Fred Thompson Puts Audiences to Sleep, Asks Them to Applaud For Him

This post, written by Howie Klein, originally appeared on Down With Tyranny!

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Dullest campaign of the year: Frederick of Hollywood Goes to Iowa. Today's NY Times caught him begging a crowd of reluctant old Republicans for a round of applause... literally. Thompson's campaign has been a colossal bust since before he even started. The "Great White Hope" for conservatives proven to be just an even tinier and more pathetic addendum to what Newt Gingrich referred to as a "pathetic bunch of pygmies."

You'd think a former U.S. Senator and an actor, if just a mediocre TV actor, would have some pizzazz. But then you'd be wrong. Thompson is a complete stiff who not only has no lines but even less substance. Rarely does a day go by when he doesn't prove he's out of touch and unaware of even the most basic current events driving the passions of the day. The National Journal entitled a recent piece on him Another Day, Another Gaffe For Fred Thompson, highlighting his cavalcade of what they generously term "verbal missteps."

MSNBC reports that at a campaign event in Iowa Tuesday night, the candidate was asked about last year's Senate hearings on the nomination of Chief Justice John Roberts, whom Thompson "shepherded" through the confirmation process. The former Tennessee senator had this to say in response:

"Even though the other party controlled the Judiciary Committee, we got some votes there. For a good, sound, what I would call conservative justice."

News flash: Democrats didn't regain control of the Senate until 2006. Roberts' confirmation took place in 2005, when the GOP was still firmly in charge of both chambers.

Good shepherd. But that wasn't the only evidence of his complete disconnect from political reality. He's probably one of the only people in the world who still hasn't heard the news that Bush and his propaganda machine made up the WMD in Iraq. He thinks we found them. The people who have seen him on the stump-- press and civilians alike-- seem to have come to a verdict: whatever else he is, he's not Ronald Reagan, just another pale, shallow imitation. Even voters interested enough to come to his boring, sleepy "rallies," were "struck by how little energy or passion he appeared to bring into a room."