At some point, the potential campaign of Fred Thompson has to kick off, and we need to find out if he is everything we want in a nominee or whether this whole deal is just hype. Right now that’s all it is.  He sounds good. He says all the right things. He has a solid conservative record in most areas of concern to us, and he’s not Rudy or Mitt. What more can we possibly want?

How about a candidate who doesn’t duck formal debates with other potential nominees?  How about somebody who takes a few risks on the way to the nomination? If Fred waits until September to officially announce that he is running for President, it could be too late for us to find out if he is the strongest candidate we have to put up against Hillary. Fred can’t possibly live up to the hype built around him. I think he could be a strong candidate, and see no reason why he couldn’t win a debate against the current Republican field.  I just want to see the proof.

Dean Barnett makes a similar point here.

He says:

But even more disconcerting is the news that Fred’s going to delay entering the race until September. If I didn’t know better, I would say the Thompson campaign thinks that he can get the nomination by running out the clock and relying on eager dorko-fanboys to keep saying, “Did you see that Michael Moore video?!!!”

As usual, to preempt the angry line of commenters now cueing up, let me assert that I like Fred. If he’s the nominee, I’ll support him enthusiastically. But his “campaign” is doing neither himself nor his party any favors. It’s time he enters the ring and proves that he can play on this level. It’s only fair that he allows Republican Party members to make an informed decision about the man who seeks to lead them.

Folksy blog posts are nice. But the country and the party deserve more.

It’s time to see what kind of candidate Fred can be.  I hope he gives us enough time to find out.

Tags: ’08 election, Fred Thompson