Clueless on the Right

There are a few conservative pundits who need to be called to task for their lack of insight and political tin ears.

Rich Lowry writes at NRO "The way these multi-candidate races typically work is that the more conservatives get in, the harder it is for other conservatives to get traction. By this logic, McCain and Giuliani have to be rooting for both Thompson and Gingrich to get in, because then the race would positively be overwhelmed with under-financed, under-organized conservatives" Now Lowry is correct more often than not but he does suffer from intermittent right sided myopia combined with the oft habit of not doing his homework. That is why he usually gets his butt kicked when he substitutes for Hannity.

Lumping Thompson and Gingrich together is his first mistake. Conservatives feel comfortable with both men concerning their beliefs, the big difference is most are perceptive enough to know that Gingrich is unelectable at least at this point in history. The opposite is true of Thompson, most who are closely following the undercurrents of conservative sentiment see that the vast majority of us on the right see Thompson as eminently electable.

He also fails to comprehend Thompson's top to bottom appeal to the rank and file within the party. I've heard from Hunter supporters and I've heard from Hagel supporters, what could these people possibly have in common? They both say Thompson would be an acceptable nominee. I would venture to guess that the person most hurt by Thompsons entrance into the fray would be Giuliana followed by McCain. The vast majority of support for these two is from the average Republican who fears Hillary or Obama so much that they would be willing to vote for almost anyone with an R next to their name just to keep one of those two out of the White House. You give them a viable alternative like Thompson and they'll jump ship in the blink of an eye. Romney will be hurt as well but he has been such a surpising underachiever (to me anyway) it will be less noticeable.

Others pundits who I like and respect a lot ie. Fred Barnes, Charles Krauthammer and others have been pretty dismissive of the potential Thompson candidacy. Terrific analysts, but these are big picture top to bottom sort of guys all too often suffering from "Beltway Brain"( a common affliction effecting ones ability to discern populous trends especially originating from the grassroots up). Given enough time it will ultimately become obvious to even the most severely obtuse.

If Thompson becomes a candidate for the Republican nomination, I will absolutely guarantee one thing , the top three as they stand now will no longer be the top three and more than a few so called "experts" will be tripping over their own jaws.