Posted on 10/08/2007 11:51:48 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
All he has to do is not fall asleep.
All he has to do is not throw up.
All he has to do is not drool.
Has there ever been a major presidential candidate with lower expectations on the eve of his first debate than Fred Thompson?
Though he is second in the national polls, the reviews of his campaigning thus far have been savage. He has been portrayed as a goober, a hick and a doofus. No, I take that back. He has been portrayed as a lazy goober, hick and doofus.
He has been portrayed as a guy who does not really want to run for President but is being pushed into it by his wife. (Which, even if true, would not be the first time in campaign history.)
He is depicted as the kind of man who would rather be sitting in a double-wide, sipping on a Yoo-hoo, eating a Moon Pie and watching "Jackass: Number Two" on DVD rather than occupying the Oval Office.
Never has there been an opportunity for any candidate to surprise his critics more.
There will be a two-hour debate Tuesday in Dearborn, Mich., sponsored by CNBC, MSNBC and The Wall Street Journal. It will focus on economic issues. The moderators will be Chris Matthews and Maria Bartiromo.
And all Thompson has to do to win is to exceed (very low) expectations.
Could he actually bone up for it? According to a Sept. 30 New York Times story, he is capable of rigorous study. As a senator, he "pored over legal tomes," brought a "lawyer's sensibility to his deliberations," focused on "green-eyeshade issues like budget and regulatory reform" and was a "stickler for preparation."
But is this the same Fred Thompson who has been campaigning for President recently? The Fred Thompson who, while campaigning in Florida, didn't know the details of the Terri Schiavo case or that some people want to drill for oil in the Everglades?
Clearly, there are two Fred Thompsons. There is one who gets his game on and one who slacks off.
Which one will show up on Tuesday?
When Arnold Schwarzenegger first ran for governor of California, his staff told me he spent long, grueling sessions getting information "downloaded" into his head.
Schwarzenegger knew people thought he was too stupid to be governor, and he knew he wasn't. All he had to do was exceed their expectations. He did not have to be some technocratic, know-it-all genius. He just had to be reasonably bright.
And he was. Schwarzenegger surprised many by doing just fine in a televised debate in 2003, surged in the polls and won.
If Fred Thompson gives an unexpectedly good performance Tuesday -- if he is reasonably bright and energetic -- he could jump to the head of the pack.
But if he comes across as an ignoramus and a slacker, it could be the end of his campaign.
As the only new face on the stage, he will be a large target. And it could go like this:
Matthews: So, Sen. Thompson, tell us where you stand on SCHIP.
Thompson: I don't really know about SCHIP, Chris. I am more of a Chips Ahoy! man. They are some kind of delicious.
Matthews: SCHIP is the State Children's Health Insurance Program. It is not a cookie.
Thompson: Well, Chris, Chips Ahoy! is not just a cookie. It is the chocolate chunks everybody wants.
That would not be good. That would be bad. After nearly seven years of George W. Bush, voters may have a heightened desire for competence and a grasp of the issues, rather than a warm personality and a folksy smile.
I interviewed Thompson last week, and I asked him if he was prepping for the debate.
"I'll have to do a few things to get ready for that, that's for sure," he told me. "I am probably a little rusty on my sound-bite delivery.
Unfortunately, that is kind of what it boils down to. But hopefully I will be able to hang with them."
And that's all he has to do. Hang with them. Or else he will surely hang alone.
If Fred does not make any mistakes tomorrow the MSM is going to be scrambling for a new negative narrative on him. They’ll come up with something, of course, but the one they have now (lazy, vague, uninformed, soporific) requires that Fred make some sort of tangible mistake.
So they punt.
They can't just ignore his existance like they have done to Duncan Hunter, so they will ridicule him (like Bob Dole), try to portray him in as bad a light as possible (like Gerald Ford), or otherwise minimize him to put the debate back to the candidates the Democrat Liberal MSM picked as the Republican "front runners".
That way they control the level of disarray in the Republican ranks, and the level of dissatisfaction with the whole mess, increasing the likelyhood of a Dem win in '08.
Seems pretty basic to me.
Is the writer on crack, from another planet, or just a lib (aka "stupid")?
I can't recall a candidate with BIGGER expectations, ever--he was drafted, people expect nothing but greatness from him.
How much did the writer donate to the Kucinick campaign?
He was right.
Regards
The RNC hacks in D.C. are stuck on stupid allowing Chris Matthews to moderate a GOP primary debate...
What the hell is the matter with the Republican National Committee???
They are peeing all over their shoes...
I wish all the candidates would walk off the stage, tell the RNC and the media to go get bent.
*What the hell is the matter with the Republican National Committee???*
Busy renewing their membership to the Country Club
It is obvious to me that Chrissy will do all he can to damage anyone who poses a threat to the Dems, and my bet is that any 'attack' on Rudy will be a pulled punch to make Rudy appear better.
Rudy is the most divisive candidate in the race, the one most likely to split the party and help get a Dem in the White House.
Besides, if he gets the nod, the Dems will take the gloves off and scuttle him, just as they would any of the MSM annointed front runners (Rudy, McCain, or Romney).
Fred is a wild card because they cannot ignore him out of existance, which is being done with others in the race.
Keep in mind, though, Hillary's crowd is STILL sitting on the data from those 900+ FBI files on "leading Republicans", and some chickens may be coming home to roost.
As a thoughtful voter, I've expressed major concern for Senator Thompson's performance tonight. Mostly because I've already omitted Giuliani and Romney for their consistent use of socialist policy during their administrations. I'm really hopeful Fred Thompson can articulate his conservative positions and communicate his viewpoints without coming across as another "Bob Dole".
Here's to wishing Senator Thompson well... Yes, I have a very real fear of that. If Fred can deliver, I'll be ecstatic.
What the hell is the matter with the Republican National Committee???
Classic autism. A condition, not a dis-order.
I imagine Fred will be Fred. Just as Duncan is always Duncan. Don’t worry about the MSM. They are idiots who only wish they had a 10th of what good people have.
I’d like to see him lighten up the debate by playing the role of Chauncey the gardener just for the heck of it.
“He is depicted as the kind of man who would rather be sitting in a double-wide, sipping on a Yoo-hoo, eating a Moon Pie and watching “Jackass: Number Two” on DVD rather than occupying the Oval Office.”
Isn’t that the kind of President we really need?
Not really. He is fairly accurately describing how the media talks about Thompson.
Matthews doing a Republican debate on PMSNBC?
How about Hannity moderating a Dem debate on Fox?
I think he did know about those things. Perhaps he "didn't know" what he wanted to say at that time and in that place. Or perhaps he determined it was best to avoid those topics until he goes national.
Hillary's not the only "cagey" candidate.
Remember boys & girls - all Republican candidates lack the intelligence of their Democratic counterparts. If you don’t believe me just ask the MSM. They’ll tell you so.
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