Okay, So Fred's In

You can catch Fred's announcement at his site. Allah has a snippet from Leno, as well. The man deserves to be heard because he is saying the right things, at least from my perspective.

A bit of analysis - I look at little things and often make big projections and they should be taken with a grain of salt - I was troubled that the Leno spot seemed flat and one line he dropped should have been literally dropped and not delivered.

As regards the New Hampshire debate, Fred said something about it being harder to get on Leno than into the debate - true, I think we mostly know that. But the joke didn't come off very well, in my opinion. He doesn't have the ease of Reagan, or didn't on Leno tonight, anyway. He looked nervous. I doubt it helped him in NH, or with some grass roots folks.

It's too soon to tell if that will eventually extrapolate to Fred's instincts and abilities not being what they need to be to weather the coming storm. But it is something to watch for.

There are a few times in his announcement video when he seems to reach down and display some genuine fire. But other parts of the video seem almost over rehearsed, leaving an uneven feel to the thing. But the proof of the pudding is going to be in the eating and that's something that deserves a chance to play out.

His fund raising capabilities are going to play a big roll and he's going to need to generate some excitement beyond one night to fuel that effort. Given the dynamics, the expectations for tonight were high and while Fred may or may not have met them with political pundits, he's correct when he asserts that many people aren't even paying attention yet.

Fred has time, but not a ton of it. So, let's see how he does on the stump over the coming ten or so days. It's may determine a great deal as regards the Republican nomination for President in 2008. For now, the jury is out when it comes to the former Senator and Law and Order star.

Comments

[TheSpartan]

"The man deserves to be heard because he is saying the right things, at least from my perspective."

Saying the right things when? Now or in the past?

[Jane]

I'm a big Fred supporter. I thought his performance was flat, almost boring. It was, from my perspective, a disappointment.

[Captain Joe]

I think it's madness to start a campaign so early. The people will get tired of the candidates before the vote. It was wise for Fred to wait. Some smartass will probably wait until late next year before entering the campaign as an Independent and beat everybody.

[Captain Joe]

Yeah, Fred needs to turn on his acting skills like Reagan did. He needs to be scripted.

[TheSpartan]

Have you actually seen anything Reagan did on film? The words "Reagan" and "Acting Skills" should never appear in the same sentence.

[jj]

"Have you actually seen anything Reagan did on film?"

Why, yes, I have. Most of it was light and pleasant, with little acting ability required. You see, back in the day, humor and pleasantness meant something to people who weren't nasty and mean. The movies were a diversion from the hard life most people lived. Everything didn't have to be all serious and meaningful, we needed the lighthearted stuff as well.

"The words "Reagan" and "Acting Skills" should never appear in the same sentence."

You might be the kind of guy who would criticize Reagan for a lack of acting skills, yet compliment, or at least tolerate the trash we see passed off as acting today. There aren't 6 decent actors in the whole of Hollywood at the present time, so get off your high horse and look around.

[TheSpartan]

Actually there are thousands of decent actors in hollywood and around the world, they just don't all make it in the mainstream.

Good mainstream actors off the top of my head?

William H. Macy
Gary Sinise
Tim Roth
Willem Defoe
Richard Dryfus
Gary Oldman

there's my half dozen.

BTW, there were plenty of wonderful actors in Reagan's era too. He just wasn't one of them.

[BobInStamford]

Bad GOP 'actors' tend to end up senile. Look at Reagan and Heston. Hey wait - they both co-starred with monkeys!! Hmmm....