Nixon Thought Fred Thompson Was “Dumb As Hell”

Ken McCracken • July 8, 2007

Nixon was disappointed with the selection of Thompson, whom he called “dumb as hell.” The president did not think Thompson was skilled enough to interrogate unfriendly witnesses and would be outsmarted by the committee’s Democratic counsel.
This assessment comes from audio tapes of White House conversations recently reviewed by The Associated Press at the National Archives in College Park, Md., and transcripts of those discussions that are published in “Abuse of Power: The New Watergate Tapes,” by historian Stanley Kutler.
“Oh shit, that kid,” Nixon said when told by his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, of Thompson’s appointment on Feb. 22, 1973…
“We’ve got a pretty good rapport with Fred Thompson,” [counsel J. Fred] Buzhardt told Nixon in an Oval Office meeting on June 6, 1973. The meeting included a discussion of former White House counsel John Dean’s upcoming testimony before the committee…
Nixon expressed concern that Thompson was not “very smart.”
“Not extremely so,” Buzhardt agreed.
“But he’s friendly,” Nixon said.
“But he’s friendly,” Buzhardt agreed. “We are hoping, though, to work with Thompson and prepare him, if Dean does appear next week, to do a very thorough cross-examination.”

Exit question: Does the fact that the worst Republican in the history of the GOP didn’t like Thompson help or hurt him in the eyes of voters?

Tags: Domestic Issues, Politics

http://www.stinkyjournalism.org/ Rhonda Shearer

We, at Stinkyjournalism.org, a part of the not for profit Art Science Research Laboratory’s media ethics program ,want to draw your attention to Newsweek’s undisclosed crush on Thompson that is hidden in plain sight.

Our recent study shows that from Sept ’06-Sept’07 Newsweek wrote 17 articles on Thompson–more than half before he declared–the other candidates had many less.

We wrote: “”Skim the last 12 months of news and you’ll see that no publication has followed Thompson’s political him-hawing like Newsweek. A total of 17 Newsweek articles – including a September cover story – feature Thompson. Meanwhile, the competition is suffering. John McCain’s got 10 articles. Rudy Giuliani’s got 7. The fading Mitt Romney has 6. Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul, a paltry 1. The rest of the major declared candidates Tom Tancredo, Sam Brownback and Duncan Hunter don’t even register on the Fred-philic pages of Newsweek.” http://www.stinkyjournalism.org/latest-journalism-news-updates-94.php.

Stinkyjournalism.org tried to get Newsweek to explain but they refused to respond to our inquiries. That’s why we made the “The Thompson Twins music video”. We want to draw attention to Newsweek’s undisclosed crush on Thompson that is hidden in plain sight. Please go see “My Johnson is for Fred Thompson” at You Tube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgtLrQijdxo Âand consider spreading the word.

Our goal is to hold the media accountable. Democracy depends on the ethical standards practiced by the press.
http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

Its idea of presidential looking and sounding is Dennis Haysbert (President Palmer on 24).

Darned liberal. He got off too easy.
http://www.rocketscientistsjournal.com/ dr_rocket

Fred Thompson has a couple of huge advantages, especially over any of the Democrats: he looks presidential and he can act presidential.

Hollywood is swiftly switching from Hillary to Barack Obama, but they would never cast him as President! Its idea of presidential looking and sounding is Dennis Haysbert (President Palmer on 24). Obama would be cast as lead in the Life Story of Harry Belafonte.
http://fredthompsonfaq.com/ Sturm Ruger

When the helicopter lifted Nixon off of the White House lawn for the very last time, I wonder if he still thought Fred Thompson was dumb?
http://ewebsmith.com/ ews48

The phrase “calling the kettle black” comes to mind.
docdave

Nixon certainly had an overinflated view of himself and mistrusted everyone.

He is an actor you know

So was Reagan and that didn’t turn out so bad.
HG

Rhonda,

What about the number of stories by the media on defecting phony soldiers who create stories of service and atrocities that go unchecked and over-reported as opposed to real soldiers doing real good and getting real results with honor and integrity?
http://www.superalerts.com/ george

So was Reagan and that didn’t turn out so bad.

Yeah, Reagen was pretty good.

But he did put in a couple of pretty wousy judges. 2 were pro abortionists.
http://www.superalerts.com/ george

Exit question: Does the fact that the worst Republican in the history of the GOP didn’t like Thompson help or hurt him in the eyes of voters?

He is an actor you know

Hah, well, there’s a saying that goes, “If you look across the room and you can’t find out who the idiot is… it’s you.”

If Nixon looked across the room so to speak and rolled his eyes, that can’t help him. It’s not something I’d like on my report card coming from a former president.
Dexter Westbrook

The amazing thing about Nixon, to me, is that he was both a successful politican and a misanthrope.

I suspect at some point in his life, Nixon described everyone he knew as an idiot, including Kissinger, Pat, Tricia and Checkers.

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Nixon Thought Fred Thompson Was “Dumb As Hell”

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