It seems that White House hopeful Fred Thompson has become the antithesis of quasi-rival Stephen Colbert. Whereas Colbert wants to campaign for president but doesn’t want to be president, Thompson wants to be president but doesn’t want to campaign for president.

When the Associated Press asked him Monday about his bare-bones campaign schedule, Thompson retorted, “I’m going to do it the way I want to do it.” He then proceeded to pound his fists on the dinner table and cry because his SpaghettiOs spilled all over his bib.

After that, Thompson, who hasn’t been in South Carolina in more than a month, said, “You can name a lot of places that I haven’t been, and you can name a lot of places that I have been several times.”

Wow… that’s poignant. Guess we can’t argue with that.

If Thompson wants to compete in S.C. or any of the other early voting states, he has got to end the lazy-like-a-hibernating-bear saga because it is beginning to get a little old. It was cute at first, but it’s time to see some elbow grease or midnight oil coming from the Thompson campaign. Or at least make it look like there’s some effort — we’ll never know the difference.

Thompson is scheduled to visit the LowCountry Wednesday, so it will be interesting to see if he actually shows.