In regards to your comment " Based on this and an earlier quote that he doesn't really want the job methinks he is getting ready to bail" you are either willfully ignorant of the facts in this case (link from Instapundit):
FRED THOMPSON corrects the media. "Today I had this story written about me regarding what I said at a Town Hall event in Burlington, Iowa by a reporter who wasn’t even at the event."
or you are intentionally spreading misinformation. Which is it? (see also here at NRO and do a simple Google search to find how dishonest the "earlier quote" story is)
The USA today story that started the "Fred doesn't really want the job" crap (and please don't try to deny that's what you're referring to) was from a reporter who didn't hear Fred speak, lifted a few words from someone else's article and rearranged the context to suit her agenda. She has already had to publicly apologize and the paper has issued a (very quiet) correction after the original reporter who was there, apparently as liberal as any MSM toady, publicly said that the USA today reporter got it wrong. (like Diogenes, I am pleased to find an (apparently) honest reporter)
I haven't found an original, in context, source for this new CBS "quote" so I don't even know if it's real, but I can state 100% that it is incomplete and taken out of context. Based on the earlier story my bet is that what they left off was something like Fred saying "some weasels who hate our country are saying" before he said "I have to come in second" and then went on to explain what he really feels he has to accomplish.
This is pure spin by people (you?) who hate Fred and probably hate conservatives (I haven't read your other posts and am only basing this on this post) trying to artificially raise the bar for Fred. My take is that you've been fooled by other bad people into believing this. Am I wrong?
Apparently you didn’t bother to check out how long I’ve been posting to this to see I am not a “troll”. If you had looked at some of many posts here you would have also seen that I am in fact a Fred Thompson supporter. So enough with the childish attacks and temper tandrums.
From the CNN story “And if you notice, I put the emphasis on running. I said I’m not particularly interested in running for president,” Thompson said in an interview on CNN’s Late Edition.
So — Thompson clarified that he really doesn’t want to run for President of the United States.