Honeymoon done
by WonkoKevin
Well, I guess Fred Thompson’s honeymoon is over. Yesterday in Wonkoblog I talked about how the tone of Thompson’s buzz has gone steadily down since the day after his formal candidacy annoucement. Today Wonkosphere shows that Thompson’s buzz share dropped below 10% for this first time in a week. And the mud keeps coming.
In a widely-cited article, George Will compares Thompson’s launch to “New Coke” and predicts the same type of success:
Fred Thompson’s plunge into the presidential pool — more belly-flop than swan dive — was the strangest product launch since that of New Coke in 1985. Then the question was: Is this product necessary? A similar question stumped Thompson the day he plunged.
Sean Hannity, who is no Torquemada conducting inquisitions of conservatives, asked Thompson: “When you look at the other current crop of candidates — Republicans — where is the distinction between your positions and what you view as theirs?” Thompson replied: “Well, to tell you the truth, I haven’t spent a whole lot of time going into the details of their positions.”
(Who, you may ask, is Torquemada? According to Wikipedia, Tomas Torquemada was the first Grand Inquisitor of Spain and a confessor to Isabella; Will may have also been referring to Edward Powys Mathers, who published cryptic crosswords for the Observer under the pseudonym of Torquemada.)
Meanwhile, Newt Gingrich, who was suppposed to fold up the tent post-announcement, has viewed Fred’s launch and has hinted at exactly the opposite: “I will decide based on whether I have about $30 million in committed campaign contributions and whether I think it is possible to run a campaign based on ideas rather than 30-second sound bites.”
Leading blogger Tammy Bruce says she’s “willing to re-open the Newt file”, and the Right Angle says, “If Gingrich jumps in, he would the choice candidate for many conservatives, possibly myself.” Gingrich himself sought to put space between himself and all of the other candidates with his remarks on the Petraeus report:
“The gap between where we are and where we should be is so large that it seems almost impossible to explain why the Petraeus Report, while important, will be a wholly inadequate explanation as to what is required to defeat our enemies and secure America and her allies,” Gingrich said at the conservative American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., according to a prepared copy of his speech.
Gingrich said politicians are “having the wrong debate about the wrong report” and criticized Democrats who “would legislate surrender and defeat for America” and Republicans who advocate “staying the course” in Iraq.
“America needs a more realistic and more powerful solution to the challenges of our enemies,” said Gingrich. “Beyond the Petraeus Report, we need a report on the larger war with the irreconcilable wing of Islam.”
Looks like we might need to leave open at least one more space on our candidate list. We’ll have to wait until mid-October though to see if he can take Gore’s place on the list, as the latest buzz is that Gore will announce either his candidacy or an endorsement around mid-month, after the Nobel Prize candidates are announced.
