Headline of the Day (Gingrich-Thompson edition)

By Michael J.W. Stickings

This one's loaded with amusement:

Newt flirts with Thompson

Is there no stopping the homoerotic magnet that is Fred Thompson?

It's like every chauvinistic, gay-bashing male who goes near him (I'm looking at you, Chris Matthews) walks away with a boner. (And the ladies seem to like him, too.)

Here's the story:

Newt Gingrich's long, slow striptease over whether he will seek the presidency in 2008 looks like it might come to an unexpected conclusion: a date with Fred Thompson.

Publicly, Gingrich has been sending signals making clear that a presidential candidacy for him is becoming less likely. Privately, he and some of his closest advisers have been meeting with -- and, in at least one prominent case, going to work for -- the lobbyist-actor and former Tennessee senator.

I'm hardly a fan of The Politico, but that's awfully well put. Although the image of a Newt striptease fills me with revulsion and horror of a profoundly disquieting nature. Anyway, two points, both obvious:

1) Man-crush.

2) Gingrich knows he can't win and wants to back a winner. And Freddy T., to some, smells like a winner. That's a big part of his appeal, maybe the biggest.

Will Thompson's bubble burst when he proves to be a lazy, uninspiring candidate with little desire for the White House? Or when that fuzzy line between fact (the real guy) and fiction (the characters he plays) becomes more distinct, shattering the hazy illusions of his besotted admirers? Or when it is revealed that his is not the second coming of Ronald Reagan, that his past is marred by moderation, that he isn't quite the hardline social conservative he is being made out to be (and making himself out to be)?

Yes, maybe. The bubble could very well burst. But would it matter?

Given his sex appeal, and with Republicans on their knees, maybe not.