Fred Thompson reemerges to play an opinion writer
Hey, remember that tall Tennessee guy who played a presidential candidate last year? He looked kind of like a president or an admiral or district attorney. Anyway, somebody who carries a lot of authority on his stooped shoulders and a lot of heavy thoughts that take awhile to come out.
What was his name? He was going to play the next Ronal
d Reagan for the nation and Republican Party as a kind of wise Southern grandpa, even though he just became a father again in real life not too long ago.
He had a few good lines in the debates. He was the only Republican presidential candidate who dared to propose a detailed Social Security rescue plan.
Oh, what was it? Thompson. That's it! Not Tommy. The other one. Fred.
His presidential show kind of flopped. Well, not only did he sign with a talent agency, which means we may be seeing him on the TiVo one of these days. But he's back writing opinion pieces. On Townhall.com.
Just put his first one up. Kind of heavy on the "nation must preserve its conservative ideals" stuff. And light on the details. Although he does take a shot at a person or persons who do a lot of talking about "change," "bold change" or "change we can believe in." He's just saying.
This new job could mean he's going to stick around to have a say in public affairs too.
Not a bad thing to have some physically healthy senior Republican statesmen around, thinking deep thoughts, ready to re-lead the opposition party if the much-talked-about political slaughter of the GOP really occurs come Nov. 4.
He won't be close to the implosion. Unless, of course, his good friend from Arizona talks him out of his reluctance to play a vice presidential candidate.
-- Andrew Malcolm
Don Frederick has served as an editor helping guide coverage of every presidential election since 1984. He is a third-generation Washingtonian, so watching the political world comes naturally to him.
Andrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000.
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