I agree with Boardwalk -- the media did pick our candidate.
First of all, it had us all panicked into thinking, "Whoever can beat Hillary!" And that held on to the very end; Obama came out of the blue. But after having so many very big-government politicians on the Republican side, the center had shifted so far left that Obama was possible.
Second, the MSM did, and still does, manufacture the perceived popularity of candidates. The very truth that so many liberals win by vote fraud (Al Franken, anyone?) is proof enough that the popularity level is illusion. Democrats and liberals have to cheat to win because if they didn't, they'd lose because most voters would reject their guy.
Third, even purported conservative-friendly Fox snubbed Thompson, plain and simple. I lost all respect for Britt Hume. Thompson accomplished on a small budget and a fraction of the time frame of his opponents, to place equal to Romney; I remember in one state he beat Romney! He was right on his tail, and was the only candidate Rush Limbaugh identified, and I quote, as "the one conservative on the stage." If you watched the debate, you saw that he was the only candidate to buck the environmentalist global warming hooey, the THIRD RAIL.
People, I mean to tell you, no matter WHO the candidate ... that was newsworthy.
Yet nary a flicker of interest from Britt. Thompson was, to them, the invisible candidate. I like Fox, but I don't trust it any more than I trust the other MSM corporate-thinks.
It was disgusting. My contempt for the lack of honor in news reporting runs deep.
Thompson did not have the energy to run.
The media wasn’t the cause of that.
He was drafted to run because he didn’t really want it, and to win a nomination or a election you have to really want it.
Fred had the right stance on the issues, but it takes more than that. He didn’t have it.