Day: October 10, 2007

NY Post’s Podhoretz: Thompson’s a Drag

Trish

It’s not a good time to be Fred Thompson. After his debate debut, which confirmed that his fire in the belly is most likely from too much fried food, many folks who hailed him as the next big thing for the GOP are proclaiming their disappointment.

The New York Post’s John Podhoretz drilled down to the problem. Fred’s depressing.

Podhoretz — These debates are mostly about the impressions they offer of the candidates, and the impression Thompson offered was: He’s old.

…these debates are mostly about the impressions they offer of the candidates, and the impression Thompson offered was: He’s old.

This has nothing to do with his age.

John McCain is six years older than Thompson but with the renewed enthusiasm he’s been showing lately, he looked and sounded five years younger.

And Rudy Giuliani is only two years younger than Thompson, but in offering yet another punchy performance, he seemed as though he were a member of a different, younger generation.

Thompson’s chief problem – the problem that reinforces the impression not that he’s full of enthusiasm at the prospect of leading the country but more that he’s ready for the Earlybird Special – is the world-weary mien he wears as he talks about the problems and difficulties facing the United States.

He’s not the crabby grandfather of the Ross Perot type who harangues you with one of those “in my day we worked for a living” speeches. That role is increasingly being filled by Ron Paul, the anti-war libertarian.

Thompson is more like the impressive and kindly elderly gentleman who’s just seen too much in his life to get all fired up, but when asked he will allow that things are going to hell in a handbasket and there’s not much we can do about it.

Maybe that’s why the pictures of him and his way younger second wife, especially the ones with their spawn, creep me out so much. The thought that anyone would want to get funky with that face, those liver-spotted lips, that…well, anyway. The point is, Fred’s no fun.

Loyal Bushie Dan Bartlett Trashes Thompson, Romney

Jon Ponder

Pres. Bush gave a one-word answer when he was asked recently whether he was supporting one of the Republican candidates. (“No.) But one of his most loyal flunkies was not so taciturn last month.

“Unless they really find a way to crystallize his message for why he’s different than the other candidates, why people should take a second look now, I don’t feel very good that Fred Thompson’s going to be the candidate for my party,” he said.

Speaking at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Sept. 14, former George W. Bush advisor Dan Bartlett excoriated the presidential campaign of former lobbyist and senator Fred Thompson:

Bartlett was harshest in his judgment of Thompson, the former Tennessee senator who jumped into the contest a month ago … Thompson, Bartlett said, was the “biggest dud” because he peaked last spring when he first started talking about running and since then has yet to articulate a compelling vision for why he is running. “The biggest liability was whether he had the fire in the belly to run for office in the first place and be president,” Bartlett said. “So what does he do? He waits four months, fires a bunch of staff, has a big staff turnover, has a lot of backbiting, comes out with his big campaign launch and gives a very incoherent and not very concise stump speech for why he’s running for president.”

Bartlett held out little hope that Thompson could win the nomination. “Unless they really find a way to crystallize his message for why he’s different than the other candidates, why people should take a second look now, I don’t feel very good that Fred Thompson’s going to be the candidate for my party,” he said.

Bartlett also said Mitt Romney had a strong strategy but was hamstrung by charges he has flipflopped on key issues and:

“The Mormon issue is a real problem in the South, it’s a real problem in other parts of the country,” he said. “But people are not going to say it. People are not going to step out and say, ‘I have a problem with Romney because he’s Mormon.’ What they’re going to say is he’s a flip-flopper. … It’s a fact, it’s reality. I don’t know if it’s one that will keep him from becoming the nominee for the party but it’s something they clearly understand they’ve got to deal with.”

John McCain is a “wild card,” Bartlett said, but was most enthusiastic about former governor Mike Huckabee but said he had two problems: his hick-sounding name and the fact he and Bill Clinton share the same birthplace.

Rudolph Giuliani had the “best message,” said Bartlett:

“Republicans, I believe, are terrified about losing the presidency after losing Congress,” he said. “I think this is going to be the season of the pragmatic Republican voter. That bodes well for Rudy and it gives McCain a shot because I think people feel McCain can go toe-to-toe with Hillary in the general election.”

