Call me Freddie

By Libby
Updated below

You'll have to forgive my more than usual lack of eloquence today. I stayed up late to watch Fred Thompson's big announcement on Jay Leno's show and I'm feeling a little groggy. I would have done better to get the sleep and just watched the clip. I mean -- that was it?

I keep hearing about this guy's charisma but I don't see it. I found the mashed potatoes in my frozen dinner more exciting. For an actor, his stage presence is very weak. Here he was in an extremely friendly and low key setting and he still looked nervous. He did okay with the jokes about his late entry but when he started answering questions about his positions, he looked like he was boring himself and was struggling to remember his lines. And as for his much anticipated video explanation of his candidacy, well, I'm saving the link in case I ever run out Ambien.

Maybe he should rethink that name change to add some spark to his campaign. Freddie has a much friendlier ring to it. Of course, then he would have to explain why he changed it in the first place to further a political career he claims he's never aspired to.

I'm ready to predict his candidacy is dead in the water. He waited too long and didn't deliver any excitement after the long tease. Not to mention, now he has to defend his broad rhetoric against his specific record. He's not fast enough on his feet to dodge the hardballs.

Fred reminds me of a guy I dated once in college. He was a local kid who somehow insinuated himself into our little group of out of town hippies. We called him Indian George because he had really long black hair and he never said anything. I mean, not a word. We all speculated it was because he was so deep. So I finally roped him into a date.

It was a nice time. He took me to beautiful places that only locals know about and he actually talked. But once he opened his mouth, I discovered he wasn't silent for so long because he was so cerebral. He simply had nothing of substance to say.

Update: Hot off of the internets, fresh video of Fred's first campaign stop in Iowa. I'm telling you it's Indian George all over again. If you just listened to it, he's repeating the exact same speech he made on Leno and in his announcement. He's talking about what he's going to be talking about but has yet to say anything. To his credit though, he's getting better at delivering those lines. Practice makes perfect I guess.