Fred Dawn

So 'merka's once 'n' future king, Joe Don Baker Fred Thompson, has finally decided to answer the New Hampshire Union-Leader's challenge to shit or get off the pot by, well, punting -- he'll formally enter the day after the debate. Great timing, especially since the paper had already pre-emptively floated the notion that Thompson would attempt that very tactic in order to avoid the rigors of an actual debate.

This is no small issue for Thompson's putative viability, illusory as it is -- Romney has already proven that he can paper up the straw polls with his hefty bankroll, and Mike Huckabee of all people seems to have the most pound-for-pound momentum out of Iowa. Giuliani and McCain seem to be fading fast from disdain and disinterest, respectively. Plus they've already been, you know, debating for several weeks now, and Thompson's honeymoon seems to be well and truly done already. He's got some catching up to do, considering this started as the would-be Summer of Fred.

So I will just reiterate my earlier predictions, once again, that Thompson's candidacy is just a sideshow for the rubes, grift them of some money for Ol' Fred's finder's fee, round 'em up and send 'em to whomever offers Our Boy a fair sop. As TPM commenters noted, Thompson looks like hell, and he was a notoriously lazy man in some notoriously lazy gigs well before he got old and sick. Running for president is at least as much work as actually being president (well, unless you're Vacation Boy the Texas Tumbleweed Chaser), and even if Thompson had no medical issues, it's a gig that would wear out a man 15 years younger.

But Thompson's not so lazy that he can't see that this is an insanely easy way to pick up a couple mil and have everyone line up to kiss your ass for a while. Not a bad summer hiatus' work, and then he can go back to Walking Tall Law & Order, ego and bank account well gratified, with thousands of grifted goobers wondering what the hell to do with their advocacy blogs. Maybe Tancredo will still be in by Thanksgiving, who knows?