Oops!
When actor and former Senator Fred Thompson announced on The Tonight Show that he was throwing his hat (and red pick up truck) into the ring, we predicted that his foes within and outside of the GOP would not let him get away with the slightest thing and would be all over him.
They already are — in a classic case of a statement that doesn’t seem earth-shattering but really qualifies as a bout of political foot-in-mouth disease since it gives Thompson’s foes the opening they have been waiting for:
Former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., has only been an official Republican presidential candidate for a day. But his comments are already drawing fire from his GOP rivals.
“Bin Laden is more symbolism than anything else,” Thompson said while campaign in Iowa Friday. “I think it demonstrates to people once again that we’re in a global war.”
CLUNK!! FOOT FIRMLY IN MOUTH.
ZIP! REACTION:
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., publicly disagreed with Thompson, arguing the al-Qaeda leader poses a significant threat to Americans.
“He’s more than a symbol,” McCain told ABC News when asked about Thompson’s comments. “He’s motivating and recruiting using the internet as we speak. He’s a threat. He’s a threat.”
And who can quarrel with that? Osama bin Laden IS perceived as the CEO of Al Qaeda — not just a figurehead or a smiling logo like Coronel Sanders.
McCain said bin Laden poses an enormous threat to Americans because of his ability to communicate, motivate and recruit people who are dedicated to the destruction of the U.S.
“It’s very important that we get him. I’ll get him,” McCain said.
Didn’t someone with the initials GWB say that once before or words to that effect? AND:
Another Thompson rival, former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., suggested the al-Qaeda leader is a real threat.
“Osama Bin Laden is the face of evil,” Romney said in a statement reacting to the bin Laden tape. “His stated goal is conversion by compulsion, the surrender of liberty to terror and the abandonment of the foundations of a free society.”
And you can guess what is bound to happen next.
McCain’s, Romney’s and perhaps Rudy Giuliani’s camp will use the statement to suggest that Thompson is clueless about the threat bin Laden poses to the United States and couldn’t be counted on tracking him down (although GWB himself told a reporter about a year ago that he doesn’t really think much about him…).
And Thompson’s followers and friendly conservative talk show hosts — who would go haywire if the same statement had emerged from the mouth of Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Barack Obama or even Rudy Guiliani — will say it’s a thoughtful comment or (rightly) say its being blown up for political gain by Thompson’s critics.
But the underlying point is this: if Thompson was as canny as many say, he wouldn’t have given his opponents this opening.
And he did.
Will this be how his campaign unfolds? Or will he be more careful (and skillful) in the future?
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.