Fred Thompson -- savior or Satan?

By Libby Spencer

So far Freddy boy has been riding a wave of popularity based solely on his acting credits and charisma, but as the man starts to outline his positions, it becomes more and more apparent that the new idol of the GOP's red meat Republicans has feet of clay. His latest column at the neo-con's home base at Townhall.com makes clear that he intends to sell himself as the soul of Reagan, embodied in Bush's swaggering macho persona, only with much bigger balls.

I'll give the guy credit for understanding and knowing how to use the new media to his advantage. I think he has a damn good chance of walking away with a GOP nomination that depends on winning the rabid right fringe vote but the idea I've seen promulgated that he is going to appeal to centrists is laughable. If I didn't know the author, I would have supposed the column was written by Cheney. He disdains diplomacy, celebrates forceful interventions and proposes Madison Avenue style propaganda blitzes that assume the Arab Street is as clueless and manipuable as the average American consumer.

Me, I'm not buying a new and better Bush and I have to believe that neither will the 70% of Americans that are tired of the one we have. And those are just his ideological problems. It doesn't take much digging to discover the flaws in his record. Eli at FDL just scratches the surface and reveals Fred's aw-gosh pretensions are merely a cover for a political career spent firmly lodged in the pocket of big business interests. He pushed through the revolving door from the Senate into lobbyist row so fast, heads are still spinning on K Street.

But as I said, I think he might just win the nomination, especially since he's wooing Rove's star pupil in vote stealing, Tim Griffin, as his campaign guru. I kind hope he does. I think he'll be easier to beat in the general than Rudy would be, especially if Griffin is indicted by the time the election rolls around.

For an opposing view, see Michael van der Galien. He liked the column.

(Cross-posted at The Impolitic.)