So writes Quin Hillyer. Hope he's right.

Fred Ain't Dead

How can anyone tell?

Well, dead men don't raise their hands, do they?

Dead men don't put their rhetorical boots squarely up stupid moderators asses either

Mr. Puckett may well be right. Fred could still come on top, even if on the shoulders of Carolyn Washburn - my, what a picture that makes, with his boots and all.

More seriously, he really could be the nominee, given the current state of utter chaos in the conservative coalition.

Yeah, he really put that young, liberal whippersnapper in her place.

You can see that Fred Thompson will do well among older, balding, white men. They're the Fred Heads. They have a lot of nostalgia for Reagan. Fred may have lost track of the years though, because a lot of youngsters who would put Reagan next to Eisenhower are old enough to vote. "They were great --- we learned about them in history class," some of them might say. But hey, even if they are old enough to vote, they may not be old enough to vote for Fred.

I notice Jim always recoils at the mention of Fred as though he were Dracula confronted by a silver cross with garlic eusctacions.

I don't think that Fred is like Dracula. It's true that Dracula sleeps in a coffin, but otherwise the comparison is unfair.

Also, what is a "eusctacion"? Do you mean a Eucharistic wafer, to go with the garlic wreath and the cross?

Actually, you are Dracula and certainly not the cross in the analogy. Fred certainly doesn't recoil at the mention of you.

I hope Quin is right too, Rand. What great leadership as demonstrated at the last debate. He took on the NEA, which I never thought I'd see a politician too. Hmmm, maybe he really isn't a politician. How refreshing would that be? Passionate about conservative judges, too. We sure don't need to nominate those RINOs!

Jim might be right about these younger voters. I really wouldn't know, I'm an ancient 55. My entire life, I've heard pundits pronounce loudly about what "the new voters are going to do, ROCK THE VOTE!" Strange thing is, they haven't yet. They don't have enough invested to give a crap.

But there are first times for everything, and it might happen this election. Centuries ago a very smart man pointed out that those who choose to remain ignorant of history are doomed to relive it.

We'll see, some of us have time to wait and see.

My entire life, I've heard pundits pronounce loudly about what "the new voters are going to do, ROCK THE VOTE!"

That's a very foolish prediction. But it is equally foolish to think of anyone under 50 as a kindergartener. That is Fred Thompson's campaign right there: "If you voted for Reagan, you should vote for me. Otherwise, try not to make too much commotion when you go to the polls with your grandpa."

Actually, for this and two or three other reasons, Thompson has no real chance of becoming president. One big reason is that We-Report-You-Decide Fox News is cozy-cozy with Rudy Giuliani. If you want anyone else to get the Republican nomination, then your guy has to swim against the Fox News undertow.

...it is equally foolish to think of anyone under 50 as a kindergartener. That is Fred Thompson's campaign right there: "If you voted for Reagan, you should vote for me. Otherwise, try not to make too much commotion when you go to the polls with your grandpa."

No, that's not Fed Thompson's campaign. It's easy to see why simpletons might think it is, though.

No, that's not Fed Thompson's campaign.

Well, it's not intentionally his campaign. Somehow he has managed to cut his support in half since he announced. That's just among Republican voters, never mind the election.

"If you voted for Reagan, you should vote for me. Otherwise, try not to make too much commotion when you go to the polls with your grandpa."

You put that in quoatations as though you heard that from FRED THOMPSON. That proves you're a liar.

FRE THOMPSON has never, not even once, compared himself to President Reagan.

Many, many others have made that comparison, and I have copies of many interviews where FRED THOMPSO siad himself that he could not and would not try to compare himself to President Reagan.

If you are going to criticizes the man, at least TRY to be a man yourself and criticize him for something he did, or something he really said himself.

But don't make up lies and throw them out with a faux morally superior attitude. You only betray your own immaturity and self-loathing when you do that.

Jim, it's only ant-Republican and liberal types who keep beating the drum of Thompson cutting his support in half. I've yet to hear where those "numbers" originated. I think the left feels threatened by a "Reaganesque" candidate. They hate the idea of Reagan Democrats becoming Thompson Democrats.

I said it before, the libs don't like Thompson because he is a real alternative to Hitlary and Obama. He's not a RINO. A RINO running as the party choice will stack the deck toward the Dems IMHO. God forbid.

FRED THOMPSON has never, not even once, compared himself to President Reagan.

An official solicitation that Rand Simberg linked makes a clear comparison between Fred Thompson and Ronald Reagan. Watch the video and you'll see. The man is eager to borrow these comparisons for his campaign, even if he's careful not to do it in first person. (Because in context, he'd sound like he's comparing himself to Jesus.)

I've yet to hear where those "numbers" originated.

From Real Clear Politics. But it could be wise to stay wary. RCP could be infested with liberals.

You just lied again Jim! I hit the link you provided and the word REAGAN did not appear nor was it spoken.

Do you have a clue as to the difference between truth and lies, or are you truly pathological?

I hit the link you provided and the word REAGAN did not appear nor was it spoken.

Did you hit the play button on the YouTube video on that page?

JOHN JAMES TERRY and Jim Harris are both wrong. Terry, Fred does indeed draw a comparison between himself and Reagan, even if it's subtle in some cases, and it's certainly not subtle here. At the same time, Jim, it's not his whole campaign. Being like Reagan politically is just one element - it's not the whole picture. It's true that Thompson probably thinks the Reagan voters will vote for him. It's not true that he's focusing on the Reagan voters to the exclusion of everyone else, which is what you implied. Of course, you dedicate yourself to sarcastic one-liners against conservatives and (mostly) irrelevant links, so I don't expect that you care whether what you say is true.

Being like Reagan politically is just one element

It's the only element that actually works. Again, even though you claim that my links are "mostly irrelevant", take at a look at the chart at Real Clear Politics. Fred's plane took off in September and now it's landing.

If one of us "under-50 kindergarteners" might interject, I'm under 30 and I'd vote for FDT in a heartbeat, over anyone he's running against. I'm hoping to do so next November, in fact.

Not supporting Jim but quotation marks aren't only for quotes. Applying them to indicate speech (fictional or not) and/or irony is very common. Using them for different forms of emphasis and ambiguity is normal as well.

Considering the DP candidates there's little reason why Fred wouldn't keep most GOP voters and add new ones. Same for Giuliani, Romney, and McCain.