While Politico’s bogus hit piece on Fred Thompson is being widely debunked, Fred Thompson showed biased hack Roger Simon the true meaning of integrity with his honest assessment of farm subsidy programs while talking to reporters in Iowa’s Bremer County:

AKD: What will you do for the farmers of Bremer County?

FT: (laughs)

AKD: You knew this was coming, right?

FT: I would continue to enjoy the fruits of their labor. I’ve been looking all over Iowa for a bad steak and I can’t find it. Been trying my best. It’s not a matter of what I would do for the farmers. Farmers are not looking for a president to hand them something. Farmers want fair treatment and a chance to prosper in a free economy and that’s what I would help ensure. There’s a lot of programs we’ve got out there, some of which are good programs, some of which are not. And I think that we need to work our way through that and make sure we’re doing what’s good for the country, not just the farmers, not just the people of Iowa, not just the people of Tennessee. But good for the country. A sound policy that makes sense. I think there’s a lot more that we could do for the working farmer in terms of ecological programs and environmental programs – land conservation, soil conservation – that would be fair and it would be beneficial to the nation and to Iowa and to our country. We’re going to have to phase out the corporate welfare system we’ve got, however. There are extremely rich people living in skyscrapers in Manhattan that are receiving subsidy payments. I think that’s wrong. I’d put a stop to that if it was within my power. That still continues in this latest Farm Bill and it’s not right. There ought to be a cutoff at some level and it’s not right ot have millionaires receiving farm subsidies.

Wow! Most politicians running would have been vague and supportive but Fred told the farmers of Iowa what they needed to hear to make a fair decision, even the things that some of the most powerful farmers wouldn’t like.

That’s integrity. Roger Simon told his readers what he wanted the story to be, disregarding the facts in the process. Simon isn’t unique in this as the MSM is constantly “interpreting” facts for the public. But Simon, as much as he’s just one of thousands of journalists who practice the same sort of fictionalizing, has presented himself as especially lacking in that one virtue I, and many other Americans, want in a leader. Integrity.

This act will unfortunately cost Fred some support, and Ace of Spades thinks it’s an example of Fred being more interested in proving his integrity than winning. But I guess that’s what integrity is sometimes, putting it ahead of personal gain.

For this especially I’m With Fred!