Actually, my post was mostly meant to be funny, and to remind people that trivial comparisons to fictional people in movies isn’t always safe.
However, I’ve always been a Fred supporter. My criticism of him has been things he could correct if he wanted to. I was an early fred supporter. I was supporting the fred movement back in 2006 (when I was worried Fred would be too moderate for my hard-right conservative peers here at FR).
I wrote e-mails encouraging him to run, I sent him money. I wanted him to clear the field and be the conservative flag-bearer. I thought he had the capacity to communicate the conservative message in a way that would sell it to independents.
Then he made a series of acts that I did not like, and I think others didn’t like either since his poll numbers fell through the floor. Appearing on Leno instead of the NH debate. Saying we should do one-on-one debates and then refusing to do so when Huckabee took him up on his challenge. Blowing off church. Being utterly dismissive of Dobson and the voters he “represents” (as a strategic matter, not a moral one, morally I understood why he did it, just thought it was stupid).
He left the opening for Huckabee. He didn’t campaign hard (people yell when you say that, and attacked when people said it before, but now look at how many fred supporters are saying “this is what we wanted to see”, which is a really good indication that what we saw before was NOT what they wanted to see).
He had a “take me or leave me” attitude, which a few here found charming, but I found absurd — because I want all the voters to TAKE him, and a real candidate SHOULD care that voters accept his message, if he really believes his message.
But now maybe we are seeing signs of a new Thompson, a Thompson who has decided that he DOES care whether people vote for him or not, that he DOES want to convince people of the rightness of his philosophy, and not simply get the votes of people who already agree with him.
That’s a better explanation for my disgust with his previous approach. When he would say “this is who I am, take me or leave me”, it was like saying “if you already agree with my philosophy, vote for me, if you don’t, vote for someone else”.
But conservatives are decidedly a MINORITY in the election, and in order to win Fred needs to say “if you agree with my philosophy, vote for me. If you disagree, HERE IS WHY YOU SHOULD CHANGE YOUR MIND AND VOTE FOR ME”.
Anyway, if he’s doing it now, he might be too late, but there’s no going back now.
I’d feel a lot better if Huckabee and McCain didn’t look like the winners.
Meanwhile, Romney has always looked professional, he’s a solid conservative, he speaks well, and has worked his butt off for over a year to convince people that his message is the right message for the country. That’s what I want to see, so I put him first in my list. If he is unelectable, he won’t win our primary, and if not, I sure hope Fred is the one who wins.
No he is not. He thinks he’s subtly being cute with his Go Fred! statement after “goes home”.