n2nh
10-31-2007, 01:26 PM
Quote[/b] ]A week ago, at a debate for the Republican presidential candidates, Fox News’ Wendell Goler asked Fred Thompson about his reputation for laziness. The actor/lobbyist/senator talked a bit about his personal background, and emphasized his career as a federal prosecutor to help prove how hard he’s willing to work.
“I was able to be an assistant U.S. attorney when I was 28, prosecuting most of the major federal crimes in middle Tennessee — most of the major ones,” Thompson said.
As it turns out, it depends on how one defines “major.”
Today, as a Republican candidate for president, Thompson is cultivating an image as a tough prosecutor who, like the character he played on TV’s “Law & Order,” battled powerful criminals during his three-year stint as a prosecutor.
He was “attacking crime and public corruption,” boasts a video played at his campaign events…. But a review of the 88 criminal cases Thompson handled at the U.S. attorney’s office in Nashville, from 1969 to 1972, reveals a different and more human portrait — that of a young lawyer learning the ropes on routine cases involving gambling, mail theft and, in one instance, talking dirty on CB radio.
The bulk of Thompson’s prosecutorial work apparently focused on moonshiners. In fact, prosecutor Thompson took on 27 moonshining cases, more than any other federal crime.
To be sure, I’m not particularly inclined to go after Thompson’s work in the U.S. Attorney’s office — it was, after all, nearly four decades ago — but if his campaign seriously wants to use this experience to sell Thompson’s qualifications for the presidency, the record deserves a closer look.
Fred Thompson vs. The Moonshiners (http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-thompson28oct28,0,3516158.story?coll=la-home-center)
“I was able to be an assistant U.S. attorney when I was 28, prosecuting most of the major federal crimes in middle Tennessee — most of the major ones,” Thompson said.
As it turns out, it depends on how one defines “major.”
Today, as a Republican candidate for president, Thompson is cultivating an image as a tough prosecutor who, like the character he played on TV’s “Law & Order,” battled powerful criminals during his three-year stint as a prosecutor.
He was “attacking crime and public corruption,” boasts a video played at his campaign events…. But a review of the 88 criminal cases Thompson handled at the U.S. attorney’s office in Nashville, from 1969 to 1972, reveals a different and more human portrait — that of a young lawyer learning the ropes on routine cases involving gambling, mail theft and, in one instance, talking dirty on CB radio.
The bulk of Thompson’s prosecutorial work apparently focused on moonshiners. In fact, prosecutor Thompson took on 27 moonshining cases, more than any other federal crime.
To be sure, I’m not particularly inclined to go after Thompson’s work in the U.S. Attorney’s office — it was, after all, nearly four decades ago — but if his campaign seriously wants to use this experience to sell Thompson’s qualifications for the presidency, the record deserves a closer look.
Fred Thompson vs. The Moonshiners (http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-thompson28oct28,0,3516158.story?coll=la-home-center)