It's Official

Never fear -- the Fred Thompson campaign is here: "'I am the reliable conservative,' he asserted." The thing of it is -- he's right. He is the reliable conservative and since the only obstacle to his electability just is his reliable conservatism, I don't think his opponents are going to be able to stop him from winning the GOP nomination.

UPDATE: Shit! Wrong Thompson! The thing about Tommy Thompson is that in a just world, he (or maybe George Voinovich) would have been the GOP nominee in 2000. Evidently, he's old news now and I doubt he'll win.

Comments

Tommy Thompson.

Posted by Uhhhhhh | April 1, 2007 10:58 AM

You wish, Matt. We're not nominating him. We're going with McCain or Giuliani, and you are going to have to battle us for moderate voters. Right-wing conservatives will suck it up and vote for the nominee, just like the rest of us did with Bush in '00 and '04.

Posted by Fred | April 1, 2007 10:59 AM

Yeah, because it's that simple: in any primary, the candidate whose views most closely align with those of the "base" always wins. As always, there's no question of fundraising, spending, horse-trading, scandal, and calculations concerning "electability".

Thompson is a cinch.

Posted by Mark | April 1, 2007 11:04 AM

I don't believe this article refers to Fred Thompon.

Posted by Mac | April 1, 2007 11:07 AM

big oopsy matt. uhhh & mac are right. Read the story.

Posted by DOH! | April 1, 2007 11:09 AM

Fred, Tommy, whatever. If you move far enough to the left all those conservatives look and sound alike.

Posted by ostap | April 1, 2007 11:10 AM

Maybe there will be a Thompson & Thompson ticket?

Posted by otto | April 1, 2007 11:12 AM

Do I get to be the first person to refer to them as the Thompson Twins?

Posted by Kevin Brennan | April 1, 2007 11:14 AM

Matt might have goofed, but he's serving as inspiration for the new Tommy Thompson campaign slogan--"Tommy Thompson--the Thompson who's actually done something."

The article claims that Tommy Thompson is in "single digits." If that single digit is 2, it probably represents a 100% improvement.

Posted by Ric Caric | April 1, 2007 11:15 AM

Matt says Fred. It's really Tommy. April Fools! Get it?

Posted by pscott | April 1, 2007 11:16 AM

That Tommy Thompson can call himself "the reliable conservative", and no one has the slightest idea what he means (is he for the flat tax, or does he want to criminalize abortion?), only proves that the term 'conservative' is irreparably amorphous.

Posted by kth | April 1, 2007 11:19 AM

There's also Gingrich. Man, I hope Gingrich wins. When SurveyUSA polled Edwards against Gingrich in all 50 states, Edwards won 538-0 in the electoral college. Not often you see a polling result like that.

Posted by Neil the Ethical Werewolf | April 1, 2007 11:28 AM

It means TT is solidly behind Bush's war and going right of the McCandidates on social issues.
The conservatives see that as a winning hand?
As to FT, sorry but those absurd pics of him and his trophy wife are such a turnoff that he'd lose even the church ladies.

Posted by keffiyeh | April 1, 2007 11:32 AM

And again all Matt knows of Tommy Thompson he read in Tommy Thompson's autobiography. He's a hack. His last few terms as a Wisconsin Governor lead to a cronyism of Bushian proportions. Add to that obvious public drunkeness and that he and his wife haven't lived together for close to 2 decades now and he isn't going anywhere.

Posted by Rob | April 1, 2007 11:47 AM

The Thom[p]son who deserved the GOP nomination -- but it's too late now -- is New Hampshire governor Mad Meldrim Thomson, the Idi Amin of the North. Sadly, his dreams of a nuclear-armed New Hampshire National Guard turned loose on the protesters at the Seabrook nuclear power plant never came to fruition

Posted by Davis X Machina | April 1, 2007 12:10 PM

Tommy Thompson is a hack with no charisma and a scarily greasy combover. He's one of those candidates I call "running for Vice President" -- angling to be someone's No. 2 pick late next spring. I can't believe he thinks this seriously of himself.

If both Thompsons run it will be funny. Tommy always used to get confused with Gov. Jim Thompson of Illinois (who is, by contrast, a Republican I could possibly vote for -- he was never implicated in the "Combine" chicanery that sucked in George Ryan, his successor). When they were both in office, there used to be a cheeky billboard at the Wis./Ill. border reading "Governor Thompson wants you to move your business to Wisconsin." I think it was paid for by some anti-state-tax PAC in Illinois.

Posted by Dan Hartung | April 1, 2007 12:55 PM

Tommy Thompson really dropped off the radar after releasing his last hit, "Jenny (865-5309)." Sure, maybe the Gen X types who had MTV in the early days will remember who he was, but do they even vote?

Posted by jim | April 1, 2007 2:06 PM

Man, I hope Gingrich wins. When SurveyUSA polled Edwards against Gingrich in all 50 states, Edwards won 538-0 in the electoral college.

Damn, even Utah? That's pretty sweet.

Posted by JP | April 1, 2007 4:33 PM

That's right, JP! You can see it here

Posted by Neil the Ethical Werewolf | April 1, 2007 7:23 PM

Fred Thompson is a neocon globalist. But he's just socially conservative enough and just tough enough on the borders - even if both are feigned - to woo naive Republican voters.

http://www.conservativeexodusproject.com/

I'd never vote for him.

Posted by Real Conservative | April 1, 2007 10:47 PM

Fred Thompson was all but endorsed by columnist Robert Novak, which is probably the best reason for voting for anybody else.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/novak/322596,CST-EDT-novak02.article

Posted by SLC | April 2, 2007 12:42 PM

If by "reliable conservative" you mean a likable phony who's willing to bury the truth in whatever suffocating depth of bullshit is required to satisfy the special interest of the day, then yeah. Tommy Boy is as reliable a conservative as any.

Posted by Jalmari | April 2, 2007 5:14 PM