Another Shot Fired in Gucci Gulch

Rohac: Austerity: Not Just How Much but How

Franc: Is the Constitution a Republican Plot?

Keune: 'Clean Coal' Means No Coal

Lugo: Coexisting with Sharia

Lowry: Unleash Biden!

Malkin: Obama’s Land of the LOST

Goldberg: Capitalism through Hollywood's Lens

Charen: Obama’s Education Hypocrisy -- Again

Krauthammer: The Nationals and the Joy of Winning

Trinko: Cruz Reaches for a Runoff

Editors: Pressuring the Chief

Montford& Ambler: Climategate Continues

Costa: How Hatch Wooed Palin, and the Right

Botwinick: Go See U.N. Me -- Now

Clegg: Bad Guidance on Racial Preferences

May: What Iran’s Rulers Want

Nordlinger: Obama’s name game, &c.

Barone: Echo-Chamber Politics

Hanson: The Bad-Good Idea of Removing Assad

Glyn: Christie Is One of Us

New on NRO . . .

April 21, 2011 1:00 A.M.

Another Shot Fired in Gucci Gulch
In this case, it’s the journalists who are the loafers.

By Fred Thompson

Archive Latest RSS Send

Follow• followers

Text

Comments

Fred Thompson

On Tuesday, I posted an article on NRO about how agendas affect political reporting. I recounted a four-year-old incident wherein Fox News’s Carl Cameron pretty much made up a story of my touring the Iowa state fair in a golf cart while I wore Gucci loafers.

At the time, when I heard about the report, I chuckled, called Carl a few unprintable names, and forgot about it. I did not realize that the story would achieve urban-legend status and become part of a narrative about me with the political reporter-commentator set.

The narrative surfaced again last week in an article written by Ed Kilgore in The New Republic entitled “The Fred Thompson Effect,” in which the Iowa-fair story was repeated, along with additional erroneous details.

Now irritated at the notion that this bull-oney was going to surface every four years as a political cautionary tale to Iowa vote-seekers, I decided to have a little fun and poke these guys who never seem to be called to account. So, I set the record straight, including the Gucci libel, since I’ve never owned, worn, or coveted a Gucci shoe in my life. Well, that settled that, right?

What I didn’t know was that on that same day, Michael Gerson took time away from his duties as the self-appointed conscience of the Republican party to make his own contribution to hack journalism. He wrote: “Last time around Fred Thompson arrived with a flourish — then appeared at the Iowa State Fair in Gucci loafers, riding a golf cart. Iowa Populism was duly offended and Thompson’s bubble burst within 48 hours.”

The point that these journalistic giants should consider is this: On top of the other embellishments already piled on what we now know was a journalistic fabrication, yet another writer is adding another falsehood — that the Iowa fair events which never really happened were responsible for seriously damaging a campaign. And they lazily repeat it over and over and over. Guess it beats working. Besides, there are never any consequences.

— Fred Thompson, who represented Tennessee in the U.S. Senate from 1994 to 2003, is an actor, lawyer, and political commentator.

editor’s note: This article has been amended since its initial posting.

Text

COMMENTS 32

EXPAND

Lyrebird

04/21/11 06:41

I live at 100 miles from the Fukushima plant, and in the first days after the recent monster earthquake I spent my whole workday figuring out what was true and what was false in the 'news'. Unfortunately, most of what our quality news agencies print, is garbage.

If I were to do my job as a scientist the way that journalists do their job, I would not have a job.

Journalists, please take some pride in your work, get a decent education like the rest of us and to what you are paid for: not to entertain us, but to provide objective news. Browsing the internet and copying old 'news' is not enough.

