18 thoughts on “Fred Thompson, Hamlet, and the FEC”

  1. Oh, Farking BaWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

    What a bunch of ninnies. He has not declared that he is running for President. BUT he is a Republican SO he MUST be breaking the law right? Just like all us evil Neo-Con right-wing nutters must be doing something wrong, right?

    One of the commenters says:

    bq. The Left is terrified of having this country further torn apart by Right Wing Republican Traitors. Our concern is obviously justified as with each passing day another one of our troops ,another innocent Iraqi, and another aspect of our constitution is murdered by the Right.

    Yup, we are a threat to the Republic. Lock us up. And these guys call us the jackbooted thugs? Don’t make me laugh.

    C’mon, AL, I expected better from you and this blog, but……

    An obvious Nazi Right Winger and Rethuglican says:

    bq. All this does is generate more publicity and shed light on the fact that the Left is shitting down both legs in fear of Fred Thompson.

    He-He-He-Har-de-Har!

  2. This is pretty much the same nonsense Cuomo pulled. It only makes Thompson look foolish. What does a man his age expect to gain by being coquettish?

    I like Thompson. But at this stage he should be sued for his own good.

  3. No, seriously – he’s running a campaign, hiring people, etc. etc. and I just can’t understand how he manages to sit in the “exploratory committee” zone this long.

    That’s independent of his merits as a candidate.

    And I’ll fix the blogger’s name…

    A.L.

  4. Armed Liberal,

    How does Fred compare with others who had exploritory committees? What is the average time from the time they said they had an exploritory committee to the time they declared?

  5. There is a well defined time as to when your exploratory period should end. It is precisely when someone sues you to end it.

    Thompson is making a joke out of himself. If he keeps it up any onger he will kill any campaign he might have. I expect Rudy to tell him to fish or cut bait pretty soon.

    He seems to be hell bent on proving himself to be indecisive. I don’t get it.

  6. TOC:

    What does a man his age expect to gain by being coquettish?

    I guess you missed all the heavy breathing in the media about his “trophy wife”. Apparently he gains a lot when he wants to.

    I wonder how all the other wives feel about that. “What makes her so trophy? What am I, Eleanor Roosevelt?”

    Especially Mrs. Kucinich, who looks like she’s still in High School. I’ll bet the other kids make fun of her. The FEC should do something about that.

  7. The suit is on a par with the guy who’s suing Vick for … whatever idiot conspiracy the guy made up.

    It’s a nonsense suit.

    Thompson looks coy, but guess what? He doesn’t have to declare until he wants to. There’s no law requiring it.

    His delays in announcing IMHO are related to his staffing problems. He’s had a problem in getting enough good people. He’s also obviously trying to stay out of the early going to avoid gaffes.

    Not my guess to a winning strategy, but then I’m not him.

  8. What does a man his age expect to gain by being coquettish?

    It’s a way of running without having to answer any tough questions; you address those questions you’re comfortable with and you can deflect those you don’t wish to answer by saying, ‘Well, I’m not in the race…’

    Frankly, much of this is due to Thompson’s laziness.

    I seriously doubt Thompson has the “fire in the belly” for this campaign. This is all about the trophy wife and what she wants.

  9. “The FEC regs” are utterly illegitimate, a violation of the 1st amendment, and a usurpation of power not delegated to the federal government, and so to be exercised by the states, (Where not in violation of that amendment.) or not at all. Kudos to Thompson for mocking them in his conduct.

  10. I’m unfamiliar with these laws (per se). My understanding was that it was a tax issue: you can’t just compile money tax-free indefinately without arranging the money into a campaign. However, I have no real knowledge into exploratory campaign fundraising laws.

    Can you fill me in AL?

  11. Some useful background:

    bq. _The rule is pretty simple. If you spend more than $5,000 on campaign activities, you’re a candidate, whether or not you’ve officially declared. The question is what constitutes “testing the waters” activity, and what constitutes “candidate” activity._

    “Jake Tapper”:http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2007/08/is-fred-thompso.html further theorizes that Thompson is waiting until after September 4, which would make his first campaign disclosures due January 31st.

  12. Field report: At the Republican Tent at the Illinois State Fair this year, only two national figures had stickers to give out: Ron Paul and Fred Thompson (“I’m With Fred”). My youngest sported Hillary and Thompson stickers.

  13. I don’t think anything much will come of this complaint, and I did my dissertation on campaign finance. Under normal circumstances there’d be no reason to declare this early. The difference is that the big primaries have been moved up at the discretion of the states, placing a huge early fundraising burden on candidates. Even if you’re still “testing the waters” you’ve got to raise funds and make other contingent commitments just to keep from making your candidacy extinct before its time. He’s been saying he’ll make his final announcement at the start of September, and hasn’t wavered. This complaint is more along the lines of harassment, which is fair in the since that it’s just politics. What it isn’t, is a good faith complaint motivated by civic engagement.

    Thompson may be taking other risks by not announcing earlier, but that’s his business, and his call. My niece is thinking about running, which would make her the first black female President (assuming Condee doesn’t run in 2012), but she hasn’t entered the first grade yet. We’re trying to convince her to take her time, FEC or no FEC.

  14. Granted the complaint is ridiculous. But then again, so is Thompson’s “To be or not to be” behavior. If you set yourself up to be ridiculed, which is the only value in the suit, then you become an object of ridicule.

    I don’t see anything particularly nefarious in this little episode. It is more a matter of telling the Emperor to put on some clothes.

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