Fred Thompson’s campaign is in trouble.Not that the former Tennessee Senator has made any killer gaffes or tragic mistakes. He hasn’t. Thompson is suffering from that inside the beltway syndrome that pushes a potential candidate to enter the race and then mercilessly tries to tear him down once he’s in. Beltway insiders like Dick Morris have positively skewered Thompson for everything from his “trophy wife” trying to run the campaign to his curious habit of constantly clearing his throatFred is also suffering from comparisons to Reagan which were inevitable but unfair. And his laid back style on the stump seems to be eliciting a laid back reaction from voters – they like him but are perplexed by his seeming lack of passion.And slowly, like a leaking boat, Thompson’s once climbing poll numbers have started to go south. And not just in the national polls but state by state, Thompson has seen his percentages slipping.

He is currently behind Huckabee in New Hampshire with 5% of the vote. And he’s currently 4th in South Carolina, a state he led less than a month ago.

Face it Fred Heads; Thompson needs a boost, a spark – something – or he’s going to be out of the race early. Part of it is certainly the fact that the major punditry has already dismissed him as “dumb,” or lackadaisical,” or just plain “lazy.” But part of it is Thompson’s doing as well. He has been too cerebral, too remote. His campaign has failed to give off any heat, relying instead on the candidate’s folksiness and star quality. That worked for a while. But once people really began to take a look at him, what they saw didn’t impress as much as it raised questions about whether he really wanted the job or not.

I happen to think of all the major candidates in both parties, Thompson is running the most thoughtful campaign. His positions are fleshed out with some real meat on them – unlike the sugar coated cereal burgers offered up as ideas by his counterparts and adversaries. If you listen closely, there is coherence and logic to his arguments about federalism and limited government. And I like his realism on foreign policy in that he seems not to be beholden to either the neocon or the more traditional Republican camps. There is some nuance in his formulations about the greater Middle East and what our policy should be.

All of this would play very well if Thompson were running for Chief Policy Wonk. But he’s not. He’s running for the Presidency of the United States. And American voters not only like to see a candidate’s mind on display, they want to know what is in his soul as well. So far, Fred has proved unwilling or incapable of reaching out and connecting with people on an emotional level. And time is growing short for him to do so.

You can read the rest here at Right Wing Nuthouse 

Quick rant: As big supporter of Thompson I could simply ignore this particular post, or bemoan the writer for unfairly bashing the Thompson campaign and chalk it up to playa hating, but dude is right. I have not posted anything about Thompson in awhile, basically I was going to close my eyes and just hope that some of the campaigns failings would simply go away.
I still have not changed my stance about him as a candidate, I think he would make the best president out of the current field, but the packaging must change.

Funny he mentions the throat clearing, something I must admit drives me up the fucking wall. If I were on his campaign staff I would have him carry around bottled water with “Fred 08” on the bottle. Or he needs to go to the doctor and be prescribed something that takes care of it.

As for the passion, it’s not there, unfair or not. He does not look good in suits, he needs to have them tailored if he is going to wear them, and he looks tired all the time. He also needs to get rid of the sliver of hair he has in front too.
Hire those dudes from Queer Eye to hook him up.

He says his health is cool and he is losing weight and exercising, but that energy needs to shine more when he is on display.
Sit up straight, lean towards the camera, be more enthusiastic even more animated, crack a few jokes from time to time. crack about someone’s mama or something!
I’m trying to be optimistic here, I hope this all will shake out over time and posts like this will be a distant memory, but this is the wrong time to regressing in the campaign.

I trust my campaign insiders are taking care of the issue, but a brotha is a bit concerned right now. You know how us black folks fret about the little shit.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 5th, 2007 at 4:45 pm and is filed under Blog Watch, 2008, Thompson 08.
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