Just wait until Fred Thompson comes under scrutiny by the other Repub Candidates...

[Blackhatjack]

IMHO He is going to be 'turned out' like a bag of dirty laundry, and the Repub base is going to reject him.

His having been registered as a foreign agent and a lobbyist will make a good start for the opposition research.

The idea that his campaign strategists are renting him an old pickup truck and dressing him in casual clothes to try and make him look like a regular guy is laughable.

I have heard him speak three times now, and there is nothing about his presentation that is remarkable --however the content of his speeches has been pro-Bush policies. Wonder how that is going to play for him?

Whoever wins the Repub Nomination this time is going to have a hard time in 2008 holding together the coalition that Karl Rove formed with the conservative fundamentalists. Without them, Repubs will not win --and I am hearing many unhappy voices from that faction right now. If they simply stay at home and do not turn out to vote Repubs lose. period.

Fundamentalists will not support McCain, even if he stands on his head this time.

Brownback is the only candidate I have heard this group say meets their requirements, and in the same breath they indicated Brownback cannot win. Not sure backing a candidate they think cannot win is going to pull them into the polls.

Rudy is in for a rough time as well --his social postions would be almost impossible for RW conservative voters to swallow. And Romney will definitely face the 'flip-flop' attack for all the changes he has made in his foundation beliefs since he last won election in Mass.

So who is left on that side who can win the General Election?

I still suspect the eventual 2008 Repub Nominee has not yet entered the race.

[SpiralHawk]

1. Beware: Freddy T may drag out the Soggy Bottom Boys

to accompany him, playing music off the back of his "old" pickup propaganda vehicle

The big hit for the Soggy Bottom Boys: "I am a man of constant cronyism"

[Blackhatjack]

2. LOL.... that would be appropriate! n/t

[babylonsister]

3. I heard somewhere (Tweety?) that Conservatives were getting

behind Ghouliani; go figure. I think they're all clueless as there isn't one candidate good enough for any of 'em.

[Blackhatjack]

4. That group getting behind Rudy will not include the RW fundamentalists...n/t

[MADem]

5. Unless he keeps old Jugs McTrophyWife well hidden, he'll have trouble I think.

The woman looks like an off-duty stripper, and that's when she's exercising a little decorum. The rest of the time she looks like she's a Fredrick's of Hollywood model responsible for the lower-end pieces in the line. She's young enough looking to be able to call the old fool "Grampa" and have people nearby believe it. I just can't see Middle America going for that sort of thing.

Of course, ya never know with the GOP. They managed to make Porgie's misbehavior recede to the background, simply by telling their corporate reporters what to report, and what to play down. But then again, cocaine use, getting shitfaced drunk in one's misspent youth, that's all in the past. They'd have to get rid of all the pictures of her in way-too-little clothing, for starters. Ole Fred would have to tell the Missus to strap down those double-D's, unload the putana warpaint and wear a few clothes for a change, to boot. And I think they'd have to urge her to say as little as possible.

She may be the reason for the spring in his step, but she's an albatross around his neck from a political perspective.

[TwilightGardener]

6. Agree with you on Thompson, and so does George Will, a man who's so effing

conservative I feel like we're on different planets. He recently quoted one of Thompson's speech remarks, and it was so stupid, you get the sense that Rove hasn't yet started programming him and cueing the teleprompter--but I'm sure that's coming, eventually. In fact, Thompson has made several truly dumb/nonsensical remarks like that, and most of the media has not picked up on them, the way they snagged Romney for varmint-hunting and offending Cubans with a pro-Castro saying. I am looking forward to Thompson being gutted like a trout--hope it happens. I find him just as evil and substanceless (albeit better-spoken) as the Chimp.

[Blackhatjack]

7. "I am looking forward to Thompson being gutted like a trout.." So true ... So true....

If you listen closely you can hear the campaign strategists for the other Repub candidates saying 'let's keep our powder dry, this stuff is going to blow him out of the water.'

[Bitwit1234]

8. One thing not mentioned

is he had cancer. Cancer that is in regression at this point. But it is not curable. AND where are the MSM on that. After all when Elizabeth Edwards was diagnosed with cancer in regression and being treated, they told John Edwards to stay home with her and his family.

To this date I have not heard one republican MSM say Deputy Dawg should stay home with his family. HE IS THE ONE WITH CANCER. Not his wife.

[TwilightGardener]

10. I think everyone in the media, and the R's, are afraid

to touch it right now--it would seem ghoulish and unsportsmanlike. But in the general, if he's the nominee? Oh yeah, it will have to become an issue. Especially since it's the sort of cancer that can flare up if the immune system is stressed--not smart to run for prez. I can foresee people speculating, "Doesn't he look pale?" and "He didn't seem well today". Like Bill Bradley and his heart arrhythmia.

[Johonny]

9. Given the * they did to McCain in 2000

I'd say hollywood Thompson is a much softer target. They'll attack him in the mailers like crazy. The hollywood image, the lobbying, the trophy wife, these guys have ruined canidates with way less to go on. Heck it's not like they need real issues to attack each other on.