If you are old enough to remember how badly the press corps treated vice president Dan Quayle -- you might recall specifically that they made fun of how he once spelled potato(e) -- you will understand why ABC's Political Radar blog is trying to associate Fred Thompson with Dan Quayle in theirs headlined, "Fred Thompson's Quayle-Hunting?" They mean the association to be a detraction, something with which they can smear Fred Thompson as he makes his run for the White House. But, their obvious ulterior motives aside, this attempt to associate Quayle and Fred doesn't even make much sense. In fact, the whole story is not only a ho hum incident in light of American history, but the fact that they are associating Quayle and Thompson has no teeth to it.
Was Fred Thompson channeling Dan Quayle? Speaking at a gathering of social-conservatives in Washington, Thompson, R-Tenn., said on Friday that wasn't sure what he'd do in his first 100 days as president, but he was pretty certain about what he'd do shortly after assuming the presidency. "I know the first hour, I would go into the Oval Office and close the door, and pray for the wisdom to know what was right," Thompson said. "I would pray for the strength to do what is right."
Then the Political Radar bloggers try to equate that rather common American response to taking office to something Quayle once said to Brit Hume.
"First, I'd say a prayer for myself and for the country that I'm about to lead. And then I would assemble his people and talk."
So, ABC is trying to claim that Thompson's intent to pray for wisdom upon first entering the Oval Office can only be equated to Dan Quayle's similar claim? Excuse me if I laugh at the transparent attempt to equate Fred Thompson with one of the MSM's favorite whipping boys, but can you please show me more than just Thomas Jefferson who would have eschewed praying for strength upon becoming president? Far from being something only Dan Quayle might have done, such a sentiment by an American politician entering the White House is a pretty common American reaction to becoming president. Just about every president has gone on record saying that they have prayed to God for strength... even the most self-indulgent playboys we've had in office have talked of their prayer life in office. But, here is the money line for the ABC bloggers.
The line contributed to public perceptions of Quayle as unequipped for the job. Bentsen himself liked to say that -- should the Bush-Quayle ticket win -- he would say a prayer for the health of George H.W. Bush, to keep Quayle from becoming president.
So, what are we to infer with this report? That the ABC bloggers feel that Thompson is obviously unqualified because he would pray for strength because that is what Dan Quayle once said? And, what exactly is wrong with wanting to pray for strength to lead this great country, anyway? Sometimes you have to wonder just how stupid the MSM really is? This ABC post lacks context, it lack logic and it lacks relevance. But there is one thing it doesn't lack, an attempt to create guilt by association, at least in the minds of the hatemongers in the MSM.
