He Took The Deal
By Mitch Berg
Fred Thompson is out.
Thompson had a great voice for conservatives in the race, but he had the weakest track record. He only had eight years in the Senate, no executive experience, and a mixed voting record. As a presidential nominee facing either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, the inexperience factor would have been negated — perhaps the GOP’s greatest potential strength — and his reluctance to campaign as necessary in today’s political market would have put the Republicans at even more of a disadvantage. In those senses, Romney, Giuliani, and McCain have better credentials and more upside for November.
Rated purely on the issues, Fred was my favorite Republican (ergo, candidate) in the race, and the closest to a solid conservative.
With two weeks until Super-Di-Duper Tuesday, my short list is looking like this:
- Mitt and Rudy in a dead heat. I may need to re-score the grading (stay tuned), but at this point it’s a tossup for me.
- JMac is in a distant third, but if he gets the nomination, he’s still vastly better than any alternative from the left (even Bill Richardson, should he jump back into the race and somehow win the Tic nomination).
- The Hucker? Again – better than Madame Putin, Silkypony or Obie, but it’s not gonna be an issue. No way he comes out of Super-Di-Super Tuesday on his feet.
Thompson was a long-shot all along, and those of us who wanted a “real” conservative should have known it – if not up-front, then as his campaign started slow and stayed somnambulent.
Blah.
So it becomes a choices of who’s “good enough”-enough; Rudy the hawk and fiscal conservative, Mitt the fiscal whiz and foreign-policy naif, or JMac the conservative with the asterisk.
More later.
January 22nd, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Is it because he’s a lesbian?
January 22nd, 2008 at 4:01 pm
JMac the conservative with the asterisk.
I think that’s being generous.
January 22nd, 2008 at 4:02 pm
I’m still waiting for Haley Barber to get in the race. When is the Mississippi primary?
January 22nd, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Ahem.
He wasn’t sure if he should run,
Then found out that it wasn’t fun.
So he’ll go back and do TV,
Until the call from Romeny.
(I know, it’s Romney. Sue me.)
January 22nd, 2008 at 4:41 pm
First Thompson, then Brownback, then Tancredo, then Hunter, and now the other Thompson.
January 22nd, 2008 at 4:47 pm
What was the line….when Fred was being interviewed by a network show, it looked like he had at least 2 or 3 other things he’d rather be doing.
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Yes, which is exactly why I liked Fred for the job. He didn’t want to play games, he wanted to get some serious work done. Heaven knows the country needs it, and it needs to be done on solid conservtive priniciples or it won’t work.
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Agree with J.Ewing… how refreshing to see someone as an anti-Hillary or anti-Edwards, who clearly want this office so bad they can taste it.
January 23rd, 2008 at 3:23 pm
From Kathryn Jean Lopez:
~~~~
When he was on Meet the Press a while back, Claremont’s Seth Leibsohn said, admiringly, “Fred came off like his hour there was not the most important thing he had to do that day.” There’s something attractive about that. And that it won’t get you elected president is today’s reality, it’s a reality to reflect on.
January 23rd, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Lazy, inattentive… What’s not to admire? “Reaganesque” in Wingnutspeak.
January 24th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Apparently, that third stage of syphilis is still clinging on to AC.
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