Thompson as Reagan for President? (No, Fred, Not Tommy!)

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

It looks like the GOP presidential field is about to expand to 11 -- count ‘em -- 11 middle-aged white guys. (By the way, doesn’t that have to be some sort of historical record, 11 white guys running at the same time for the presidential nomination of a major party? Where’s Liddy Dole when the Reeps really need her? Or that lunatic Alan Keyes, for God’s sake? At least he’s black.) Former U.S. senator and erstwhile "Law and Order" character Fred Thompson has filed an exploratory committee and is making the obligatory stops for a would-be candidate, such on "The Tonight Show" last night. An LA Times poll reported yesterday actually had the now ex-actor in second place in the Reep primary. Apparently, hard-pressed wingnuts in the GOP base are in despair over the fact that the three other major prospects -- Guiliani, McCain and Romney -- are not sufficiently antediluvian. Why, McCain actually said on the first debate he believed in evolution, making a monkey out of ... oh, never mind. Here’s my rap on Thompson. There are allusions galore to his supposed "Reaganesque" qualities. That’s partly what’s driving his rise in the polls. But if he’s Ronald Reagan, then I’m Nancy Reagan. Reagan, when first elected in 1980, was a presidential-record 69 years of age, but his football shoulders, jaunty shock of chestnut-brown hair and ruddy cheeks made him look much younger. His genial manner, wise-cracking style and crooked grin also made him easy to listen to and even to like, even if one disagreed with his more simplistic, Luddite views.