It’s coming down to what many of us said from the beginning….without support from a culturally conservative base, the man has no chance of getting through the primaries. I think we are about to see this played out. Too bad. He would have been strong in the general election.
Mistake after mistake after mistake are finally catching up to him; not to mention, this. He’s no longer a shoo in to win Iowa.
No love lost, here.
What about Mitt and McCain?
Ace says McCain is now leading Romney in NH???
Please God, noooo.
I don’t have the visceral hatred for McCain that many conservatives have….but I’ve witnessed it every time RightWingSparkle has tried to sing his praises over at AOSHQ.
Not pretty!
No, I’m afraid disdain for McCain is too strong for him to make it through the primaries or the general election.
And Romney? He just rubs me the wrong way. He has the air of someone who’ll say whatever it takes…you know?
That guy who asked Fred the ‘desire’ question really sums up my feelings exactly when he says:
Speaking of Gov. Romney, I looked at him as well. Something about Gov. Romney just does not feel right. There is something about him I just do not trust. He is a little to slick. His image is a little too perfect. I could care less he is a Mormon. Frankly, I think the press made too big of an issue of his faith. I can only remember one person who mentioned his Mormon faith as being an issue. Most Iowa Republicans I spoke with about Romney were more concerned about his flip-flopping on the issues, than him being a Mormon bishop.
Exactamundo.
So far, Romney has been able to raise the most money of all of the Republican candidates, but he’s having to fight in states where he thought it would be a cakewalk.
David Brooks had this devastating piece to say about Romney in his NYT’s Op-Ed:
The leaders of the Republican coalition know Romney will lose. But some would rather remain in control of a party that loses than lose control of a party that wins. Others haven’t yet suffered the agony of defeat, and so are not yet emotionally ready for the trauma of transformation. Others still simply don’t know which way to turn.
They don’t know where to turn????
Back to that Iowa fella. Here’s what he finally concludes about Fred!:
Far from the press coverage that stated Sen. Thompson does not have the desire to be President, his desire is to serve the American people. He believes the best way to do that is to be President. If he is not elected President, he will not be disappointed. He will find some other way to serve the American people, just like he has throughout his career. After listening to Sen. Thompson and thinking about what he said, I can only conclude he is the best candidate for the job.
He is the best, a natural fit for conservatives, unlike all of the other candidates.
Who else is talking like this?
“You know, when I’m asked which of the current group of Democratic candidates I prefer to run against, I always say it really doesn’t matter. Because these days all those candidates, all the Democratic leaders, are one and the same. They’re all NEA, MoveOn.org, ACLU, Michael Moore Democrats. They’ve allowed these radicals to take control of their party and dictate their course.”
Russ in Winterset passed along some interesting Iowa political gossip over at AOSHQ:
I spoke with one of the people in charge of organizing Thursday’s caucus here in Madison County yesterday afternoon, to get all the details of what I’ll have to do at the meeting, and he threw out something that might have some impact on the voting results. Or not.
He mentioned that his phone has been ringing off the hook, but the part that really perked up my ears was when he mentioned that a lot of his calls have been from ….. Registered Democrats, both Catholic and Evangelical Protestant. Are they dissatisfied with the Democratic field? Are they infiltrating the caucus to swing the vote towards a nutter like Ron “I fingerpaint with my own feces” Paul? Are they glad to see a fellow evangelical like Huckabee doing well on the Republican side, so they’re coming over to put him over the top?
What this means is anyone’s guess, but commenter mrp is under the impression that so far, Fred has made the strongest pitch to disaffected Democrats, linking to this Catholic Online interview of Fred.
Here’s Fred’s message to Iowa’s voters. He apparently has a good chance of getting third place.
I’d love to see him surge into second.
Is first too much to hope for?
Come on Republicans!!!!
UPDATE:
Word on the ground in Iowa is that Thompson’s support may be understated in the polls.
Nice Deb 