Conservatives were excited about the entry of Fred Thompson into the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Heck, I was excited, too.
Here was a viable alternative to Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani. Thompson doesn’t have a record of waffling on conservative principles as Romney does. He doesn’t have the liberal stand on social issues that Giuliani does.
Here was a conservative candidate who hails from the heartland, not the liberal stronghold of the East Coast. More electable, I thought.
Thompson has national name recognition thanks to his careers as a senator and an actor. Giuliani, as mayor of New York, occupied the bulliest pulpit shy of the presidency itself. So he has big-time name recognition, too. Romney, not so much.
Everything looked go for a serious Thompson run for the White House — until he actually entered the race. Thompson, it seems so far at least, was a far better potential candidate than an actual candidate.
Since entering the race, Thompson has lumbered about the country looking for new ways to humiliate himself. He started by skipping a serious political forum to announce his candidacy on Jay Leno’s late night comedy chatfest. Then he wandered around the Iowa State Fair in his Gucci loafers. In his first debate Tuesday night, Thompson was clearly third banana on the Mitt and Rudy Show.
Now all this may well be superficial fluff compared to Thompson’s stands on the issues. But, for better or worse, in politics appearance and performance matter. Until Thompson starts looking and acting presidential, no one will take him seriously as a candidate.
Right now, Thompson looks like he was talked into doing something he didn’t really want to do, and is only making a half-hearted effort to satisfy someone else’s dream that he might be president.
If you don’t want the job, don’t run for it. Right now, Thompson’s campaign looks dead in the water.
