What explains Fred Thompson's memory loss?

Remember Terri Schiavo? Fred Thompson doesn't.

At least, he claims not to remember any details of the Schiavo case, which gripped the nation in the spring of 2005, and contributed in no small measure to a widespread loss of public confidence in the Republican Party.

Thompson was asked in Florida if he thought the GOP-led congress and President Bush did the right thing by interfering in the Schiavo family's affairs.

"I can't pass judgment on it. I know that good people were doing what they thought was best," Thompson said. "That's going back in history. I don't remember the details of it."

Congress passed a bill after Schiavo's feeding tube was removed in March 2005 to allow a federal court to review the case, and Bush returned from his Texas ranch to sign the bill into law. But a federal judge refused to order the tube reinserted, a decision upheld by a federal appeals court and the Supreme Court.

Thompson, a former Tennessee senator who left office in 2003, did say, "Local matters generally speaking should be left to the locals. I think Congress has got an awful lot to keep up with."

Going back in history.

March of 2005 is "history?" Two-and-a-half years is too far back for Fred to remember the details of the case which led to the beginning of the end of his party's dominance in American politics? Too far back to remember Bill Frist diagnosing Terri Schiavo via videotape? Too long ago for him ro remember cable news and talk radio programs broadcasting live from the front yard of a residential hospice?

March of 2005 is too far back for Thompson to remember congress passing a federal law to artificially prolong the life of a brain-dead woman? He can't remember any of that?

I have to say, this is the first time I have ever seen somebody run for high political office by trying to convince voters that he is too feeble-minded for the job. That's just a little more counterintuitive than I think is wise for a presidential candidate.

Really, there are only a few possibilities here. Number one, Thompson is a liar. Two, he is in the early stages of dementia. Or three, he is so incurious and ill-informed that he makes George W. Bush look like Rene Descartes.

Either way, Thompson is looking less and less every day like the savior the Republicans have been waiting for.