So brightly he burned for such a short time.

The shamble. The disinterest. The plodding. The thick, ridiculous accent. Yes friends, failed candidate Fred Thompson is back on the scene!

Former GOP presidential candidate and close McCain friend, Fred Thompson, is set to join the presumptive GOP nominee during his visit to North Carolina next week. Since losing the South Carolina primary on Jan. 18, Thompson has been absent from the limelight-even choosing to drop out of the race via written statement.

Remember kids: McCain/Thompson 2008: Because Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau couldn’t make it.

Of course, these are the guys who seriously think privatizing social security is a good thing. Yes, put our senior’s future in the next Bear Sterns or Enron. Brilliant! Go with that.

Thompson’s appearance last weekend at the annual conference hosted by Teddy Forstmann in Aspen was “embarrassing,” several attendees have told the Huffington Post, as he botched current events questions and suffered from verbal gaffes.

Amid a gathering of high-profile media, business, and government figures, Thompson made the strange claim that the Islamic group Hezbollah is in Afghanistan (it’s based and run out of Lebanon).

Asked whether he would carry over the people and policies of the Bush administration, the Tennessean offered a less than substantive reply: “I would keep the good things and let go of the bad things.”

And peppered by former Secretary of State Colin Powell as to why Thompson and other Republican frontrunners seem to be brushing off the African-American vote, the former senator “could not give a cogent answer,” a source told the Huffington Post.

Talking to reporters later, Thompson, a former Tennessee senator, said his church attendance “varies.”

“I attend church when I’m in Tennessee. I’m in McLean right now,” he said referring to the Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C., where he lives. “I don’t attend regularly when I’m up there.”

Thompson said he usually attends church when visiting his mother in Tennessee and isn’t a member of any church in the Washington area.

Pass the popcorn.

Um, okay.

Lost this week amid other news was the lackluster trip to Iowa made by the candidate-in-waiting. Notes GOP analyst Jennifer Rubin on the American Spectator’s campaign blog: “It was a cringe inducing day for Thompson in the MSM and blogosphere coverage. There was Carl Cameron picking up on the Gucci loafers and the golf cart ride through the Iowa fair. Politico picked up on the lukewarm reception and the crowd’s disappointment that more substance wasn’t offered. MSM coverage echoed the same. He then gave a remarkably muddled interview with John King, leading to guffaws at Campaign Spot and confusion about what he meant with this response to a question on abortion and gay marriage.”

Clearly the Thompson campaign knows he screwed the pooch on the abortion/gay marriage question as they quickly emailed this liberal blogger – no friend of the campaign – their spin on the issue. So far the campaign looks much more competent than the candidate. Or is he a candidate? There’s an FEC complaint about just that issue right now.

I’ve seen positive reports in the field about candidates from all across the spectrum so far, from Kucinich and Ron Paul to Mccain, Giuliani, Clinton, Obama, Romney, and Edwards. But every time Fred Thompson goes out there with actual voters as opposed to some Youtube video for the consumption of con bloggers, it just goes splat.

UPDATE: Hollywood actor Fred Thompson is claiming he didn’t say what he said in the video above and that he’s against a constitutional amendment against gay marriage. Well, either he’s for it like he said, flip flopping on the issue in Romney-quick fashion, or is too tongue-tied to answer a pretty easy question. You choose.

Presumptive presidential candidate Fred Thompson on Tuesday will report raising roughly $3 million in one month for his all-but-certain White House bid, Republican officials said.

Hollywood actor Fred Thompson tested the waters. They’re frigid.

Another aide to Fred Thompson’s campaign-in-waiting resigned last night, two sources close to the campaign confirm. Tom Frechette had been effectively serving as campaign manager Tom Collamore’s deputy. Collamore was removed from his post Tuesday and given a "senior adviser" role.  Like Collamore, Frechhette was said to have chafed under the heavy influence of Thompson’s wife, Jeri.

If he were a Democrat, they’d already be writing his obituary, but Thompson is a Republican so the media has decided that his inept campaign is demonstrating genuine leadership.

Gold.

Sources close to the presumptive campaign tell NBC News that Fred Thompson’s fundraising is down “markedly.” One claimed it has “slowed down big-time.” The pace is described as a consequence of the delayed announcement to enter the race.”The Friends of Fred, Inc.” will report to the IRS its revenue by July 31st. Sources reveal to NBC News that number will be in the range of about $3 million.

That number would put him below or just at the level of second and third tier candidates on both sides of the aisle including Sam Brownback, Bill Richardson, Chris Dodd, and even Ron Paul.

That media-inflated bubble seems to be getting the air let out.

The day after his would-be campaign manager was replaced, Ex-Sen. Fred Thompson has another senior staff position to refill.

J.T. Mastranadi was hired just a week and a half ago to be the campaign’s director of research. He resigned this morning, a friend of his said. The friend said that Mastranadi was “fed up” with the “lack of structure” and was unclear about his role in the coming campaign.

Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson is shaking up his still-unofficial campaign, replacing his top aide with a former Michigan senator and a veteran Florida strategist.

The shake-up comes amid consternation inside the campaign about the active role played by Thompson’s wife, Jeri, a lawyer, media consultant and former Republican National Committee official.