Is Fred Thompson bored by it all?

By LEE BANDY

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson got a bit testy here recently when a reporter asked him if his heart really was in the 2008 presidential race.

At times, Thompson doesn’t act — or look — like it.

Critics say he seems to lack the kind of fire and brimstone that excites crowds or gives them a reason to vote for him. Translated, he doesn’t have the fire in his belly, they say.

Thompson, the former U.S. senator from Tennessee, quickly takes issue, calling the concern old news.

“That is just the same old opposition talking point” that has been heard for years, Thompson said in a brief interview. “I really don’t hear it anymore.”

He may not. But others do.

Thompson blamed the media for resurrecting the old concern.

Announce for public office, Thompson says, and “everything imaginable comes up.”

But Thompson often seems bored with life or just not interested. As a candidate, Thompson shows little fondness for the glad-handing and back-slapping that is the very stuff of U.S. politics. And, at age 65, Thompson keeps a light schedule.

Because of his laid-back manner and easy-going style, Thompson often is accused by detractors of being lazy. In a recent “Meet the Press” interview with NBC’s Tim Russert, Thompson was nonchalant to the point of apathy about one of his key supporters being convicted of drug trafficking. His positions on rights for the unborn and the disabled were embarrassing in their lack of intellectual depth, wrote conservative commentator Cliff Kincaid.

Bad joke

The former senator got himself in hot water during a recent campaign appearance in New Hampshire when he joked to Fox News political director Carl Cameron that he has doubts about his own candidacy.

Thompson’s astounding lack of sensitivity on issues has conservatives scratching their heads. He angered many of his followers when he announced his candidacy on Jay Leno’s “Tonight” show. That was followed by a shaky start to his campaign, for which he did not seem prepared. He stumbled over a barrage of questions the media had prepared for him.

Ask Thompson about his campaign, and he will tell you it’s going great. He promises it will get better. But many who hear him for the first time are dismayed by his performance, especially his 20-minute meandering speeches.

Thompson got in the race late, in September, by which time, his primary rivals were well ahead in terms of organization and raising money.

Still, Thompson notes, he is running in second place nationally behind former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani and holds first place in South Carolina, which he called extremely critical.

“I consider South Carolina as part of my neck of the woods,” Thompson said.

And that may be Thompson’s strongest selling point in South Carolina. Southern pride.

X Lee Bandy, now retired, worked 40 years at The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C., as a political writer. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information.