This is just a personal observation, but having read the New York Times this morning I know why I don't like Fred Thompson and why I will probably never warm up to him. ADAM NAGOURNEY and JO BECKER wrote in the Times this morning
Fred D. Thompson had one central strategic goal as he formally began his presidential campaign on Thursday: to win over conservatives who are disheartened at their current choice of Republican candidates by positioning himself as the ideological and stylistic heir of Ronald Reagan.Friends, we are electing a President of the United States. I don't want any candidate who needs to pretend to be somebody else. I want a President who is comfortable in his or her own skin. I want to vote for an original. I will not vote for a reflection.
For a long time now we have been electing Presidents as though we were picking horses at the derby. In 2000 the press gleefully reported that GWB was qualified to be President because he had good bloodlines--his sire was George HW and his dame was Barbara. That was good enough for the MSM, they didn't look much further. As a result we went to the polls and elected a man who is singularly unqualified to be President. We did the same thing in 2004.
I don't want to do that again in 2008. I want to know as much as possible about each of the candidates. I want to know whether a candidate might make a good president. If the Paper of Record is reporting that Fred Thompson is so insubstantial his handlers have elected to position him as the clone of a long dead President, Fred Thompson is disqualified. We need to keep looking.
Never forget, the campaign will soon be over. We will have to live with the bastard we elect for four full years.
