Why Thompson? You can't sell what you didn't grow!
Gary Loftis
January 03, 2008
I grew up in Texas. As a small boy, I spent a great deal of time on my granddaddy’s farm in Waxahachie, where I was exposed to the kind of folk who settled and produced a living from the land clear across our heartland. They were hardworking and serious, because you can’t sell what you didn’t grow.
They were plain-talking, partly because of limited education and partly because they hated to waste time that could be better spent working, eating, dancing, or listening to the inevitable “yarn.” (A story, rarely truth) If you had something to say, go ahead, but don’t beat around the bush; “Git on with it!”
They play a game in rural Texas called “Forty-Two.” It’s sort of like Bridge with dominoes, and it’s taken just as seriously by the players. Forty-Two was also a kind of evaluation tool. Should you want to do business in a small Texas town in the 1950s, you would find four old farmers playing the game somewhere in the town square. They would likely offer you a glass of iced tea and welcome you. If you stayed a while and they liked you, they might offer to let you sit in a hand or two. By the time you got up from the table, they had decided if you were honest by your demeanor, eye contact, and manner. If you failed the test, try the next town.
I would like to see the Republican presidential candidates go through a Forty-Two evaluation.
Mitt Romney’s fast talking style and shifty eyes would earn him a trip to the next town.
Rudy Giuliani’s brusque manner and evasive answers would have him on the road.
Mike Huckabee would come off as a preacher, but unless the town needed another preacher ...
John McCain would be welcomed because he was a POW, but after a while he would bore the players and they would go home.
Ron Paul’s populist message would interest the players, but they would not take him seriously because they had never seen the government get smaller.
I think they would like Duncan Hunter; they might even make him a “regular.” But they’d wonder why a nice fella like that would want to get into politics.
Only Fred Thompson would pass, because he looks people in the eye and tells them in plain, unequivocal language exactly what he thinks -- same message, no equivocation, consistent. And, he has a record to back him up.
The media talking heads have dissected all the campaigns and have had a field day predicting Fred Thompson’s demise in Iowa. Yet, I have read reports and seen video of Thompson meeting with regular people in coffee shops, Elks Lodges, and homes all across Iowa. He is sitting down, looking them in the eye, and answering their questions -- same message, no equivocation, consistent.
Amid the presidential campaign hype and rhetoric, I tend to think back to Waxahachie and try to visualize which candidate my granddad would favor. The answer is “the one who would make the best president.”
We can no longer afford salesmanship in the White House. We need a leader who will tackle the huge problems that our nation faces, and who has the skill to go over the heads of a do-nothing Congress to the people -- the plain talking, no-nonsense people who actually make America work -- to identify and get action on solutions. It’s no place for on-the-job training or Harvard Business School case studies. We need to know before we select the next president how he or she will make decisions.
Only one Republican candidate has a record that documents how he would govern: Fred Thompson. You can’t sell what you didn’t grow!
© Copyright 2008, Gary Loftis. All Rights Reserved.
They were plain-talking, partly because of limited education and partly because they hated to waste time that could be better spent working, eating, dancing, or listening to the inevitable “yarn.” (A story, rarely truth) If you had something to say, go ahead, but don’t beat around the bush; “Git on with it!”
They play a game in rural Texas called “Forty-Two.” It’s sort of like Bridge with dominoes, and it’s taken just as seriously by the players. Forty-Two was also a kind of evaluation tool. Should you want to do business in a small Texas town in the 1950s, you would find four old farmers playing the game somewhere in the town square. They would likely offer you a glass of iced tea and welcome you. If you stayed a while and they liked you, they might offer to let you sit in a hand or two. By the time you got up from the table, they had decided if you were honest by your demeanor, eye contact, and manner. If you failed the test, try the next town.
I would like to see the Republican presidential candidates go through a Forty-Two evaluation.
Mitt Romney’s fast talking style and shifty eyes would earn him a trip to the next town.
Rudy Giuliani’s brusque manner and evasive answers would have him on the road.
Mike Huckabee would come off as a preacher, but unless the town needed another preacher ...
John McCain would be welcomed because he was a POW, but after a while he would bore the players and they would go home.
Ron Paul’s populist message would interest the players, but they would not take him seriously because they had never seen the government get smaller.
I think they would like Duncan Hunter; they might even make him a “regular.” But they’d wonder why a nice fella like that would want to get into politics.
Only Fred Thompson would pass, because he looks people in the eye and tells them in plain, unequivocal language exactly what he thinks -- same message, no equivocation, consistent. And, he has a record to back him up.
The media talking heads have dissected all the campaigns and have had a field day predicting Fred Thompson’s demise in Iowa. Yet, I have read reports and seen video of Thompson meeting with regular people in coffee shops, Elks Lodges, and homes all across Iowa. He is sitting down, looking them in the eye, and answering their questions -- same message, no equivocation, consistent.
Amid the presidential campaign hype and rhetoric, I tend to think back to Waxahachie and try to visualize which candidate my granddad would favor. The answer is “the one who would make the best president.”
We can no longer afford salesmanship in the White House. We need a leader who will tackle the huge problems that our nation faces, and who has the skill to go over the heads of a do-nothing Congress to the people -- the plain talking, no-nonsense people who actually make America work -- to identify and get action on solutions. It’s no place for on-the-job training or Harvard Business School case studies. We need to know before we select the next president how he or she will make decisions.
Only one Republican candidate has a record that documents how he would govern: Fred Thompson. You can’t sell what you didn’t grow!
© Copyright 2008, Gary Loftis. All Rights Reserved.
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