Yes. Thompson’s comment here on the Iranian reaction to "300," and especially his great last paragraph, are wonderfully candid and appealing. As was his recent posting (at National Review Online, I think) about Gandhi.
WE NEED THIS IN THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE -- IN THE PRIMARIES, WHICH ARE NOW, AND IN THE GENERAL, WHICH IS ALSO NOW.

What leads you to believe that Gingrich has "collapsed before starting?"

As for Romney, he can’t "regroup," for how does one "regroup" one’s way out of Mormonism? Not to mention, how does one "regroup" one’s way out from underneath a well-earned reputation as a flip-flopper? The only way that could be managed is with a great deal of help from the media, but Romney is in the GOP, so fat chance of seeing any assistance from the media on that score.

Hewitt is flacking and flailing away, but Romney isn’t going anywhere fast.

Gingrich has all kinds of time. Every time the White House staff opens their mouths, it only creates a deeper hunger in the GOP for ARTICULATED forcefulness. Even this nonsense with the wimp AG Gonzales will redact to the benefit of Gingrich, {and Giuliani...}.

After 6 years of GW’s Texan homespun, I don’t see the GOP in the mood for Tennessee’s version of homespun, Fred Thompson.

I don’t see how the race won’t ultimately come down to Gingrich v. Giuliani.

Thompson gets his history mostly right. The Spartans and the allies who stood with them were overwhelmed by numbers, but they were also eventually betrayed by locals who led the Persians on a "secret" path to their rear.

Before everybody gets all worked up over Fred Thompson, it might be well to recall his oversight of the Committee established to delve into the relationship between the Clintons, the Democrat party, and the Chinese.

It went nowhere, because Thompson mishandled it and because he allowed himself to be outmaneuvered by his Democrat peers.

I agree, I’m really liking this Thompson guy, and as an actor maybe he can be a real conservative and still be likeable...

If Thompson does get on the GOP ticket, I will find it very amusing that the two actors to be in the White House were GOP conservatives rather than Democratic liberals.

Fred has some good help in coming up with partisan comments to get himself noticed. Let’s just see if he can keep it up. Peter is right that Romney and Newt may or may not be around when the voting actually begins.

Is there any evidence that Newt is actually raising money? If he was quietly building a war chest, then we would know. Does he have any money on hand?

The primary system is so front-loaded that without loads of cash, up-front, why bother.....???????

Romney is a billionaire, and he’s capable of running ads on his own. But since we’re effectively looking at a national primary, the ads would have to run in lots of markets. That would be such a financial drain, that only those candidates with a significant war chest would be able to handle it.

Let’s hope Romney continues the downward spiral, unfortunately he has a pretty strong network backing him, so while his polls are stalled he can keep from drowning...maybe. Therefore, we need to keep baptizing him until his candidacy doesn’t have a chance to resurface.

What leads you to believe that Gingrich has "collapsed before starting?"

He is not a conservative, he is a hybrid liberal/populist, so he does not count.

The guy who just blew himself up was Romney. He very well may have made sure he lost Florida before he ever came close to getting the nomination. His attempt at pandering to the Cuban-American community demonstrated a political ineptness that I thought reserved for the staff at the White House. The blogosphere is rightly amused as well as stunned at the spectacle, and Hewitt is doing his level best to keep silent on the issue.

Just think of the timing too. Hewitt is flailing and flacking away, the book was just released last week, Romney is desperately trying to gain some traction, and Romney picks this time to definitively demonstrate that he’s a political lightweight, not ready for prime time, or shall I say, not ready for primo tiempo.

