perfidy

We continue our continuing series, "Meet the candidates"

The number of candidates gunning for the highest office in the land continues to grow. Governor Richardson has tossed his hat in, and there are rumors that even our first android-American candidate, Al Gore, is considering making a go of it as well. Of all the candidates, real and potential, only two interest me. One is Hillary Clinton, and the interest comes from a deep and soul-scarring fear. The other is Fred Thompson.

Over the last couple days, I’ve been talking with a new good friend, who – thanks to his position deep in the bowels of politics – shall remain unnamed. And we’ve been talking about Fred.

Fred is different than the other candidates. Romney, Guiliani and their ilk are slick, often witty. They are polished, but polished to a particularly political sameness. Thompson feels different. To be sure, that feel is carefully crafted - the result of his experience as an actor and politician. But he has crafted a persona that looks like it is rooted in his actual character, and that character looks interesting. In that, I think, he's a lot like Reagan - not that he looks or sounds or talks like Reagan - but that he is not trying to look like a "statesman" and as a result actually looks more like a statesman than anyone else on the political scene.

What he looks like is my grandfather - he even has the same cadences in his speech. I’ve watched two interweb videos of Fred recently. One was his response to Michael Moore’s debate challenge. Only 38 seconds long, this is a masterful bit of political jujitsu. Fred’s got style, presence, and a good bit of humor; and manages to slam Moore without making an ass of himself – something that most politicians have a very hard time doing. If this is any indication of how effective a Fred campaign would be, then the other candidates have much to be worried about.

I watched another video, an interview he had where he talked about not watching one of the Republican debates. I was struck by how he accurately communicated his ideas without using political catchphrases, tired metaphors - just clear communication laced with his sense of humor. Looks like he alone of the current crop actually absorbed the lessons of Orwell’s "Politics and the English Language."

Also alone of the candidates, I actually like listening to him. Listening to Bush makes me cringe, has since before he was elected. And that cringing has only gotten worse over the last seven years. Yet I voted for him, if only because the alternative was far worse. Based on what I’ve seen so far, I think Fred would have no real trouble cleaning up his Republican competition – assuming of course that there are no skeletons hiding in his closets, and that he can put together a well-run campaign and pull in the contributions.

But Bush is the albatross that any Republican candidate will have to deal with in going up against the eventual Democratic candidate. And the albatross in chief has certainly not made it easy for anyone to follow him into the White House. Bush’s stark inability to communicate, well, anything has left the impression that the Iraq war is an unmitigated disaster. It isn’t, though problems and casualties have dominated the public perception since about a month after the libervasion began. Four years of not making a sound public case for the sacrifices of our soldiers is a large obstacle for anyone who wants to become the next Republican president.

As well, Bush’s failures to get anything done on the domestic front will be a similar huge obstacle. For years, Bush had a Republican congress and yet was unable to make any progress on immigration, social security, or any number of other issues. Certainly any Democratic candidate will be able to make hay on that.

Who among the currently announced Republican candidates will be able to overcome a Democrat armed with all the weapons that Bush has inadvertently given them? Even the Republicans have grown weary of the feckless Republican leadership in the White House and the Congress. If Thompson could demonstrate that he has feck, (and his absence from elected office recently might actually help there) he stands a chance at retaining current support and winning over the independents. Independents often vote character more than issues anyway. My liberal mom would have voted McCain, for that reason.

Charisma isn't everything - but if Fred puts together an efficient campaign, I could easily see him trouncing all comers on the Republican side. And the guy has style. He’s got charasma. Could he be the second coming of Reagan? I wonder, now. He's got the instincts, it seems; and he's got the gravitas - more than Reagan, even. He's smart not to be jumping in too soon. And more than anyone else, he seems to get how new media (bloggers in particular) can help:

Since the ‘04 Howard Dean campaign, the Internet has been seen as fertile ground for presidential candidates. But the advent of a possible candidacy by former Senator Fred Thompson could take online politics to a new level. In this exclusive article for Pajamas Media, Thompson reveals a respect for the ‘net and its importance to democracy that could only come from a true web surfer. If the six-time weekly winner of the PJM Presidential Straw Poll is actually elected President, are we looking at … the First Blogger?

To PJM and Friends
By Fred Thompson

So, I hear you all have been talking about me.

It seems that I ought to respond, at least briefly, to all those who have expressed confidence in me — both here and in other forums. I do not take that confidence lightly.

The Pajamas Media poll is certainly good news, especially when, for a lot of politicians, encouragement to run from three relatives and an unemployed campaign consultant is considered an unstoppable groundswell. When people are saying nice things about me, I try to remember the proverb that compares flattery to a net at your feet. To be sure, the Pajamas poll results are very flattering, so let me return the favor and throw a net at your feet.

“So, I hear you all have been talking about me” Classic – and, if the other videos I linked above, and for that matter his performances in everything from The Hunt for Red October to Law and Order, are indicative then I think he’s a potential winner. If Hillary wins the Democratic nomination, the only thing that is going to beat her is the kind of humor and common-sense persona that Reagan deployed to such great effect against Carter. I wonder what the “There he goes again” moment will be in this election.

And I'd dearly love to see him destroy Hillary in a debate. I dig the guy. Barring some horrific revelation about his past, or learning that he favors something I detest, I might actually be voting for someone in 2008. And as my friend said:

It’s all about the Feck. The f*ing Feck. Fred has Feck.

[wik] More information on Fred Dalton Thompson can be found here, here and here.