“This sounds like an Onion parody of attack journalism”

Media 36 Comments

The crack investigative journalism team at the Los Angeles Times have uncovered a skeleton in Fred Thompson’s closet – one created in a television prop room;

Thompson played a white supremacist, spewing anti-Semitic comments and fondling an autographed copy of “Mein Kampf” on a television drama 19 years ago.

As if to drive home the point, the newspaper actually quotes the script.

36 Replies to ““This sounds like an Onion parody of attack journalism””

  1. *
    so, using that reasoning, i guess anybody who ever portrayed
    abe lincoln on stage, screen or television     would be a lock for
    the oval office.
    *

  2. Once again, an item is taken out of context. The LA Times is NOT taking Thompson to task over that particular role he played. Rather, they are asking whether his political opponents might use those scenes to attack him. As quoted in the actual article (which was in the entertianment section, BTW, not in the political pages):
    “But in the age of YouTube, this performance could raise an intriguing political question: How does a performer eyeing a presidential run deal with a video history that can be downloaded, taken out of context, chopped into embarrassing pieces and then distributed endlessly though cyberspace? Some conservative political blogs are already considering the problem.”
    I know there is a lot of zeal to attack the LA Times for anything they publish, but please actually read the original article as opposed to somebody else’s spin on it.

  3. “please actually read the original article”
    Well, I skipped the part where they quoted the script, because I didn’t see any relevance and didn’t see why I should waste MY time.
    Seriously, TruthSeeker, what value is there in quoting from a script played by an actor +/-20 years ago?

  4. So, truthseeker, you think the L.A. Times is alarmed that some unscrupulous party will unfairly portray Thompson as a Nazi because of some show he acted in that no one even remembers, and that they want to put an end to this kind of crap right here and now?
    That’s what the article was about?

  5. This reminds me of other journalistic gems:
    “This [impossible-to-spin-as-negative thing] comes at at time when [unrelated, catastrophic thing]”
    or
    “But it is too little, too late, [unspecified] critics said”

  6. Nice logic, Fred uttered lines in a script related to the character he was paid to play, so he must be whatever the scripted lines said.
    Hard to follow the lefty logic of the LA Times on that one, but, I’m sure the idiots are sincere.
    Hey, TruthSeeker, wouldn’t you have to assume in your premise that voters are as stupid as the LA Times? Fred just has to laugh with the rest of us. I think it has reached a point in history that even the most stupid challenged among us are gaining ground on the MSM.

  7. I again remind you, this was not a political article but an entertainment article. There was no condemnation of Thompson on the part of the author of the piece.

  8. Truthseeker,HORSEFEATHERS to what you are saying.They slid it in on entertainment to bring it to our attention.Why do you think that they did that? What relavence does a role in a play have in the now world? The L A Times knew exactly what they were doing as if they had put it in political they would have been SUED.

  9. In my opinion it was a dumb article with no real relevance, but to find something sinister about it is really reaching. Almost like trying to find something sinister in windsurfing.

  10. I wonder what Ronald Reagan thought of the MSM, we know what they said and thought of him.

  11. Fire the Dem spinners that think this transparent sleaze works. My god they have a low opinion of the average voter don’t they…bloody contemptuous.

  12. Check the way the scene is spun by the Times. Remember, they’re describing a scene IN A TV SHOW!!!!
    (QUOTE)
    “Later in the episode, a follower gives Thompson’s character a suitcase full of money and a copy of “Mein Kampf” signed by Hitler. THE ACTOR APPEARS DEEPLY TOUCHED.” (emphasis mine.)
    (UNQUOTE)
    The actor? The ACTOR?!?!
    Sweet Jesus! That’s why they call them ACTOR’S! Because they can portray CHARACTERS!
    You’d think, living in L.A., that the writer would be able to differentiate between the actor and the role they play.
    It’s so sad and kind of pathetic.
    GO Fred!
    If I were a Yank I’d vote for you.
    een

  13. Truthseeker,
    I understand what you’re trying to say but I have to disagree with you.
    Read my post above and look how they represented the scene.
    The ACTOR appeared pleased to receive a ton of cash and a copy of Mein Kampf. NOT the character, the ACTOR.
    Just saying.
    Peace to you all.
    een

  14. Of course you know that Fred is running for the Republican party which is idealogically allied with the Nazi party so its not too much of a stretch to think that Fred wasn’t really acting when he was fondling Mein Kampf. No agenda here at the LA Times, move along now there is a hot globe to cool you know and a war on people bent to destroy us to end you know and an election to win for the democrats you know…Besides you really don’t want an actor to be your president do you? Look at the last one we had, he killed the Soviet Union. Why they can’t even hold a good May Day parade anymore. Down with Fred.

  15. Trurhseeker(?)…if the Times was so concerned about what effect it might have that they ran it in the Entertainment section…my question is…why did they run it AT ALL??? Nice try,though.

  16. ….but to find something sinister about it is really reaching….
    You sure? I’ll go with sinister.
    Spend some time at Patterico, a blogging LA attorney, he’s nailed them in some serious BS and has gotten editorial corrections from them. He has kept the rest of us up to speed on the agenda driven smarminess of the LA Times.
    If you are “seeking truth” you’ve got a lot more sources to balance out your quest. Taking the LA Times at face value is not doing your homework as to who they are and what is their agenda. Their finances are so poor coming on the heels of scandals and public cancellations, they were recently sold. Were you aware of that? Try visiting Rodger Simons as well, a Hollywood script writer with a cynical eye on the LA Times too.
    The MSM hasn’t been truth delivered to my ears or door for a long time.