10: The "downward spiral" is in the quality of comments on this thread.
My recollection, Dan (5), is that Thompson did indeed allow the Democrats to stymie the Chinagate hearings, one of their most disgusting performances (among many disgusting performances) in recent years. I do not believe he was ready for prime time then, and I doubt that he is now -- though I love the recent, anti-PC comments he’s been posting. So on that one, you’re right. But my goodness. A slipup with Cubans in Miami -- whether you’re referring to Romney’s mistaken use of a Castro slogan, or his "pandering" to anticommunist refugees (and what the hell is wrong with the latter?) -- is hardly enough to screw up a campaign. Romney does have rather thin governmental experience, only four years. But he is not unprofessional. Everything I’ve seen and read indicates that he’s rather polished in terms of campaigning. You are premature in dismissing him as a candidate. Clint (10), your nasty crack about "rebaptizing" Romney so he can’t "resurface" is in awful taste. Did you mean to make what sounds like a bigoted comment about his being a Mormon? And in any case, why does Romney’s candidacy deserve to be destroyed, instead of merely criticized or opposed? Christopher (11), Newt is a "hybrid liberal/populist"? Maybe if we use political theory to categorize. But in the real world, Newt is clearly more conservative than the three major candidates. And that’s what matters. Be fair to the man.

In reference to Mitt Romney check out todays Best of the Web item....

Mitt Romney committed a paso falso the other day when he spoke to a group of Cuban-Americans in Miami:

When he mistakenly associated Fidel Castro’s trademark speech-ending slogan--Patria o muerte, venceremos!--with a free Cuba, listeners didn’t laugh. They winced.

Castro has closed his speeches with the phrase--in English, ’’Fatherland or death, we shall overcome’’--for decades. . . .

Romney’s fumble demonstrates the potential snags for state and national politicians trying to navigate the Cuban-American community of South Florida.

Ever since Ronald Reagan enthralled exiles by crying, ’’Cuba sí, Castro no,’’ in a landmark 1983 visit to Little Havana, politicians have clamored, with mixed success, for the Spanish-speaking vote.

It’s not so different from the candidates who court Broward County’s heavily Jewish retirement condominiums, offering residents a free nosh and delivering their best schtick.

And if you do go to Broward, Gov. Romney, try to avoid the slogan "Arbeit macht frei.

I wonder if one of Gov. Romney’s speech writers is Mel Brooks.

Fred Thompson is looking better each day.

"how many conservatives are in any way?"

2 or 3. Ron Paul and Tom Tancredo +/- Duncan Hunter.

But in the real world, Newt is clearly more conservative than the three major candidates. And that’s what matters. Be fair to the man.

I AM! He worked hard, real hard, to get the single biggest expansion of the entitlement state since LBJ. He "clearly" is not conservative, by almost any definition of the term...

Newt worked for the prescription drug entitlement? If so, that’s definitely not good. Doesn’t make him a liberal, though.

David--if it makes you feel better you can consider that I was just pandering to evangelical voters...kind of like your man Mitt down in Miami.

But Clint, if you’re going to pander, at least do it effectively. Bored billionaire Mitt couldn’t even do that right. And yet his supporters tell us that his strong suit is .................................................... COMPETENCE!

What kind of staff gets their guy to repeat the favourite pet-phrase of that murderous dictator? Has Romney fired anybody?

Just think too of the timing of Romney’s blunder. Hewitt just released the book only last week, and is wandering the country flacking for Romney, extolling him as the great Conservative savior. And this is the time that Romney chooses to demonstrate that his staff is incompetent and that he’s not ready for prime time.

Even Hollywood couldn’t have scripted this.

"Besides, if Romney doesn’t re-group, and Gingrich has collapsed before starting, how many conservatives are in any way?"

So I guess you are counting the Gov. of the People’s Republic of Massachusetts as a conservative? I guess you must be referring to the post flip Romney.

It is a sad day when Romney gets counted as one of the "conservatives."

Paul>>Tancredo>>Hunter

You’re right on Romney Dan, but I have to warn you about your rhetoric. I noticed the phrase "conservative savior" slip in, and be warned that the bigot police a.k.a. David Frisk might be on your case for that one.

We’ll put Mitt in charge of FEMA. That seems to be a busy post of late.

The guy who has gone round the bend on Romney is of course, Hewitt. And Hewitt was stunned, STUNNED that some reporter asked him what he was getting paid by Romney. To all the world it was a perfectly logical question. But not to Hewitt. He couldn’t understand how anybody could possibly think he was bought and paid for.

I think Laura Ingraham is tending towards Romney. She’s been hammering Giuliani of late. Now what’s with that? I think she’s irritated with Giuliani for how he treated Donna, the former star of The Vagina Monologues. I think he was smart to dump a woman who would consider "starring" in The Vagina Monologues.