Thompson exposure and meltdown occurring now ... LINK

[Blackhatjack]

Tony Perkins got a good whiff of Thompson's failure to meet the minimum standards of the Conservative Rightwing Fundamentalists, and backed off publicly supporting Thompson. See the first comment below. Hard to see how the fundies will line up behind the 'Tennessee Stud' who engaged in lobbying against their core family values interests, divorced his first wife to marry a much younger second wife, is intellectually incurious, and is not a 'regular churchgoer.'

Thompson is hitching his wagon to the 'Bush Reality' which the public now understands was nothing more than a fantasy. See comment two below. To even mention Saddam's supposed nuclear weapons program as justification for attacking Iraq is to ignore the fact that even the most rabid Administration supporters dropped that meme as a justification long ago.

As the public learns more about Thompson, the public will reject him. Nasty thing about perceptions, when contradictory facts are disclosed the facade can collapse overnight --as Thompson will soon learn.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20070911/pl_bloomberg/a23dx3a8oufe;_ylt=AhXqM0MFIAyTkl69deZbCuiog9IF


Republican presidential contender Fred Thompson, who has based his campaign on appealing to conservative voters, said he isn't a regular churchgoer and doesn't plan to speak about his religion on the stump.

<snip>

Thompson said Iraq is just part of a broader war and that without the 2003 U.S. invasion, ``there's no question'' that Saddam Hussein would have ``nuclearized the Middle East.''

[TwilightGardener]

1. He actually belonged to the liberal Church of Christ. Guess he thought

it was safer to deny that and proclaim no religious affiliation. The last sentence is the worrisome one. Man's an idiot.

[frogcycle]

2. Thompson read some talking points

like a script and has been reciting them. He's an idiot.

Even so, we are going to need a serious, aggressive "Swift Boat" approach to either him or Rudy. Whichever wins it will be running 100% on "packaging" and plenty of people will love the package. They'll run around reciting "tastes great" or "less filling" and think they are astute educated voters.

[Blackhatjack]

3. He will implode under close questioning.... Giuliani and Romney will sink him first n/t

[katmondoo]

4. It is too bad, I really was hoping he would be the next Bob Dole

in the 2008 elections

[LibDemAlways]

5. All I know is this country has had to endure

6 years of an incompentent boob puppet "President" whose masters have damn near destroyed this country - all because of the repuke party's ability to sell the unsuspecting, ignorant sheep a bill of goods about "family values," and, in 2004, "he'll protect you from the evil terrarists" and get enough people to buy into it to make elections close enough to steal.

If they could get people to vote for the chimp, they could get people to vote for anybody.

[IndianaJones]

6. I'm going to really enjoy seeing this idiot crash and burn. nt.

[saltpoint]

7. I catch a glimpse or two of Fred Thompson lately, expecting to see

a reasonably prepared presidential candidate, but to date that candidate is not evident.

He looks and sounds like someone who inadvertently wandered off the set of HEE-HAW and can't find his way back.

[DS1]

8. "isn't a regular churchgoer and doesn't plan to speak about his religion on the stump"

How refreshing !

[Blackhatjack]

9. Thompson made this statement AFTER he tried to woo Tony Perkins' endorsement....

Edit to fix typo.

Perkins knows that when you drill down just below the surface you get to a full fledged lobbyist career on behalf of causes the 'family values promoters' cannot stomach.

What you see today is definitely not what you would be getting if he were President. However, a Presidential Candidate's history does not stay hidden --and his will sink him.

I don't think Rudy and Mittens are worried about Thompson in the least. Right now he plays a very important role for them --he is drawing attention to the Republican Candidates. When he has outlived that role, they WILL pull the plug on him.

[saltpoint]

11. I like your analysis. I'd not realized that Thompson's remarks followed

his bid with Perkins. So they were post-pander.

Another soulless Bush droid trying to oil his own machinery.

He's a sneaky one, that Fred is.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

13. The Christian Right Would Coalesce Around Huckabee If They Thought He Was A Winner

eom

[saltpoint]

15. I think so, too. Huckabee somehow hasn't caught fire with the fundies.

Not sure what's going on. I thought Sam Brownback, who almost beat Huckabee in the Iowa GOP straw poll, might be the more obvious choice for the fundies, since Brownback is as far right as it gets. I actually believe Brownback is insane. I think his boat's slipped the moorings and is adrift in the far sea. He is immaculately polite and polished as a public figure but underneath him is this slurry of sin and torment that appears to motivate him psychologically to put God's Own Kingdom in our schools, classrooms, and government. He's frighteningly unstable and should undertake extensive psychiatric treatment.

I'm watching Huckabee's odd neutral reaction among the fundies against Thompson's apparent demise with same.

The fundie GOP primary voter must really be in a state of flux these days. They don't have a winner in the entire pack.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

16. Huckabee Is The Least Offensive IMHO

eom

[riverdale]

10. I almost want to vote for him just for that

Seriously, excessive religion is the #1 thing messing up this country

[Netbeavis]

12. 'Tennessee Stud' ? more like 'Tennessee Scud'

I swear he really doesn't want to run.

I sense that his younger trophy wife is really driving things as she wants to be queen/First Lady and he is doing a "OK, honey". His "campaign" can't go a week with out something smacking them down and most of their smackdowns are self inflicted.

Lazy like a Fox indeed.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

14. I don't think the intellectually uncurious part is a problem for them

It's actually kind of a requirement to be a fundamentalist Xtian, far as I can tell.

[TlalocW]

17. From waht I've seen the man is

Perpetually confused, constantly wrong about his facts, and intellectually lazy and incurious. If he were more telegenic, and if he were more willing to make religious references (even if he didn't mean them), he would be the new Reagan that conservatives are hoping he would be. As much as republicans need to purge their house of the religious nuts, the party is not at a point right now where refusing to talk about religion is going to get a candidate very far.

TlalocW

[DemocratSinceBirth]

18. I Think The GOOPERS Had A Faulty Syllogism

Ronald Reagan was an actor who became president.

Frederick 90027 was an actor

Frederick 90027 will become president.

[PATRICK]

19. Being primed for Veep only

or the Bush handlers would have made a different effort. The reason he is late is to shorten this trashing period safely. An unhealthy Thompson is a gateway for the real Bush objective to sneak in via the appointment door.

[Didereaux]

20. Ahhh, but the Televangelists will support him....here's why

hy Televangelists will support 'Honest Fred'

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12461951@N03/1288079165/

see more at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12461951@N03/
heheh

[junkiebrewster]

21. Hell,

I'll support those. Just call me wonder-bra!!!! (sorry, ladies, I'm a weak, weak man)

[Ghost in the Machine]

22. The Tennessee Stud Exposed