Now pay close attention here, ok?
I’m not talking about the fact that Thompson is literally not Reagan, I’m talking about the fact that so far as political instincts, drive, the ol’ ‘fire in the belly’ factor, Thompson isn’t even a shadow of the Gipper.
He talks a fairly good game when he’s awake, but his own un-Reagan like laziness and lack of drive in this primary season means only one thing, and that is that he is not going to be the GOP nominee, not because he isn’t conservative enough, not because he’s wrong on the issues, he will fail to be the nominee because he let other candidates gain advantages that he will play Hell trying to overcome, and the odds are he’s not going to do it.
When Reagan was challenging Ford in ‘76, he fought on with everything he had, right to the convention floor, even naming his own Vice Presidential choice in hopes of smoking out who Ford was going to select as a replacement for Nelson Rockefeller (who Ford jettisoned from the ticket because conservatives rightly were in an uproar over Rockefeller being appointed VP in the first place).
The final score card was Ford = 15 primary wins, Reagan = 12, which led to the convention floor where Ford eventually prevailed.
As for ‘who’ of the other candidates is closer to Reagan’s policies? Here’s your answer:
NONE, which makes Thompson’s quasi-Reaganesgue bid for the title of ‘Mr Conservative’ meaningless because he is now positioned as the ‘default’ conservative candidate, but his own lackluster campaigning has made his electoral doom even more likely than ever before.
As for my “having to vote for one of them or vote Democrat”, let me remind you Mr. FC, that all I have to do in this life is pay taxes and die.
If the Republicrat Party becomes the RINO Party, they will be partying on without me.