Fox producer joins Team Fred

Posted: Friday, July 27, 2007 10:49 AM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: Congress, Republicans

From NBC's Mike Viqueira
The word spreading all over Capitol Hill today is that longtime Fox senior congressional producer Jim Mills is leaving his booth on the House side to join the Fred Thompson quasi-campaign as spokesman. NBC has confirmed that Mills will join Thompson's organization effective August 20.

Lot's of "OMG" and even "OMFG" being traded on the e-mail this morning among staffers and press because Mills is something close to a legend on the House side. Known for his pugnacious (yet jocular) style, everyone from Speaker Pelosi to the cashiers down in the basement have gotten a kick out of "Millsy" at one time or another, and in one form or another.

Full disclosure: Over the years, Mills and I have been fierce competitors and close friends. I have known him to be a creative and perceptive individual who never played favorites. Most everyone comes away from an encounter with him with a smile on their face, with some notable exceptions among members -- both Rs and Ds -- who trip his BS alarm.

See ya around, Millsy.

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Comments

A Fox guy for Fred? Hmmm. Bill O'Reilly a possibility for Secretary of State?

Steve Turner Cedar Falls Iowa (Sent Friday, July 27, 2007 10:56 AM)

Will he be the vp for fred?this fox fair and balanced becomes funnier everyday.Porkchop Hannity slobbered on old fred yesterday----sure is funny to watch him as he is probably picturing himself sitting in an important seat in washington.

HMT (Sent Friday, July 27, 2007 11:04 AM)

On my website and in my columns I keep telling folks, don't underestimate Fred Thompson. Just because he is smart and held back lettting folks pick on him, does not mean he is weak.

I could count up I guess, but I believe all his competitors combined have spent over one hundred million dollars and many wlll not be where he is in September.

Hide and watch. A formidable man with gorilla tactics. Mr. President

Don Jones
MyManFred.com

Don Jones, Madison, TN (Sent Friday, July 27, 2007 11:17 AM)

On my website and in my columns I keep telling folks, don't underestimate Fred Thompson. Just because he is smart and held back letting folks pick on him, does not mean he is weak.

I could count up I guess, but I believe all his competitors combined have spent over one hundred million dollars and many wlll not be where he is in September.

Hide and watch. A formidable man with gorilla tactics. Mr. President, Ah yes.

Don Jones
MyManFred.com

Don Jones, Madison, TN (Sent Friday, July 27, 2007 11:18 AM)

Fred who?

American voter (Sent Friday, July 27, 2007 11:23 AM)

Now Hannity will be extra sweet for Fred. I guess the hidden meaning is that a percieved common sense guy is backing Fred. We'll see...

CJ (Sent Friday, July 27, 2007 11:47 AM)

Don Jones if you have Fred's ear tell him to pick Condi as his VP, Let's really shake things up :-)

Dave, Tn (Sent Friday, July 27, 2007 11:54 AM)

Oh by all means Dave, have Mr. goofy pick Condi(closet lesbo) as his running mate. Can't you repubs pick out the hidden gays in your party yet? Besides, she helped start and then go along with this faked up disaster of a war. Good choice Dave. Your just like the clueless president you idolize!

bb (Sent Friday, July 27, 2007 12:08 PM)

Sounds about right. The Fred we all see is a media creation right down to his leased red pickup. The real Fred is a successful attorney, long-time Washington lobbyist, and mole for Nixon on the Watergate committee.

John B, Des Moines, IA (Sent Friday, July 27, 2007 12:10 PM)

I thought he was working for Bush and Faux Newz.

Wouldn't it have been more efficient to let him stay on at Faux Newz and work for Fred ?
Then, if someone else wins the Republican nomination he can work for him a Faux Newz.
Just like the other 'news men' (sic) at Faux.

Sierra, San Francisco (Sent Friday, July 27, 2007 1:09 PM)

Wow, a left leaning media reports that a 'perceptive, creative' person joins Fred team and all I hear is blathering. And there goes bb(brainsize?) again. Appearently for a Democrat your also a bigot and a racist. Do your party a favor crawl back under the rock.
Why should Fred have joined this premature self indulgent ego fest that the candidates (R&D) started so, so, early this time. What will they do in '13, declare & start raising millions in 2010? What the heck, Chelsea needs to start her exploritory committee in March 2009. Whether he wins, or not, his timing is perfect. Wish they all would have shut up and waited this long.

