Yes, His Name Is Fred

After hitting new lows in going after his wife, the Washington Post, which apparently people still take seriously, now goes off on the name Fred.

Yes, seriously.

I can't quite figure what they're driving at here, but I guess the idea is to make him look stupid.

Instead, they come off as complete idiots.

Fred, Fred, Fred: Thompson's Challenge Has a Name

In the swampy soup of hopefuls for the 2008 presidential election, there is a man with a funny name. (No, not that one.)

We're thinking of the one named Fred (Thompson).

Say it out loud. Do it. Fred. Fred. In the South, Fray-ud.

Fur-red-duh.

It has the tonal quality of something being dropped on the floor, something heavy and damp-ish.

Waterlogged paper towel.

Fred.

The phonetics of the name seem integral to its image problem: On Urbandictionary.com, a "Fred" is defined as "a person who does stupid, annoying, or idiotic things" (Fred Flintstone, Fred Mertz). The best-case descriptors a Fred can hope for are terms like well-intentioned, predictable, benign (Fred Rogers).

There has never before been a major presidential candidate named Fred. There were two Alfreds, in 1928 and 1936. But Alfred, being all British and Batman-y, is not the same.

Ironically, he author of this idiocy is named Monica.

Oh yes, Monica. Conjures up images of fat interns, blowjobs, and Bill Clinton.

Say it again. Monica. Monica. Blowjobs. Slick Willie. Blue dress. Monica.