Reply to this comment Link Report Abuse

Moderately Libertarian 04/21/11 07:10
Anyone that's seen "The Hunt for the Red October" 30 or so times would never in a million years think of you in loafers. You will forever be remembered explaining the Soviet's lavatorial limitations with regards to his future preparations. Reply to this comment Link Report Abuse

GrouchyOldMan 04/21/11 07:40
It's great to see you back in the game Fred, you're a breath of fresh air. Please keep up the commentary and weigh in on some of the big questions now. Reply to this comment Link Report Abuse

MAFV 04/21/11 08:02
Thanks Mr. Thompson. Michael Gerson...if memory serves one of George W's chief speechwriters...gotta love those "compassionate conservatives" Good Grief!!! Reply to this comment Link Report Abuse

gpsjr 04/21/11 08:04
I think that there should be "consequences" for journalistic sloppiness. Reporters should be held accountable for their mistakes, just like most other people in society are. Reply to this comment Link Report Abuse

Boxhawker 04/21/11 08:41
It's a Sisyphean task Fred, after all, "the pen is mightier than the loafer". Reply to this comment Link Report Abuse

Coach Springer

04/21/11 08:48

You could still be an environmental scientist, Lyrebird. They too are so desparate for a compelling narrative that they cut corners.

A young relative recently finished a degree in TV journalism. Great delivery. In school, the environmental piece was spoon fed by The Sierra Club. There was no journalism in the piece that rivaled the stuff you see on the networks for content and presentation. Troublesome to say the least.

Reply to this comment Link Report Abuse

Oldest & Wisest 04/21/11 09:04
It's always thus, a lie can race around the globe while the truth is still putting on its track shoes. Reply to this comment Link Report Abuse

Walden 04/21/11 09:17
Mr. Thompson - from one Tennessean to another, please run for President in 2012. This time, however, please show that you really want it! Reply to this comment Link Report Abuse

Marco DePalin

04/21/11 09:21

Unfortunately, I see that same kind of laziness here at NRO far too often. It's amazing how quickly journalists will jump on the group-think narrative without doing their homework.

However, if there is a blessing to this sloppiness, it's that I've learned not to trust "conservative" media anymore than their Statist brethren...most of these folks are agenda driven more than anything else.

Reply to this comment Link Report Abuse

jimmyc1955

04/21/11 09:36

I would like to believe that the drive for "instant" news is a prime cause of the sloppiness in journalism, but unfortunately I doubt it is. Not checking quotes, facts or sources seems systemic regardless of the deadlines.

I agree with the previous poster that NRO has, on occasion, also reflected the lack of factual, or more accurately, selective use of information to fit a predetermine narrative.

Mr. Thompson - thank you for this reminder the the 4th estate is less than the noble watchdog they fondly to portray themselves as. And considering most polls highlight the the fact that the public trusts the "media" less than politicians (and looking at the approval ratings of congress that would make the media very untrustworthy) it speaks volumes about the loss of integrity and the medias blindness to that loss.

Reply to this comment Link Report Abuse

rimfrel 04/21/11 09:51
Too bad the pen isn't mightier than the myth-information you are trying to correct. Reply to this comment Link Report Abuse

Bulldog 82

04/21/11 09:55

I can "one-up" you on that Fred. Anyone remember the "600 dollar toilet seat"? That had to be over 20-years ago when that myth was debunked. Yet it came up again when The House was debating cuts recently (brought up by the Dems). Fortunately, a Republican "set the record straight" but the media never listens or remembers. Why tell the truth when a good lie gets the job done?

Reply to this comment Link Report Abuse

DavidinTexas 04/21/11 11:15
I have had two personal experiences with "journalists" and in both cases they simply invented material for their stories. As to honesty, they are as bad or worse than government officials. Reply to this comment Link Report Abuse

tcmcelroy 04/21/11 11:15
That's why they are the Drive-By Media. Reply to this comment Link Report Abuse

dbarnhart 04/21/11 12:27
I think we should retaliate by inventing the 'fact' that Journalism majors have the lowest mean SAT scores of any major, then spread it around as a 'well-known fact' Reply to this comment Link Report Abuse

Alden42 04/21/11 13:18
I concur with the multiple comments requesting you make a serious run for President. Role of a lifetime. Reply to this comment Link Report Abuse

kgarry1

04/21/11 13:20

I was a Fred Thompson supporter for the GOP nomination last time around. Likely, I would be again if he threw his hat in the ring.

But, why finally "set the record straight" 3-1/2 years late?? The event in question was in August of 2007.

Media fabrication or not, a successful presidential candidate needs to have better control of the message that is being used to describe him. It's simply not good enough to 'chuckle, call Carl a few unprintable names, and forget about it'.

The fabricated message was that he did not have the 'fire in the belly'. To not counter the message *when it mattered* only validates the fabrication, does it not?

Reply to this comment Link Report Abuse