Thompson's Old Charges Resurface

By Lee Bandy
SouthCarolina Insider

(11/9/07) Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson got a bit testy here recently when a reporter asked him if his heart was really in the 2008 presidential race.

At times, he doesn’t act, or look, like it.

Critics say he seems to lack the kind of fire and brimstone that excites crowds or gives them reason to vote for him.

Translated, he doesn’t have the fire in his belly, they say.

Thompson quickly takes issue, calling the charges old news.

“That is just the same old opposition talking point” he has heard for years, Thompson said in a brief interview. “I really don’t hear it anymore.”

He may not, but others do.

He blamed the media for resurrecting the old charges.

Announce for public office, Thompson says, and “everything imaginable comes up.”

The former U.S. senator from Tennessee often seems bored with life or just not interested.

As a candidate, Thompson shows little fondness for the glad-handing and back-slapping that is the very stuff of U.S. politics.

Thompson, at age 65, keeps a light schedule.

Because of his laid back manner and easy going style, he often is accused by his detractors as being on the lazy side.

In a recent “Meet the Press” interview with NBC’s,Tim Russert , Thompson was nonchalant to the point of apathy about one of his key supporters being convicted of drug trafficking. His positions on rights for the unborn and the disabled were embarrassing in their lack of intellectual depth, wrote conservative commentator Cliff Kincaid.

The former senator got himself in hot water during a recent campaign appearance in New Hampshire when he joked to Fox News political director Carl Cameron that he has doubts about his own candidacy.

His astounding lack of sensitivity on issues, particularly abortion, has conservatives scratching their heads.

Thompson angered many of his followers when he announced his candidacy on Jay Leno’s “Tonight” show.

That was followed by a shaky start for which he was not prepared. He stumbled over a barrage of questions the media had prepared for him.

Ask him about the campaign and he will tell you its going great. He promises it will get better.

Many who hear him for the first time are dismayed by his performance, especially his 20-minute meandering speeches.

Thompson got in the race late. September to be exact. By that time, his primary rivals were well ahead of him in terms of organization and raising money.

Thompson noted that today he is running in second place nationally behind former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani and first place in South Carolina, which he called extremely critical.

“I consider South Carolina as part of my neck of the woods,” Thompson said.
And that may be his strongest selling point in South Carolina.

Southern pride.