RH Oregon (Sent Friday, July 27, 2007 1:11 PM)

ah the party of tolerance. Got to love those Liberals who attack people for "what" they are instead of their ideas. (IF that's true) I've heard that kind of trash from you Liberals before. I could care less if she's gay or not. She could stomp a mud hole in any of your light weight democrats in a debate.

As far idolizing Bush goes. I didn't have a choice in 2000, and 2004 that's how freaking sorry your party has become.

DAve, Tn (Sent Friday, July 27, 2007 1:18 PM)

How can a TV producer, even a legendary one at that, come close to being an effective spokesperson? There are actual (very hard to obtain) skills required for this job that a TV producer will know absolutely nothing about. It shows how little this particular campaign understands what it takes to win.

Steven K. Marshel , Washington, D.C. (Sent Friday, July 27, 2007 1:20 PM)

So, two items ago first read was telling us that Fred was imploding with "expectations dropping like a rock".
Now Mills, a "creative and perceptive individual" is joining Team Fred.

Looks like that last item could have used some perception.

NV FredHead (Sent Friday, July 27, 2007 1:58 PM)

DaveTN,
We did have a very good candidate in 2000 - but all you snubrepubs choose an absolutel idiot instead. As far as 2004 goes - we could have had an excellent candidate but you all choose to swap parties for the primary only to vote for Kerry, cause you knew shurb would never have been able to debate John Edwards. So stay out of my primary and I'll stay out of yours, cause this time I have the opportunity to cross party lines and vote for "dress me up and marry me again Rudy", something I am (and about 1,000 other people in my county are)considering just to deprive Fred his dream lazy man's job. Payback is hell, right?
Not sure what ideas Fred has, been waiting to hear them but so far - not much of anything I can read or hear going on. Not supprised about that.
Condi- well I don't think she is gay - don't care if she is or not, my problem with her is her obvious star-struck love of shrub (a married shrub at that!).

Union Baby, Tennessee (Sent Friday, July 27, 2007 3:44 PM)

Why illiterates post in this type of forum is beyond me. Many of these half wits couldnt name the two senators of the state they live in. Im sick of all these 75 I.Q. geniuses. Go watch Matlock reruns, or make some peace beads.

Dan Jacobi (Sent Friday, July 27, 2007 5:15 PM)

Who cares about Fred Thompson? He will not win the republican nomination. And if by some miracle he manages to win it, he has 0 chance of winning the general election. If you don`t believe me, just check the Rasmussen hypothetical match-ups. Thompson can`t beat any of the top democrats.

Peterson (Sent Friday, July 27, 2007 7:58 PM)

> Im sick of all these 75 I.Q. geniuses.

Dan you are so wrong about IQs being 75.

40 tops.

Ben Steele, Hattersburg, MS (Sent Friday, July 27, 2007 11:27 PM)

DAILY KOS Joins Team Democrat. You guys at First Read can figure this out. [Oh. And the last time I checked, those burned bodies twisting in the Iraqi wind hung by their necks and feet that KOS arrogantly dismissed with a ''screw them'' statement,calling them ''mercenaries'' ,were still Americans]. How Democrats can hang with guys like this amazes me. How MSNBCs First Read can get worked up over a FOX boss[whose own boss pads Hillarys campaign wallet], while totally ignoring the crap being spewed by KOS which is beneath the contempt of every sane American, does not. Thou Art Shills. Not ''journalists''. Mencken would have eaten you people for lunch. Shirer would have spat you out without even chewing.

Lee Holmes (Sent Saturday, July 28, 2007 3:03 AM)

My-my, BB, Goofy(Fred) and Closet lisbo(Condi)? How non-judgemental(or mental) and Librel of you to say that, that way. DemoRAT are we? How about we talk about the Dummycrat front runners? You know Snowblack and the seven dwarfs!
SNOWBLACK, AKA FAT A**: Hillary
Grumpy: Gravel
Stymy: Obama Hussian
Tyron the pimp: Edwards
Sleepy:Dodd
Stupid:Biden
Sancho Panza:Richardson(What kind of name is that for a Mexican?)
Sloppy the figit:Kuchinich

RangerRon (Sent Saturday, July 28, 2007 8:10 AM)

Dan Jacobi, thanks for your consideration and tolerance of the opinions of others. My senators are Grassley and Harkin. My IQ is 154 and I had a 33 ACT score. Go attend a John Birch Society meeting or blow off some steam at the shooting range. Do you have anything substantive to say? Didn't think so. Thanks for playing.

