Fred Thompson makes it official... he is running.

[Rural King]

^ Fred Thompson is having a fundraising drive across the entire state of Tennessee this week, which says a whole lot about the condition of his fundraising efforts if he has to milk his home state this early and thoroughly in the game.

[Charlotteman]

Looks like the media are gonna go after Fred Thompson afterall. More specifically they are calling his wife a "trophy wife". The media are such snakes.

Also today Thompson referred to Russia as the Soviet Union!

[cinco]

Also today Thompson referred to Russia as the Soviet Union!

[MZT]

I went to see Fred Thompson speak in SC a few weeks ago. It was only about 15 minutes long and full of generalities... half of it he just spent describing his history in the senate representing Tennesee. He answered maybe 5 softball questions from the crowd and everyone dispersed. He is not an inspiring candidate.

Also, for some web snickering, check out http://www.FredThompsonForum.com - I think it was originally intended to be a real forum for people to discuss Fred. But it's been infiltrated by so many hecklers and trolls, that it has become a complete spoof site. Fred does not have enough real, live supporters to keep this kind of thing in check.

[monsoon]

Thompson has been compared to Reagan but I sure don't see him taking off like Reagan did in 1976. Yes I am talking about 1976 when Reagan had gotten so popular in the part of the GOP that Thompson is courting, that he felt confident enough to challenge Gerald Ford in that GOP primary. Reagan lost, but Ford lost the election to Carter. By 1980 when Reagan did win, he was big news. Thompson isn't even in the same galaxy.

[JDC]

Anyone catch "Fred Thompson" on Saturday Night Live? The upside to Thompson winning the presidency would be more of Darrell Hammond's stellar presidential impersonations.

VIDEO: "How do you campaign when you don't like hard work and people make you sick?"

[monsoon]

Thompson will be on the GOP "Debate" today at 4pm Eastern. (it will be re-broadcast later on MSNBC) It's interesting to note that one of his debating coaches is Dick Cheney's son in law.

So far Thompson's best attempt at copying Reagan is to make the statement: "Lets keep doing what works and stop doing what doesn't work".

[Rural King]

^Thompson is trying to so hard to be Reagan he mentioned the lack of action by the USSR in regards to Iran the other day. LOL

The debate tonite will be a leading indicator about the future of his candidacy. Interesting enough the political operatives and pundits are alreadly lowering the bar for his performance, of course they did that for Bush too and he got the nomination by meeting those low expectations back in 2000.

[Charlotteman]

Last night MSNBC did a segment on Fred Thompson's uninspired candidacy. Several video clips of his latest appearances were shown.

In every clip, you could close your eyes and almost sense being at a funeral. Solemn. Serious. No laughing. Quiet enough to hear a pin drop. And Thompson's demeanor was like that of a funeral director.

At one event the audience was so zombie-like that Thompson had to prompt them to applaud.

[monsoon]

Former President Nixon, (i.e Tricky Dicky) had this to say about Thompson when Thompson gained national attention in 1973 when he was appointed as Republican council in the Senate Watergate hearings.

Nixon: "Oh crap, he's dumb as hell, Fred Thompson. Who is he? He won't say anything".

[Charlotteman]

Former President Nixon, (i.e Tricky Dicky) had this to say about Thompson when Thompson gained national attention in 1973 when he was appointed as Republican council in the Senate Watergate hearings.

Nixon: "Oh crap, he's dumb as hell, Fred Thompson. Who is he? He won't say anything".

[monsoon]

Nixon and his VP, Gerald Ford, were the last of the moderate wing of the GOP to hold office. After that Reaganism, the southern strategy, and the religious right took over the party and transformed the GOP into what we see today. Nixon is basically only remembered for Watergate, but in terms of foreign policy he was light years ahead of anyone in the Reagan/Bush camp. I fault Nixon on letting Vietnam drag on too long, but I also credit him as the real force behind what ended the cold war. Revisionists like to say this was Reagan's doing but the ground work that made that possible was actually Nixon's doing.

My guess is that if Watergate had not happened, Nixon would be remembered much more fondly and the one pointed to as the example instead of Reagan and the dullards now trying to emulate him.

[Charlotte_native]

Tricky Dick was wrong on lots of points, but this is one time he got it right. Thompson is the epitome of a DULLARD. The American people don't wanna be put to sleep with they hear a presidential speech.

During the opening to China in the early 1970s, Nixon said a similarly disparaging comment about George H.W.Bush. When secret groundwork was being laid for the trip to China, Bush 41's name came up as someone to lay the initial groundwork. Nixon immediately shot the suggestion down and questioned 41's intellect.

Nixon was apparently a pretty good judge of intelligence.

[monsoon]

^Indeed. It does seem however that Thompson's campaign is fizzling out some despite this attempts to attract bubba.

[Charlotteman]

According to the news last night, Thompson has not campaigned in a while, and apparently the ex Senator has no schedule of appearances.

Perhaps he is realizing about himself what we have known for a while--he isn't up to the job. In appearances and the debate, he seemed not to even want the presidency.

[monsoon]

This weekend the religious conservative arm of the GOP held a "values summit" where all of the the contenders came to speak. Afterwards there was a straw poll combined with an online poll that has been going on for about a month. Thompson only got 9.8 percent of the vote vs Romney and Huckabee at 27+%, and even Ron Paul getting 15%.

Of the people who actually came to the summit, Thompson got even less and his speech was criticized as being too rehearsed and too short.

IMO Fred Thompson is becoming quickly washed up if he can't attract this type of voter.