The Real Fred Thompson?
Scrapbook The Real Fred Thompson? The Scrapbook is ready to declare a preference for 2008: Fred Thompson, former Tennessee senator and, more important, star of the big screen and small. Our...
...CIA Director Marshall: Well, spilt milk...
...Given her keen grasp of Republican perfidy, real or imaginary, we expect the DNC to bring her aboard soon...
...Sargent may not be the most likeable guy in the world, especially when confronting Secret Service agent Frank Horrigan (Clint Eastwood) about a possible assassination attempt, but he still has the best of intentions, as can be seen in this exchange: Sargent: Isn’t it possible this guy has pushed some buttons in you...
...It killed two birds with one stone,’ she said, by sharply attacking Clinton as being a political drone and smudging ‘Obama’s positioning as the “Mr...
...Jack McCoy: You can rewrite the law when you’re appointed to the Supreme Court...
...Eternal damnation for homosexuals...
...You see, lettuce is a perishable item . . . like you two monkeys...
...Law & Order and Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2002-’07): Perhaps most revealing is the role Thompson plays on the Law & Order series as New York district attorney Arthur Branch: D.A...
...Thompson also knows how to look on the bright side: D.A...
...We think she’s either David Brice’s or Scott Pritchard’s mistress...
...Adm...
...Horrigan: I’m just trying to protect your boss, damn it...
...His Central Intelligence colleague Kevin O’Brien explains that a murder suspect was likely having an affair with the victim: Kevin O’Brien: Get ready for this...
...Incidentally, during an editorial luncheon here at The Weekly STandard in January 2006, Thompson said he’d have to call The Hunt for Red October his favorite of the films he has worked on—even beating out Curly Sue...
...Jack Ryan: His plan...
...Clean” of politics...
...Next thing you know, students will be forced to start diagramming sentences again...
...Most important is his sense of high calling: E.A.D.A...
...Japanese Inspection, you see, when the Japs take in a load of lettuce they’re not sure they wanna let in the country, why they’ll just let it sit there on the dock till they get good and ready to look at it...
...Oops...
...Well, this might work to his advantage in the primaries but could prove tricky in the general election...
...Though a bit scatological, Thompson displays here the keen insight of a Sovietologist...
...Sargent: So am I. We’re trailing . . . in the latest polls...
...CIA Director Marshall: So will he, if you believe the Old Testament...
...Painter: Russians don’t take a dump, son, without a plan...
...You gotta be seen doing good...
...This is politics as usual, and by running a smear ad that is associated with him, it puts a dent in that image.’” As widely reported the next day (we quote here the AP version), “The mystery creator of the Orwellian YouTube ad against Hillary Rodham Clinton is a Democratic operative who worked for a digital consulting firm with ties to rival Sen...
...The horror...
...He’s homosexual...
...But then of course, it’s all gone rotten . . . ain’t nothing left to inspect...
...And you can forget about Pritchard...
...Or then again: D.A...
...He’s got to be seen...
...He could be out of a job in six weeks...
...You ever heard of a “Japanese Inspection...
...In the scene below, Big John lets loose on Cruise’s character, Cole Trickle, and another driver for their antics: Big John: If you two wanna turn yourselves into a greasy spot out on a country road somewhere, go right ahead...
...In the Line of Fire (1993): What better way to prepare for the White House than by playing the part of Harry Sargent, the president’s chief of staff...
...D.A...
...Kevin O’Brien: I’ll be damned...
...He is acutely aware of the stress air traffic controllers experience on a daily basis, what with all the planes, knives, chainsaws, and card games going on...
...NCLB ’Rithmetic Fairfax County, Va., superintendent of schools and former math teacher Jack Dale complains to Washington Post columnist Marc Fisher about the effects of the No Child Left Behind law: “You focus obsessively on multiplying twodigit numbers, as opposed to how to apply that knowledge in the real world and how to play with mathematics in a creative way...
...No reaction yet from Finnie...
...He may have sounded insensitive in Necessary Roughness or obtuse in Feds...
...And God only knows what he had to say in Aces: Iron Eagle III or those two fateful episodes of Matlock...
...When Bruce Willis, as John McClane, tries to convince Trudeau that someone’s about to take over the airport and drastic action needs to be taken, Trudeau exercises caution: Trudeau: Hey...
...That’s what we’re doing with those planes up there, only we do it one-handed ’cause the other hand’s playing three-card monte with the planes on the ground . . . What we see here is Thompson in crisis mode...
...He knows what it takes to win...
...Philip de Vellis, a strategist with Blue State Digital, acknowledged in an interview with The Associated Press that he was the creator of the video, which portrayed Clinton as a Big Brother figure and urged support for Obama’s presidential campaign...
...Barack Obama...
...Ever see those guys on TV, juggling knives and chain saws...
...Thompson understands how vital it is for a president not to be cowering behind his security agents...
...Liberal Paranoia Watch As reported in the March 20, 2007, San Francisco Chronicle: “Chris Finnie, a Santa Cruz-based Democratic operative, said the widespread coverage given to [the anti-Hillary video based on Apple Computer’s ‘1984’ ad] in GOP circles suggests the ad could have come from a Republican operative and smacks of ‘Swift Boat’ tactics used in 2004 against Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry...
...Maybe you’re overreacting a little...
...Branch: Well, I guess it beats dousing yourself in rum and lighting up a Cohiba...
...Something serious happens every night, only it doesn’t make the newspapers...
...Then, if you pass inspection and you put your cars back together, I might let you back into the race...
...I don’t give a s— and I don’t think anybody else does, but you two monkeys are not going to do it on my racetrack...
...The Hunt for Red October (1990): In this Cold War classic, Thompson plays Rear Admiral Josh Painter, commander of an aircraft carrier involved in the search for a Soviet submarine that may be trying to defect...
...Horrigan: Even if it kills him...
...Foes will no doubt search for less impressive, possibly even damaging lines of dialogue to stifle the nascent campaign...
...Painter questions CIA analyst Jack Ryan about the Kremlin’s next move: Adm...
...You trade paint one more time, you so much as touch, I’m gonna Black Flag the two of you, and tear apart your racecars for three-hundred laps...
...Arthur Branch: Sometimes the good you do won’t do you any good...
...Die Hard 2 (1990): In this sequel to the action-thriller Die Hard, Thompson costars as Trudeau, chief air traffic controller at Dulles Airport...
...Arthur Branch: It’s not enough to do good...
...Sargent: Next order of business...
...Arthur Branch: God willing...
...Days of Thunder (1990): NASCAR dads will love Thompson as the burly racetrack owner Big John in this Tom Cruise vehicle...
...Painter: What’s his plan...
...Over the past 20 years, Fred Thompson has said and done a lot...
...Now, just to show there’s no hard feelings we’re all gonna go to dinner together...
...Much is happening here, but the two important themes are Thompson’s acting as a uniter (not divider) and his expert knowledge of Japanese trade issues...
...Our only proviso: that he not back down from the strong positions staked out by his movie and TV characters over the last two decades (as compiled by our colleague Victorino Matus for The daily STandard): * No Way Out (1987): In this Kevin Costner-Gene Hackman political thriller, Thompson plays CIA director Marshall...
Vol. 12 • April 2007 • No. 28
