, 2008 4:36 PM EDT: I think President Carter went from the school board to the Oval Office but then maybe I remembered this wrong too.; Reply to this comment


by ibzjem September 11, 2008 4:36 PM EDT: Issues? Hello issues? Has anybody seen any issues lying around? I''m looking for the issues? I can''t find any in here. All I see are diversions. Will these diversions run the country fairly? How good is their foreign policy? Does Saudi Arabia care what Fred Thompson says? Can I cash that in at the hospital instead of using health insurance? Will it buy me some $4/gallon gas? I think we''d better stick to the issues.; Reply to this comment


by ioweign September 11, 2008 3:53 PM EDT: With all due respect to Mr. Thompson and the Republican Party I propose that "change" begin now.

All media outlets should boycott coverage of the McCain campaign until Ms. Palin is made available to the American people and not the just the Republican Party. This election is too important for uninformed voters and slogans. The American People have the right to know what her political views are.

Posted by lvjen at 11:51 AM : Sep 11, 2008

If McCain was still a Navy pilot would he pick Palin as his wingman ?

POW again...; Reply to this comment


by ioweign September 11, 2008 3:48 PM EDT: Newsweek: McCain lied about FactCheck.org
John Aravosis (DC) 7 9/10/2008 04:55:00 PM ET

So now John McCain is lying about what independent watchdogs have said, or haven''t said, about Barack Obama. McCain just put out an ad claiming that FactCheck.org called Obama''s attacks on Palin "completely false"..."misleading." Only problem? FactCheck.org said that quote about someone else, not Obama, and in fact, FactCheck.org says Obama''s criticisms of Palin have been accurate. So, John McCain lied, again, to the American people. (CBS caught McCain lying in the same ad about Katie Couric, claiming that she as well criticized Obama - she didn''t.) And he''s going to keep lying until the media stars asking him the larger questions, like what all these lies say about John McCain, the man he''s become, the loss of his maverick image, has McCain reached a point of utter desperation, has Karl Rove totally taken over McCain''s campaign, and is McCain any longer in charge of his campaign? We''ve all known John McCain for decades. So who is this guy running for president in his name? That''s the question the media should be asking. What happened to John McCain?; Reply to this comment


by armydog2 September 11, 2008 2:58 PM EDT: when palin talks for herself and stops reading what rove has prepared for her to read, her little flame will go out. Flash in the frying pan that is all.; Reply to this comment


by bbonapart September 11, 2008 2:51 PM EDT: With all due respect to Mr. Thompson and the Republican Party I propose that "change" begin now.

All media outlets should boycott coverage of the McCain campaign until Ms. Palin is made available to the American people and not the just the Republican Party. This election is too important for uninformed voters and slogans. The American People have the right to know what her political views are.; Reply to this comment


by luvienne September 11, 2008 1:20 PM EDT: Thompson''s opinion is just that .His. Palin is their celebrity. Mccain is not in control.Thinking voters will not let the Palin-mccain ticket get by with their contempt for the democratic process. As of September 11, 2008 at 10:13am I am calling out the Palin-mccain ticket to give their take on the solutions for America''s problems. If they refuse these cowards will forever give up using the term mavericks. Mccain stop hiding behind Palin''s skirt. Be a man confront the issues.; Reply to this comment


by jimmynashvil September 11, 2008 1:16 PM EDT: As always... Fred is dead-on here. The fact you can''t see it speaks volumes about you and echoes back to the ''RaTHer''-like biases that have been the trend of the CBS News agonizing demise.; Reply to this comment