Now that the “Thompson is lazy” meme has been put to rest after he ferociously campaigned across Iowa and garnered 3rd place even with the Politico hit job on the day of the Caucii, and he has certainly disproved that hit job piece by not dropping out and endorsing Sen. McCain, and he was on fire in the debate last night and today picked up the endorsement of HUMAN EVENTS, some people with their own agenda to fulfill (in this case being John Ellis of RealClearPolitics) still insist that Thompson is just pulling our leg and doesn’t want to run for President:

Fred Thompson can’t be back. He hasn’t been anywhere. He announced his candidacy three months ago and promptly…disappeared. Which raised the question: What in the world does Fred Thompson hope to accomplish with his non-campaign campaign? Put another way, at what point does losing to Ron Paul become too humiliating?

I’m going to interject here with two points: 1) what are you talking about? He’s got 3rd place in Iowa, beating McCain, Giuliani, and despite what you infer, yes Ron Paul. 2) He dissappeared? Really? That’s why he’s been raising plenty of money and has been reaching out to voters constantly and picking up some real endorsements and momentum. Heaven forbid he forego New Hampshire, just like the current President of the United States did.

Happily enough, politics is a dynamic business. Things change. And by the time Fred Thompson arrived on the stage in South Carolina last night, circumstances had conspired to make him useful. His task: take out the preacher man on behalf of his friend Sen. John McCain and on behalf of the national Republican Party. In return, well, let’s just say this: there would be a “quid” for the “quo.”

This is just insulting. Sen. Thompson, the guy who won’t dance to anyone’s tune as he is proud to say, who is brash with ridiculous reporters and doesn’t pander to gain votes, is somehow going to kowtow to the RNC to get rid of big bad Huckabee? You kidding me? At what point do you quit insisting that Thompson’s motives are different from what he keeps insisting? How many times does he have to overcome expectations (Iowa), meet and exceed fundraising goals, gain key endorsements (Steve King, HUMAN EVENTS), and clearly spell out that he thinks he’s the guy to be President before you quit projecting your hopes onto him?

Thompson understood the dynamics perfectly and proceeded to immediately make himself useful. He went after Huckabee as a “liberal” on economic issues and a “liberal” on foreign policy. Heaven forefend. And he did a nice job of skewering Ed Rollins in the process, thus endearing himself further to the Beltway Boyos.

Thompson will never be the Republican presidential nominee, except in some brokered convention fantasy that only Mary Matalin might believe. If he wants to be a player or even (just maybe) the party’s vice presidential nominee, he need only serve as the instrument of Huckabee’s demise. His pointless campaign now has a purpose.

You can put quotation marks around the word liberal all you want, it’s pretty darn clear as day to anybody who pays attention that Huckabee is LIBERAL on economics and doesn’t have a clue (which some would argue is the same as being liberal) on foreign affairs. Sen. Thompson has made it a point not to be told what to do by anybody during this whole race, yet John Ellis for some reason believes that now he’s gotten word from the powers that be in the RNC and has gone along with their ploy to take out Huckabee. Give me a break - he won’t campaign the way you want him to, he’s doing things his own way, and you need to get over it.