The future and Fred

Instapundit has a link to Stephen Hayes' lengthy interview with Fred Thompson for the Weekly Standard, a good read. Allow me to throw a few observations into the stew pot.

Thompson is certainly not a fake southerner and has the vernacular to prove it. Here's how he made his point during a discussion about Bush's decision to go into Iraq:

The next report says somebody's got weapons of mass destruction, you know what're we going to do with that? You know, just because history--a cat won't sit on a hot stove twice, but he won't sit on a cold stove either.

Americans have a history of being drawn to men of humble origins, to wit, Truman, Carter, and Clinton, even if history has not always been kind to them.

Thompson will face some minefields, such as questions on how a hawk such as himself missed military service during the Vietnam era. It might be moot in this election, though, since only Duncan Hunter and John McCain have any real military experience on either side. Strategists might advise him to lay low but Thompson might address the disparity by pointing out that while Democrats will campaign on "ending the war" only the terrorists can truly do that--in other words the Democrats will themselves have to deal with a war whether they think they've ended one or not.

They'll go after him for his support of Scooter Libby (he thinks Libby was railroaded) and conservative Christians may not feel the love for a Cuban cigar-smoking actor who waffled a bit on abortion. But they'd vote for him over Hillary or Obama in a New York minute.

Some friends recently confided they went to high school with "Freddie" over in Lawrenceburg. Naturally I was curious as to how these independent democrats saw the man. Their impression was largely favorable, including fond memories of his many good-natured pranks, his athletic prowess and the time he put a bully in his place. They painted a picture of someone who was favorably remembered. Would they vote for him? "It could happen". Again, these were not kool-aid drinking neocons.

I'm not smart enough to know why he hasn't officially entered the ring yet but my guess is that he's dipping his big toe in several places before diving into such a grueling current, which is fine. That shows wise judgment in and of itself.