Fred Thompson: Back To Basics

Interesting take on Fred's outsider/populist themes. This is the first author I've read that seems to understand the way Fred is taking on the Republican establishment as well as the Democrats. I really like this quote: His main complaint with the war on terror is that al-Qaida has a 100-year plan while Washington politicians "have a plan until the next election."

"America's government is bringing America down, and the only thing that can change that is a return to the basics."

Thompson recently gave speeches in Virginia and California during which he scarcely mentioned Bush either. In the world Thompson described, the current Washington players are most notable for being trapped in that undifferentiated swamp we call Washington politics.

That's because the divide that engages Thompson most is not the ideological one between liberals and conservatives or between this or that brand of conservatism. It's the divide between concentrated power and decentralized power. Thompson's core theme is that there is a disconnect between Americans and their rulers. He campaigns against concentrated Republican power almost as much as he does against concentrated Democratic power.

The Rest of the Story...

Thompson's core theme is that there is a disconnect between Americans and their rulers. He campaigns against concentrated Republican power almost as much as he does against concentrated Democratic power. Though a Republican, he's able to launch a reasonably nonpartisan attack on the way government has worked over the last 19 years.

This suspicion of concentrated power in general and Washington in particular is not some election-year conversion for Thompson. It stretches back his whole life. He began his career investigating the Nixon White House. As Stephen Hayes reminded us in The Weekly Standard, as a staffer on the Senate Watergate committee, Thompson asked the question that revealed the existence of the White House tapes.

As a senator, Thompson investigated the Clinton campaign finance scandals (poorly), and established a reputation on one issue above all others: federalism. He was the only senator who voted against the Good Samaritan law because he thought it centralized power in the national government. He was that rarest of creatures -- someone who not only preached federalism to get to Washington, but practiced it after he arrived.

Today on the stump he talks about discovering Barry Goldwater's "Conscience of a Conservative" while in law school. He campaigns against the immigration bill because he doesn't think Washington can be counted on to keep its promises. His main complaint with the war on terror is that al-Qaida has a 100-year plan while Washington politicians "have a plan until the next election."

Courtesy of David Brooks in the Post Bulletin

If Fred runs on these things like the author of the article suggests that he is, then he will win the primary in a landslide.