More evidence — as if we needed any after this weekend’s Values Voters Summit — that Fred Thompson‘s star is fading as the “true conservative” candidate. After previously dodging such questions, Thompson told a local reporter in Tampa today that he is opposed to the federal or state governments interfering in end of life issues, as Congress did in the infamous Terri Shiavo circus of 2005. In 2002, Thompson helped make the decision to take his own daughter, Betsy Panici, off of life support. He said:
Making this into a political football is something that I don’t welcome, and this will probably be the last time I ever address it. It should be decided by the family. The federal government — and the state government too, except for the court system — should stay out of these matters, as far as I’m concerned.”
Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan, who says, “For all his weaknesses as a candidate, Thompson has one attribute now rare among Republicans: a lack of zeal.”
—Dana Goldstein
