Two Freds

First, to make something right: On Friday I wrote that John Warner had served three terms in the Senate. He’s in his fifth term. Come to think of it, that means I was technically accurate. I’m glad I could clear that up.

Second, I am glad that I did my riff on the Alberto Gonzales resignation yesterday. That was because he was considerate enough to make his announcement before my deadline. I had time to yell “Get me Rewrite!!!” Except, of course, we have a tight budget here so I am “rewrite.” But it was a good thing because by today there is absolutely nothing left unsaid about the guy. Nothing.

So as the cliché goes, it’s time for be forward-looking, whatever the hell that means. First, we have to look back, all the way to Monday and still another sign that Fred Thompson is about to step out of his wife’s shadow and soon announce he’ll run for president.

His communications staff may be in utter chaos right now but it still engineered a massively long New York Times article about Thompson’s career. As everybody knows, the overly long wet kiss from The New York Times is an essential part of the drumbeating that leads up to the candidate officially doing the deed.

This one is typical. First of all it is lengthy, as I said, but not only that. The candidate “cooperates” because it’s often a way to laboriously vet potential criticisms about his record and make sure they get presented in a favorable light. From here on out his people can dismiss them as “old news.”

In this case, the piece addressed Fred Thompson’s past partisanship and/or lack thereof. It concludes with a quote from a Democrat that he was “… partisan and intellectually honest at the same time.” As Thompson might drawl himself, “You can’t beat that with a stick.”
Except, perhaps, in the Gonzales-enabled interrogations.