John B, Des Moines, IA (Sent Saturday, July 28, 2007 9:20 AM)

MORE OF THE SAME. INSIDE THE GOOD OLD BOYS' NETWORK. YAWN. ALL IMAGE. WHERE'S THE BEEF? INNOVATION? NEW IDEAS? IT'S ALL SPIN, NO SUBSTANCE. BORING.

ClaireB (Sent Saturday, July 28, 2007 12:45 PM)

At the S.C. Straw poll congressman Barret turned me and Quite few others.Fred won with more than half the votes.With great help ,Fred will be president hunter V.P.

chris jordan, murrells inlet,S.C. (Sent Saturday, July 28, 2007 4:43 PM)

Steven wrote: "How can a TV producer, even a legendary one at that, come close to being an effective spokesperson? There are actual (very hard to obtain) skills required for this job that a TV producer will know absolutely nothing about. It shows how little this particular campaign understands what it takes to win."

Is Television not a form communication in and of itself? Have you ever worked in or for a television company and know what amounts of communication skills are required to perform the lowest jobs in a TV company? And to be a executive producer of even a menial show? I'd think twice about what you wrote. And I'm sure Fred Thompson has people that can coach him on the finer points of dealing with the press, though I'm sure he knows plenty more than most in that regard. Good move Fred.

Brent, Somewhere, Michigan (Sent Sunday, July 29, 2007 11:56 PM)

Fred is playing things so smart in this "preseason." He is letting most candidates spend tons of $$$ and pound on each other while most people are at the beach or otherwise not watching politics. Meanwhile he has the GOP base interested in him and he has the antis and "haters" spinning and jumping up and down like puppets for him already (While, again, most people aren't even following politics and are having fun. Politics junkies might try a little of that this summer. It's still a ways off to vote no matter how far ahead they hot shot the primaries) So he is doing great and getting a good, easy going media person who knows everyone well and knows the procedure is another great move. He also is admitting he can't do all the media stuff himself which is smart and the move of a smart candidate.

By the way, why are they moving up the Primaries? Is it to get Hillary and other "established front runners" the advantage? If they had done that in 2004 Howard Dean may have been the nominee and self destructed after, not before, getting the nomination.

David Powell, Cape May County, NJ (Sent Monday, July 30, 2007 11:00 AM)

Oh ye of little faith. There are three and one half runners, the half is Obama looking for VP. The three are Hillary, Rudy and Fred. A tight race.

Don Jones
MyManFred.com

Don Jones - Madison, TN (Sent Monday, July 30, 2007 11:06 AM)

Mills....? are you kinda sorta discribing Texas Bush The Cowboy You Wanta Have a BEER With? Oh but might have a brain?

H P Boston (Sent Tuesday, July 31, 2007 2:24 PM)

to bb,
you are a complete idiot. I had rather have our military killing terrorists in Iraq than them being over here. The last time I checked, we still have an all volunteer army. George Bush is protecting you, you idiot. If Fred Thompson decides to run, he will win hands down.

jimmy flake, walnut, ms (Sent Tuesday, July 31, 2007 8:37 PM)

if bush is my protector i'm gonna have to start praying harder he's run the army so far in the ground that he just might have to hit the battlefield, along with cheny and his medics,geeesh, protector my ass. jimmy flake, you must be a flake to think your president has protected any of us. he went into a country on false pretenses after 911 and overthrew an evil dictator only so he and his neocon buddies could set up strategic bases to control the oil that's more precious than our young men and womens blood. the religous right should revel in his accomplishments while they pay hommage to the many legless and armless vets that aren't coming home in a body bag. stop watching fox noise and tune in to the free speech channel or catch keith olbermann for the real news and updates. let o'rielly and hannity spread their propaganda as i truely believe they do it for the money, ain't no one that damn stupid

b. mcpeek (Sent Sunday, August 05, 2007 9:54 PM)

to b.mcpeek
I doubt after reading some of the language in your reply, that your prayer would get in higher than your head. All I heard was how the Democrats were going to make such a big difference when they took over congress, well, they haven't done anything that I can see except bash George Bush. How thankful I am that John Kerry is not our president. And by the way, you are an idiot for your stupid views.

Jimmy Flake Walnut, Ms (Sent Thursday, August 16, 2007 6:49 PM)

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