Former Tennessee Senator (and part-time actor) Fred Thompson is kicking off his presidential campaign tonight with a media blitz that will include an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
Thompson is intentionally missing tonight's GOP presidential debate, a tactic that guarantees a much larger audience for his presidential announcement.
The Thompson camp is also releasing an Internet streaming video statement tonight at midnight, another way of fanning the media flames to his advantage.
Thompson seems to have considerable appeal among Republicans in the South and right here in Oklahoma. Mike McCarville at the McCarville Report Online, for example, has been promoting Thompson for weeks. You can even make a contribution to Thompson's campaign by clicking the correct box on McCarville's site.
Yet Thompson's recent "testing the waters" activities have raised a number of questions about Thompson's political viability. His views on a number of policies dear to conservatives have shifted from his earlier positions or have not been clear. His staff has been in turmoil. At times, he's appeared indecisive. Questions have been raised about his years as a lobbyist. Finally and perhaps most importantly, he hasn't raised as much money as the experts expected.
Will Thompson ride in on a wave of good publicity and save the flagging fortunes of the GOP presidential candidates?
Our crystal ball is cloudy on this point. But given the demoralized state of the GOP after seven years of the Bush presidency, even Fred Thompson may need a truly heroic performance to make it all the way to the White House.
4 comments:
...given the demoralized state of the GOP after seven years of the Bush presidency, even Fred Thompson may need a truly heroic performance to make it all the way to the White House.
Problem is, the same can be said of all the candidates on both sides. For instance, Mrs. Clinton is so despised by so many that she will almost need the intervention of God Himself to win--and she's the current frontrunner!
It's kind of like that old baseball manager said to his left fielder:"Son, you got left field so fouled up, can't no one play it!"
I would beg to differ. The GOP field is seriously weak, and the blind Messiah-fication of late-arrival Thompson is a measure of that weakness.
W has plenty of time left for more serious mistakes, and he will use it to the full. The GOP candidates will ride W's coattails right down the drain until they are forced to out-"et tu, Brute?" each other on W as the election approaches.
The only thing Bush has united is the Democratic Party.
You know, I will be disappointed and a little surprised if a Democrat wins the White House in '08; I get the feeling that your entire view of the world will come unpeeled in one long, thin strip. There seems to be no doubt in your mind that a Democratic presidency is inevitable.
But we'll find out soon enough how it goes down.
Nope, nothing about politics in this country is inevitable, as Rove found to his sorrow. Still, I am optimistic.
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