As Fred Thompson prepares to finally announce that he’s actually running for president, he gets smacked around by AP’s Liz Sidoti. The headline of her piece is “Thompson lacking substance.” True — and while they GOPers want to compare him to Reagan, he’s more like George W. Bush:
Top candidates Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and John McCain mix it up daily, taking questions from voters and fleshing out their presidential agendas.
Not Thompson.
His stump speech consists of broad conservative themes, talk of bipartisanship and commentary on issues of the day, but it largely lacks any vision for the future of the country. He deflects questions on what a Thompson presidency would look like and demurs when pressed for specific proposals for how to fix the nation’s ills. He opines on hot topics, from taxes to terrorism, in online columns and on his Web site, usually without being challenged.
There’s no meat on the bones. And, there won’t be.
UPDATE: The title now reads, “Thompson Strong on Style, Not Substance.” Huh. How did that happen?