GordonUnleashed

Fred Thompson Searching for his Macaca Moment

October 9th, 2007 by Steve

Not having offended enough people with his presidential campaign, it looks like Fred Thompson has established a plan to provide his own macaca moment. Thompson is bringing macaca-meister George Allen on board to help facilitate his image. From the Wall Street Journal blog:

George Allen, former senator and one-time presidential aspirant, has joined the Fred Thompson campaign as a co-chairman of his National Campaign Leadership Team, the Thompson campaign announced today.

Former Sen. Howard Baker (R., Tenn.) will lead the team, and Vice President Dick Cheney’s daughter Liz, and former Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham will also serve as co-chairs.

Not long ago, Allen was viewed as a potential frontrunner for the Republican nomination, but a disastrous 2006 Senate re-election campaign derailed such speculation when he used the slur “macaca” to refer to an Indian American on the campaign trail. The campaign spent weeks fighting off allegations of racism, and Allen lost his seat to Democratic Sen. Jim Webb.

Allen and Cheney will be in Michigan Tuesday night to work the Spin Room for Thompson after the Republican presidential debate.

Allen is an interesting choice. He’s still popular and well-liked among conservatives. At the Republican Leadership Conference in Mackinac Island, Mich., last month there was one vendor hawking “Sportsmen for Allen ‘08” buttons. However, trotting out Allen is also a politically precarious reminder of his 2006 implosion.

Once again, the Thompson campaign should serve as a reminder that the reason the GOP keeps losing elections is because they don’t learn from their mistakes.

While there may be some minor nuances in various policy positions, all but one of the Republican presidential candidates espouse pretty much the same positions that President Bush has. Any presidential (and many congressional) candidate pushing Bush policy is very likely to fail in the 2008 election. Ron Paul is the only GOP candidate with significantly different political positioning; he’s the only one who could likely defeat Hillary on Election Day.

Posted in Bad Republicans, Ron Paul, National Politics

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