Bartlett worked closely with Bush for 14 years before stepping down in July.

Democrats Stuck on Name for 48-State Strategy

Trish

What does the DNC do the day after the news that five Democrats (Barack Obama, John Edwards, Bill Richardson, Joe Biden and Dennis Kucinich) are so incensed about Michigan moving its primary up that they pulled their names off the state’s ballot?

If you guessed, “Um, they launch an idiotic campaign to win in all 50 states which, thanks to their own pigheaded bumbling by allowing no campaigning in two of the most populous states in the country, is so unrealistic and pie in the sky that they can’t even think of a name for it?” you’re right!

An email from one Tom McMahon at the DNC is pleading for my help — and yours too — to name their 2008 organizing plan. Finding a catchy title for this stillborn brainchild is paramount in the minds of our national leaders, so I am appealing to all of you loyal Pensito Reviewers out there to help. Please leave your suggestion here, and remember, “Take Your Heads Out of Your Ass Before It’s Too Late” is already taken.

What Is Howard Dean Smoking?

Buck Banks

The architect of Florida’s current presidential primary mess, Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean, had the audacity to come to Florida yesterday and dismiss the primary debacle (caused when the state legislature moved Florida’s primary to Jan. 29, ahead of the Feb. 5 date set by the DNC) as a “spat between politicians”:

‘Floridians … are Americans, too, and they want a Democratic president.’
— DNC Chair Howard Dean

“Do I wish this fight weren’t happening? Yes,” said Dean, who had driven from Jacksonville to Tallahassee for a $100-per-person fundraiser. “At the end of the day, I think Iraq, health care, education and ethics matter far more than a fight between politicians.”

Wait a minute. The spat wouldn’t exist if Dean hadn’t enforced the DNC’s rules. Notice that Mel Martinez, Dean’s counterpart on the Republican National Committee, chose not to lower the entire boom on Florida’s Republican primary, stripping the state of only half its convention delegates and allowing candidates to campaign in the state. By contrast, Dean and his cohorts stripped Florida of all its delegates and vowed to punish any Democratic candidates who campaign in Florida.

Seems Dean-o forgot that part, too:

The full effect of what Dean passed off as a “blip” may come to pass later this month. Local Democrats will convene a state convention that lacks a single big-name presidential contender mere days after all the major Republican presidential candidates have descended upon Orlando for a state convention and nationally televised debate.

However, Dean disassociated the DNC from the candidates’ pledge to avoid Florida, saying “what the candidates do is their business.”

Huh?? If the candidates campaign in Florida, they will be punished by the DNC, Howard, so rather than risk that, they’ve pledged not to campaign here. But they can raise money. Is any of this coming back you Howard? Apparently not, when he blurts out inane comments like:

“Floridians, despite the fact that they have strong feelings about this issue … are Americans, too, and they want a Democratic president,” said Dean.

Thanks for including us in, Howard. Now please leave.

Quote du Jour

Buck Banks

If these writings of the Greeks agree with the word of Allah, they are useless and need not be preserved; if they disagree, they are pernicious and ought to be destroyed.

— Omar I (581-644) 2nd Caliph, captor of Jerusalem, on the destruction of the library at Alexandria, Egypt

Macaca’s Back – And Fred Thompson’s Got Him

Jon Ponder

Fred Thompson has moved aggressively to sew up the racist vote for 2008. (Smart move. It may be the biggest voting block in the country.) He has appointed former Sen. George Allen of Virginia as a national co-chair of his presidential campaign:

Former Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), whose White House hopes vanished in a “macaca” moment, was named a top adviser yesterday to Fred Thompson’s White House campaign.

Thompson operatives brushed off the potential baggage Allen might bring to the campaign

During his campaign for reelection to the Senate in 2006, Allen was caught on tape referring to a dark skinned person as a “macaca,” which is a racial epithet in much of the world. Allen was also criticized for his lifelong obsession with the Confederacy and for decorating his government office with a noose, which many see as a symbol of lynching from the Jim Crow era and slavery days.

Allen will also co-chair Thompson’s “National Campaign Leadership Team” with Liz Cheney, the vice president’s heterosexual daughter.