I just caught the second half of Fred Thompson's appearance on The Tonight Show, wherein he glumly offered his thoughts on the Iraq War -- specifically, that going to Iraq was the right thing, that we need to stay until Iraq is peaceful and free (i.e., forever), and that we probably ought to go after Iran too. You could feel the audience's discomfort as his lines supporting these extremely unpopular positions were met with dead silence. Too bad they were undoubtedly warned in advance of harsh consequences for booing.
Thompson has a strange way of being alternately charismatic and dull. Based on his performance tonight, I have trouble imagining that he will energize the GOP faithful -- people who want more war abroad and less liberty at home already have their ideal candidate in Rudy Giuliani, and people who favor a return to limited-government principles increasingly know who their man is. As for the general electorate, I cannot imagine anything that would drive them into the arms of Hillary Clinton more readily than the third Bush term that Thompson appears to offer.
