George Will asks: Is Fred Thompson Necessary?
Major conservative daddy columnist, George Will is saying some mean and nasty things about Tennessee's Fred Thompson. Did you know that Fred Thompson doesn't even know what his own positions on the issues are? George Will has the proof. But it gets worse (for our Fredhead trolls). Fred Thompson rambles and offers incoherent explanations and alarms George Will with "what [Fred] believes, misremembers and does not know."
Will finishes Frederick of Hollywood off by comparing him to New Coke. I never thought George Will would agree so completely with TGW. Fred Thompson has a limited shelf life, so we have to mock him while we can, which is why we do it so much. An excerpt from our newly brilliant pal George Will follows, but you should read and marvel at the whole thing.
WASHINGTON -- Fred Thompson's plunge into the presidential pool -- more bellyflop than swan dive -- was the strangest product launch since that of New Coke in 1985. Then the question was: Is this product necessary? A similar question stumped Thompson the day he plunged. . .
Is there, however, a huge cash value in the role for which he is auditioning -- darling of religious conservatives? Perhaps. But their aspiring darling recently said in South Carolina, "I attend church when I'm in Tennessee. I'm in McLean right now. I don't attend regularly when I'm up there."
"Right now"? He has been living "up there" in that upscale inside-the-Beltway Washington suburb, honing his "Aw, shucks, I'm just an ol' Washington outsider" act, for years. Long enough to have noticed that McLean is planted thick with churches. Going to church is, of course, optional -- unless you are aiming to fill some supposed piety void in the Republican field.
New Coke was announced on April 23, 1985, with the company's president piling on adjectives usually reserved for Lafite Rothschild -- "smoother, rounder yet bolder." Almost 80 days later, the public having sampled it, the company pulled the product from stores. Perhaps Thompson's candidacy will last longer than New Coke did.
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