Sunday, September 09, 2007

Fred Thompson Blowing Smoke in Iowa

The newest Republican candidate started to close the gaffe gap yesterday by telling Iowans why the Iraqis are turning against Al Qaeda. "They said, 'You gotta quit smoking,’” he observed in explaining why tribes in Anbar province are coming over to our side.

Aside from that revelation, Fox News called his campaigning “lackluster,” with hazy answers on gay marriage and health care.

"There's a fair amount of rhetoric there, but in terms of action and results we just don't see it,” says right-wing activist, Richard Viguerie. “It's almost like he's gotten another Hollywood role where he's supposed to play a conservative."

According to the conservative house organ National Review, Thompson “has done nothing, anywhere, ever. The Hubble Telescope could not find what he has done, because he has not done it. It would be unwise to put such a man in the White House at this moment in history.”

To top it all, opponents have dusted off a 1996 Thompson memo titled “Breaking from the Republican Pack” that trumpets examples of his "legislative independence from 'the party line'" when he "voted against the Republican majority," listing liberal positions on campaign finance reform, consumer protections and tort reform to rebut Democratic charges of being too partisan.

Thompson may be beginning to wonder if he declared too soon,

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