(First of all, it’s a pleasure and an honor to join The Right’s Field, as it has long been one of my favorite blogs. Second of all, I’m actually quite sad that the Iowa caucuses are tomorrow, because that means that the candidate who we can all count on to serve up the comic gold day after day, Ol’ Freddie Thompson, will soon be just a faded, old memory, and not just a faded, old person. So tonight, in honor of Ol’ Freddie, I would like to make fun of him one last time. Er, um, does “second” or “third to last time” have the same ring to it?)
(Cross posted at The November Blog)
With just two days to go until the Iowa caucuses, you would think that Ol’ Freddie Thompson would have spent yesterday running (ha!) around Iowa, trying desperately to find a way to secure at least a somewhat respectable showing in Thursday’s caucus.
Just 48 hours left before what will certainly be a make or break event for Ol’ Freddie’s ol’ campaign. So, how many events do you think he attended on his whirlwind Iowa tour yesterday?
20? 15? 10? (I know one usually counts upwards when trying to get people to guess a certain number, but come on, we can’t actually raise expectations!)
Maybe 5?
Nope. 1. And it was hilarious, though not in the way Ol’ Freddie intended.
Thompson dismissed Monday’s poll results as, ”Just another poll,” after talking to residents of the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown. Thompson pointed out that while the Des Moines Register Iowa Poll had him in fourth, a CNN poll released Tuesday showed him in third.”I have a very special, secret strategy” for the last two days before Thursday’s caucuses, he joked.
“It’s called staying on the bus and meeting people one on one,” he said.
The visit to the 750-bed facility was Thompson’s only event of the day.
Ha! But wait, it gets better.
He said he took a nap Tuesday then quickly added that he was joking when no one in the press corps covering him laughed.
The most hilarious part here of course is that the article fails to mention if the reporters actually did laugh once Ol’ Freddie explained that in fact he had been joking.
UPDATE by David Dayen: And Noah appears to be prescient, as Thompson, perhaps just grumpy because he didn’t get his green Jello today, has reached the end of the line.
Several Republican officials close to Fred Thompson’s presidential campaign said they expect the candidate will drop out of the race within days if he finishes poorly in Thursday’s Iowa caucus.
Thompson’s campaign, which last spring and summer was generating fevered anticipation in the media and with some Republican activists, has never ignited nationally, and there are no signs of a late spark happening here in Iowa, where even a third-place finish is far from assured [...]
“Without a solid third-place finish, there’s no point in going on,” a Thompson adviser said Wednesday. “It was an honorable race, and he turned out to be a good candidate. The moment had just passed.”
No word on whether or not the advisor was referring to a Maalox moment.
By the way, it’s expected that Thompson would throw his support to John McCain, inducing this cringe-worthy line:
In turn, Thompson might be named attorney general in a McCain administration.
For those of you who thought Alberto Gonzales was in over his head…
3 Responses to “Napping His Way To The Ol’ Finish Line”
Grandpa Fred is denying this, btw.
Something to say?
ha ha problem is i don’t think freddy could make it through the day without napping anyways
Left by Maria
January 2, 2008 at 10:35pm