  17. You beat me to it Penny.
    Truthseeker, if you do want some truth, go to Paterico’s site and see what little material the Times based their “blogs” angle on.
    And more people are likely to read the article in the entertainment section.
    No story here indeed.

  18. Patterico, bless his vigilant heart, has nailed the LA Times on their veiled swipe at Fred Thompsom.
    The comments alone pretty much sum it up.

  19. This reminds me of when the msm condemns sleazy tabloid stories, meanwhile repeating all the material.
    They have an allegedly worthwhile hook for the story, while they delightedly provide material to slam Thompson.

  20. AND, Wolf Blitzer asking Cheney about his daughter’s baby: a kindly and solicitous concern, eh, SeekTruther.

  21. TruthSeeker, this article links Fred Thompson with a perjorative Southern stereotype.
    In the South, we have had to suffer with this mischaracterization for a long time.
    The fat, corrupt, Southern sheriff. The rich, powerful, racist, old Southern family. On and on it goes, and frankly we’re becoming a bit tired of it.
    You don’t have to accuse somebody of something directly in order to characterize them in a way that hopes to raise a connection in the minds of readers.
    And if you speak with a Southern accent and are from the South as Fred Thompson is, it is not hard to raise an incorrect specter in the minds of those who find familiarity with it.
    (I remember when the sports page of the LA Times kept referring to Jack Kemp as “ex-football player” when he was helping the creation of supply-side economics.)
    Whether this writer will be successful remains to be seen, but his agenda is all too clear.

  22. shusch , the MSM might find out that Clint Eastwood and the Governator are actors.

  23. This group would know if the press is spinning something. The redneck right is the king of spinning nothing into something so I guess you would be experts.

  25. Yes Gypsy you can’t say that the “redneck right” are a stupid lot, they learned from the best; knuckle dragging mouth breathers like you invented derogatory spin. Now go crawl back into your self fouled hovel and stay there until you have someting intelligent to say.

  26. The whole YouTube reference sounded like she was hinting for someone to please get the clip and post it on YouTube. Either that or she was fantasizing about doing it herself and thought better of it. Rather than wait until someone got off their duff to make a pathetic, sleazy and underhanded attack, she figured she would speculate about the potential of such an act, just to get the image into people’s minds. Why wait and react to news when you can make it.

  27. I had been cheering for Rudy but if the moonbats go this ape-shit (pardon my verbage) over the guy I might just like to see Fred get the nod. The sound of Ted Kennedy busting a gut in rage at the next presidential inauguration would make such a lovely resound.

  28. Saul, we are the last great benevolent power left standing. To all of the American haters, you idiots have nothing standing between you and the world’s dysfunctional thugs if we were capable of being wished away. Ditto Israel, who will probably do the dirty job of killing Iran’s reactors where the EU sheeple cower.
    You nailed it with your comment on the LA Times sleaze, why bother with it at all if your agenda wasn’t to smear Fred Thompson.
    In Russia and the EU they are trying to put the screws to the internet. Little TruthSeeker, ironic moniker, would salivate at that and approve, the hate speech ruse swallowed whole. It’s really amazing and scary at how many people demand a Pravda as the source of all truths.

  29. “In Russia and the EU they are trying to put the screws to the internet. Little TruthSeeker, ironic moniker, would salivate at that and approve, the hate speech ruse swallowed whole. It’s really amazing and scary at how many people demand a Pravda as the source of all truths.”
    penny, penny, penny. It would have been good enough for you to say you disagree with my take on this and then have your rant du jour about the L.A. Times, the MSM and whatever else is raising your ire today. But you had to go the extra mile and speculate that I somehow disapprove of free speech and the internet and mom and dad and apple pie. If you learn to stop hating everyone who disagreees with you, you’ll feel a whole lot better and we might actually be able to find some common ground.

  31. Next The Times will discover that Thompson- wait for it- uses makeup. Youtube that.

  32. penny, i agree. there are also moves being made in canada and the us to make it difficult to use the net as we do now. as for fred i hope for the sake of the us he is a conservative in more than name only.

  33. The LAT was just planting the seed, hoping that someone, anyone, would pluck the weed when the time is right.
    When the *snark* comes out this early, before someone is even declared, then somebody else is really worried about something. I think the prospect of a Fred Thompson hat thrown into the ring worries a lot of people on the left. They have not really forgotten Ronald Regan. A politician with charisma; God forbid!

  34. “I’ll Brace Myself For The Flurry Of Apologies.”
    Ha ha! Talk about cherry picking. That is so pathetic.

  35. LIESSeeker:
    “We don’t make the news, we just report it”
    Can you prove that this was even an issue before the LA Times reported it?
    Didn’t think so.
    Answer: they just MADE THE NEWS.
    You have the mental capacity of a green bean.

  36. Doug,
    Thank you for demonstrating the anatomy of a straw man. You are attributing both quotes and arguments to me that I never made. And throwing in an ad hominem to boot. I’ll defer to your knowledge of the mental capacity of green beans and assume you’ve done the proper research. But if you have done intelligence experiments on green beans, it leads me to wonder what else you’ve been doing with vegetables.

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