Several readers have asked me questions along these lines:

Am I imagining hostility to Fred Thompson among the NRO regulars? Most of my political news comes from The Corner, so I may not have a good feel for the wider conservative movement.
I am aware of the power of the political activists/insiders in pre-primary jockeying. In Oklahoma a few years ago the wife of Frank Keating – Cathy Keating – was pushed out of the Tulsa congressional race even though she was better known and better liked than her opponent. She had neglected to get the Tulsa activists on her side.
I am not opposed to activists having this power. In years past I even participated myself in this sort of cabal. Activists do, after all, deserve some influence in return for the unpaid and low paid work that they do. But I would hate to see the insider culture work against the best interests of the conservative movement.
I base my suspicions on the weakness of the attacks on Fred Thompson: His son’s lobbying, his rumored laziness, his law-firm client list, etc. The publication of these weak attacks, and the attention that apparently serious people are giving them, convince me that the insiders have conspired to take Thompson out early. This may be because they have already emotionally committed themselves to other candidates.
What do you think?

Me: Personally, I don’t see it. I know quite a few activists, journalists, intellectuals and/or lobbyists who are behind Fred. Even Ramesh once said that he might support Fred Thompson if he got in the race (Ramesh will clarify or correct, I’m sure, if I have that wrong). And, heck, he may end up being my first choice too, I dunno.

But, if I may be blunt, I think some people think there’s hostility wherever there isn’t unbridled enthusiasm (though that’s not the case from the longtime reader quoted above). I get really angry email whenever I hold out the possibility that Fred Thompson isn’t the Republicans’ man on a white horse coming to save the day. The best argument for Thompson to my mind, so far, is that he might — might! — be the best candidate to win in November. Virtually all of the other arguments for his candidacy strike me as not overpowering. There’s a certain drink-the-Kool-Aid bullying that comes from some of Thompson’s biggest supporters. That he arouses such enthusiasm is a sign of his strengths and therefore an argument in his favor. But as for the actual arguments in his favor, I’m less than convinced so far.