I Know You're Leaving, It's Too Long Overdue

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Ladies and gentlemen, you don't have Tommy Thompson to kick around anymore.

"I want to thank the people of Iowa who were welcoming and supportive as well as my volunteers and contributors from around the country," said Thompson. "I have no regrets about running."

Really? None?

Making money is part of the Jewish tradition, a U.S. presidential candidate said in a speech to the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.

"I'm in the private sector and for the first time in my life I'm earning money," Republican hopeful and former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson said Monday. "You know that's sort of part of the Jewish tradition."

Given that he apologized at the time, it's sort of odd to hear him say he has "no regrets." He does. He clearly wishes he never did this and morphed from "Tommy Thompson, policy whiz whose reputation was tarred by the Bush administration" to "Tommy Thompon, loser with a weird haircuit." When I saw him speak to a Fair Tax rally on Saturday he sounded almost deranged by his situation, taking on all of these fist-pumping Huey Long-isms that didn't fit him at all. ("You send that Fair Tax to my desk and I! WILL! SIGN IT! I WILL!")

Tommy's brother Ed, who is now slightly more likely to make a Libertarian presidential bid, gave some unrevealing quotes to Bart Winkler. The Republican Thompson is going to concentrate on improving "health care and welfare in America." He does so with a slightly diminished stature.

(Headline explained here.)