Enlightening

Continuing the theme of Republican Presidential politics, if the Conservative Base has determined that Liberals like Rudy Guiliani will destroy America, who do they like in the Presidential Race 2008?

I have to admit I have kind of a blind spot when it comes to potential Republican Candidate Fred Thompson. I tend to look at the field of moderate sell out Republicans (from the conservative extremist's point of view) and put Gingrich in the role of the white knight (or black night, from my point of view), who will ride in and save the party! But he's not the only candidate for the job, as Robert Novak's latest article attests.

It's entitled "Thompson is for real" and that's almost all you need to know about it. Social Conservatives like him compared to Guiliani, McCain and Romney.

Sophisticated social conservative activists tell me they cannot vote for Giuliani under any conditions and have no rapport with McCain or Romney. They do not view Sen. Sam Brownback, representing the social right, as a viable candidate. They are coming to see Thompson as the only conservative who can be nominated. Their appreciation of him stems not from his eight years as a U.S. senator from Tennessee but his actor's role as district attorney of Manhattan on "Law and Order." That part was molded to Thompson's specifications as a tough prosecutor, lending him political star power.

I love the argument that what they really love is not his history as a legislature but a character he played on TV. It seems like a complicated way for Novak to call "social conservative activists" idiots. I mean apparently they aren't "sophisticated" enough to recognize the difference between fiction and reality.

I don't know what to think about Thompson just yet; my initial feeling is that it's not going to go anywhere. Fortunately I don't have to come up with too strong an opinion until he is actually in the race.