Rich – Maybe there’s some polling that says we need some “energy in the executive” but if Romney thinks that the “lazy” charge is really going to hurt Thompson I think he — and others who ruminate on this line — are going to be disappointed.
It’s funny, I think this is one of these weird areas where the complaint among insiders is being confused for an actual liability among voters. It seems to me the “lazy” charge was always for the most part an inside-the-beltway critique among professionals, code for him not having the fire in the belly, that he wouldn’t do what it took to put together a campaign etc. Somehow, it’s jumped out of that petri dish and is now infecting actual analysis in that Romney boosters and others think it’s an Achilles’ heel with the public. Maybe Thompson’s opponents can turn it into that, but I don’t really see how. Imagine if it came up in a debate. Thompson could respond, “That’s what they said about Reagan.” And if that didn’t work, and I think it would, Thompson could simply run through his resume, say something folksy about how “America doesn’t need a President who runs around like scalded dog or headless chicken or wet mule. It needs a steady hand.” And that would be that.