Posted on 01/05/2008 9:05:25 AM PST by pissant
Manchester (NH): Fred Thompson spent most of caucus night in Iowa hovering between third and fourth place -- a far cry from the lofty first-place position he held in Rasmussen's poll of likely Republican caucus-goers last June. It has been a long time since Thompson has made a compelling reason to be in this race. And it should be a very short time before he confesses a compelling reason to exit stage right. A bystander in his own race, Thompson's political what-could-have-been slipped through his fingers long before he announced his candidacy. “The process for running for president has begun so early,” says GOP political strategist Charlie Gerow, “that if you are not in the game, you are not in the game … and Fred Thompson was never in the game.” Larry Sabato, who directs the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, says “the biggest loser of 2008 is already known: Fred Thompson. The biggest pre-candidacy buildup since Ted Kennedy in the 1980 cycle has led to the same result -- a failure to come close to fulfilling his high expectations.” The short story of Fred Thompson started just about a year ago at the conservative love-fest known as the Conservative Political Action Convention, or CPAC. There, hints of a Thompson hat-toss began. By late spring, he was all the rage. He hit his high note with a clever video smacking down docudrama king Michael Moore. Suddenly, the political and media worlds could not get enough of Fred. It was his shining moment -- except that Fred forgot to shine. Summer came and went. So did a whole lot of staff and a whole lot of opportunities.
His eventual announcement in September came with a hefty price tag -- the Republican Primary voters in New Hampshire. He chose to announce on Jay Leno’s show, bypassing the first New Hampshire debate the same evening.
“He was an attractive idea, an image, and the reality couldn’t match it,” Sabato says. “This may be the fate of anyone touted as the next Reagan. Reagan is no longer a man. He’s a myth. No living human being can fulfill those expectations.”
“My opinion of what happened to Fred Thompson is that he turned out to be ... Fred Thompson,” adds Matt Lebo, political science professor at New York’s Stony Brook University.
“I don't think it’s just his late entry -- that is just a symptom of the problem,” Lebo says. “The problem is that he has never shown a willingness to fight for conservative causes. Believing in those causes isn't enough. There should be some evidence that you are willing to do something about it.”
While comparisons have been made to the failed 2004 campaign of Wesley Clark, those may not be fair. Clark was a political novice; Thompson is not.
So why did Thompson go wrong?
“I think he was expecting to ride in, pick up the bouquet, and that would be that,” says Bert A. Rockman, head of the political science department at Purdue University. “It doesn’t work that way.
“People confuse appearance with reality. Thompson played hard-as-nails authority figures on TV and in the movies. But his campaign had no distinctiveness, no comparative advantage.”
Somehow, someone must have convinced Thompson that times had changed and he could run a different kind of campaign, one that suited his low-key approach to politics. A campaign sans rubber-chicken dinners, moldy bus tours and all the other degrading aspects of running for president.
Tack on the misconceptions that tens of millions of dollars were waiting for him, that he could easily round up organizational support -- and that pretty much sums up why the promise of Fred never happened.
As the country shifts its gaze toward New Hampshire, Thompson stands to fare even worse here than he did in Iowa. As of Friday morning, he was polling sixth among likely Republican voters.
So, the near-term question for Fred Thompson isn't if he drops out of the race but when.
Fred Is Not Dead. He will have to work hard to become better known. He isn't the knight in shining armor coming to rescue the Republicans, but he's not ready to be put out to pasture, either. (I love mixed metaphors.)
I'm caught between Fred and Mitt.
My advice to Fred is to get moving and get in front of the cameras at every opportunity and if the opportunity doesn't come to him, he should go to the opportunity.
Say it Loud and Say it Proud, Fred Dalton!
Uh Huh. Obama is riding at 37% nationally, so I guess he’s qualified to run the United States? Huckabee/Rudy/McCain are leading the national GOP race as well.
Jeb, and anyone else named Bush, will not be seen in presidential politics for the remainder of the century IMHO.
I don't recall ever actually seeing a post from you explaining why you dislike Fred as a candidate.
I understand you don't dislike Fred personally. So, you think he's a moderate? In what aspects is he more moderate than your candidate, Hunter?
No. They. Did. Not!
They pointed out their view of the entire context of what Fred may or may not have meant. As I said before, it really doesn't matter what you or I think. So stop wasting your breath trying to call me a liar when you cannot reconcile the fact that Fred has colored his perception to others all on his own.
Instead of repeating the same thing over and over again, I suggest we wait for the next few primaries to see what others think about Fred... hmmm?
but may be seen on Rushmore
Inability to run a campaign demonstrates a complete lack of leadership skills.
The inverse does not necessarily follow, nor should it. Campaign organizational skills are necessary, but not sufficient.
Ever study logic?
Wait, don’t bother to answer that. I know the answer.
Huh? I'm sorry, I don't do riddles...
“Huckabee has to bring a big bounce from Iowa and the early polls aren’t showing that. He won’t be the only “flash in the pan” to come out of Iowa.”
I thought Huckabee was leading in SC at the moment. Huckabee might drop out, but not before SC. As I see it Huckabee is Freds biggest threat. By pulling the evangelical votes he weakens Freds position. Fred and Huck are competing for the same voters and the same dollars. Agree with you about Mitt. If he doesn’t finish in the top 2 in NH he toast, although I guess he has enough money to hang around and play spoiler.
Backpedaling, John? You wouldn't have to do that if your original assertion wasn't demonstrably false. Next time I suggest you choose your words more carefully; you might not have to eat them again.
Yes. They. Did!! (What’s next, big red fonts?)
