Fred Fumbles

Fred Thompson is stumbing out of the gate. He made the same mistake Bush did of downplaying Osama bin Laden.

“Bin Laden being in the mountains of Pakistan or Afghanistan is not as important as there are probably al-Qaida operatives inside the United States of America,” Thompson said.

Later in the day, after his remarks drew criticism from Democratic contenders, Thompson took a different tone.

“Apparently Osama bin Laden has crawled out of his cave long enough to send another video and he is getting a lot of attention,” he said at a rally in Mason City. “He ought to be caught and killed.”

Thompson has another problem. No one knows what the hell he is trying to say.

Before a small crowd here in a downtown convention center, for instance, Mr. Thompson often appeared to ramble. When asked “what society’s position should be on deviants, including homosexuality,” he gave a somewhat meandering answer that included, “I think that we should not have discrimination, but that we should not set aside categories to give special set-aside treatments for, and treatments to.”

He did not use the word “homosexuality” in the answer, continuing:

“You never know the full story behind someone. You can’t set aside every individual citizen and look into their background and pass judgment on them, nor should you. That’s not the federal government’s job.”

I'm glad that his message is more tolerant then other Republicans on the campaign trail. It just isn't polished. He sounds like he's not ready for the national spotlight.

Thompson is the Wesley Clark of 2008. A candidate that looks great of paper, with a vocal group of supporters. Both started too late and do not have extensive campaign experience. I'm just waiting for Thompson to switch to argyle sweaters.

Update: Rachel Meadow pointed something that defuses all my criticism of Thompson. He is a sexy mofo. That's all that matters.