Fred! The Story Behind the Video

Salena Zito

On Tuesday morning, Mark Corallo, the undeclared Thompson's frontman, had clicked on to the massively popular Internet news aggregator, the Drudge Report, to find that Moore had challenged Thompson to a political duel, also known as a debate.

"Within the space of about five minutes we decided to do a quick video response," Corallo recalled from his Washington office. He called Thompson and asked if he wanted to "have some fun today" and respond to Moore with a quick video.

Thompson's response was "pure Fred," Corallo said:

"Give me a camera. I already know what I am going to say," said Thompson.

Two phone calls and one camera later, Thompson was ready to go. One "take" later -- with no script, no booking time in a studio and no opposition research or talking points -- Thompson was shot into cyberspace.

Thompson scorched Moore in his witty video, dangling an unlit (Cuban?) cigar alongside a civics lesson that pointed out the perils of Moore's collaborating with the fickle dictator Fidel Castro.

"His video response was all him," said Corallo; it was not written, prepared or massaged by anyone else. "It was literally Fred being Fred."

Nice.

2008 Race Posted by AlexC at May 20, 2007 11:29 AM