Words have meaning, you didn’t like the meaning of what he actually said, so you substituted your own. In doing so, you lied.
Oh I see your logic. All the Rudy McRombees of the world and Hillary Hussein Edwardses can run a strong campaigns, but not be qualified as CIC. It takes a special Tennessee touch, one that squanders a top ranking to dive to the low teens in order to be that guy.
If it is convention time and the choices are Mike Huckabee and Jeb Bush, who would you support?
The man actually said a lot more which explained his position. This was part of very candid and in depth answer to question Fred wanted to adequately address. Taking words out of context is intellectually dishonest and the specialty of the liberal media. Perhaps you don't know what he really said, but it was widely discussed here.
..........................
Q: My only problem with you and why I haven’t thrown all my support behind you is that I don’t know if you have the desire to be President. If I caucus for you next week, are you still going to be there two months from now?
…In the first place I got in the race about the time people normally get into it historically. The fact of the matter is that others started the process a lot earlier this time than they normally do. I think it was for some of them when they were juniors in high school.
APPLAUSE
That is a very good question, not because it’s difficult to answer, because, but I’m gonna answer it in a little different way than what you might expect.
In the first place, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t. I wouldn’t be doing this if i didn’t. I grew up very modest circumstances. I left government, I and my family have made sacrifices for me to be sitting here today. I haven’t had any income for a long time because I’m doing this. I figure that to be clean you’ve got to cut everything off. And I was doing speaking engagements and I had a contract to do a tv show, I had a contract with abc radio like I was talking about earlier and so forth. I guess a man would have to be a total fool to do all those things and to be leaving his family which is not a joyful thing at all if he didn’t want to do it.
But I am not consumed by personal ambition. I will not be devastated if I don’t do it. I want the people to have the best president that they can have.
When this talk first started, it didn’t originate with me. There were a lot of people around the country both directly and through polls, liked the idea of me stepping up. And of course, you always look better at a distance, I guess.
But most of those people are still there and think its a good idea. But I approached it from the standpoint of a deal. A kind of a marriage. If one side of a marriage has to be really talked into the marriage, it probably ain’t going to be a very good deal for either one of them. But if you mutually think that this is a good thing. In this case, if you think this is a good thing for the country, then you have an opportunity to do some wonderful things together.
I’m offering myself up. I’m saying that I have the background, the capability, and the concern to do this and I’m doing it for the right reasons. But I’m not particularly interested in running for president, but I think I’d make a good president.
Nowadays, the process has become much more important than it used to be.
I don’t know that they ever asked George Washington a question like this. I don’t know that they ever asked Dwight D. Eisenhower a question like this. But nowadays, it’s all about fire in the belly. I’m not sure in the world we live in today it’s a terribly good thing if a president has too much fire in the belly. I approach life differently than a lot of people. People, I guess, wonder how I’ve been as successful as I’ve been in everything I’ve done. I won two races in TN by 20 point margins, a state that Bill Clinton carried twice. I’d never run for office before. I’ve never had an acting lesson and I guess that’s obvious by people who’ve watched me. But when they made a movie about a case that I had when I took on a corrupt state administration as a lawyer and beat them before a jury. They made a movie about it and I wound up playing myself in the movie and yeah I can do that.
And when I did it, I did it. Wasn’t just a lark. Anything that’s worth doing is worth doing well. But I’ve always been a little bit more laid back than most. I like to say that I’m only consumed by very, very few things and politics is not one of them. The welfare of our country and our kids and grandkids is one of them.
If people really want in their president a super type-a personality, someone who has gotten up every morning and gone to bed every night and been thinking about for years how they could achieve the Presidency of the United States, someone who can look you straight in the eye and say they enjoy every minute of campaigning, I ain’t that guy. So I hope I’ve discussed that and hope I haven’t talked you out of anything. I honestly want - I can’t imagine a worse set of circumstances than achieving the presidency under false pretenses. I go out of my way to be myself because I don’t want anybody to think they are getting something they are not getting.
I’m not consumed by this process I’m not consumed with the notion of being President. I’m simply saying I’m willing to do what’s necessary to achieve it if I’m in sync with the people and if the people want me or somebody like me. I’ll do what I’ve always done in the rest of my life and I will take it on and do a good job and you’ll have the disadvantage of having someone who probably can’t jump up and click their heels three times but will tell you the truth and you’ll know where the President stands at all times.
Jeb, and yes I’m a Christian (call me born again or evangelical if you like). My biggest concern about Jeb is how he would handle illegal immigration. It would be nice to have a Bush in office who’s not subject to so many “idiot” jokes that I have received from my relatives. Don’t think it’s even a remote possibility though.
Hunter Duncan cannot escape the margin of error. He barely escapes the asterisk.
It looks to me like an elaborate exercise in vanity, or maybe to raise funds for his son’s congressional campaign.
I am a Fredhead, I have have been known by many to be quite the good reader. For example I read the article that put Fred’s “statement” that seems to be troubling you into it’s true context. The article you refuse to read as you stated in an earlier post.
For reading comprehension to take place the information must be presented to the eyes and from there to the processing centers of your mind.
So in your defense I shall disagree with my fellow “Fredheads” in attacking your ability to comprehend what you read, for I believe the issue is much simpler.
You elect to remain ignorance instead.
I think this is a positive for you, because reading comprehension is a difficult skill to master, trust me I see it all the time. However ignorance can simply be cured with knowledge...
BTW, if your first reaction to this is to call me an asshole, that's good, because I am and it means your reading comprehension is very sound.
Which is preferable to a candidate who has never had anything to squander.
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