The Tennessee Vessel

The blogosphere tries to figure out Fred Thompson. I'm not convinced there's anything to figure out. The Hill editorializes:

There comes a point, and Thompson has surely just about reached it, when a candidate needs take the plunge or look indecisive and unserious. Buzz is wonderful, but it's like an automobile it cannot run on fumes indefinitely.

Joe Gandelman worries that Thompson is not planning to appeal to independents. Chris Cillizza sees him as an empty vessel for thwarted Republican dreams:

Need evidence? Just 4 percent of Republican primary voters in the L.A. Times/Bloomberg poll said they would not vote for Thompson under any circumstances. Compare that with the 22 percent who said they could never support McCain and the 12 percent who said it would be impossible for them to back Romney.

Thompson also seems to be the unannounced Bush successor, if the Bush and Cheney dynasties are any indicator. I'm inclined to agree with Michael Stikcings that Romney is still, in the long run, a more plausible consensus figure for the GOP (despite evangelical anti-Mormon bigotry). It helps that Romney has no fixed beliefs or principles. What he'll need to win the nomination may have to be junked as soon as he gets it. For Romney: no sweat.