It Was Just a Joke, Folks

Never attempting to hide my admiration for former U.S. Senator Fred Thompson, it has become necessary to give my take on the much bally-hoo'd off-the-cuff joke the GOP candidate made during a Fox News interview.

Thompson quipped to Fox correspondent Carl Cameron something to the effect of, 'And I'll probably never be President.'

Cameron immediately jumped on the quip, blowing it out of proportion, and frankly, misinterpreting it. Now the entire mainstream media is in on the feeding frenzy, claiming that Thompson is 'lazy' and 'doesn't have the fire in the belly' to be President, or even more ridiculous, taking an off-the-record joke as an indication that the candidate does not truly believe that he can attain the Presidency.

First, those who know Senator Thompson know that such self-effacing humor is one of his trademarks. The man simply doesn't take himself too seriously, much like another former Hollywood actor who later became President, Ronald Reagan.

Thompson is laid-back. This is his personality. It has always been and always will be. So what?

Second, so what that he does not campaign in the traditional way? I think his style is entirely refreshing. He isn't bound to anyone's prescribed methods of campaigning. In fact, there is NO 'prescribed method.'

Third, although Thompson is quick to remind voters that he is no Ronald Reagan, there is a certain similarity in one key area. Thompson does not HAVE to be President. Neither did Reagan. It was not like some sort of lifelong, 'to-die-for' goal that had to be reached or else life is meaningless.

To the contrary, both Thompson and Reagan had successful careers in other fields of endeavor, but politics, the future of the Republic, and the cry of the voters, lured them into doing something reluctantly--start a campaign.

It is no sin to be a reluctant candidate. In fact, this is much to be preferred over career politicians who never made a nickel of their own money except from the public treasury.

Reagan did not particularly want to be President; he felt he was compelled to be by circumstances outside his own personal preferences. He probably saved the Republic from becoming simply another has-been European-styled Socialist nation that was a mere shadow of its former self.

The result was that America grew even greater and stronger under the Reagan Presidency.

Remember that in the early stages of the 1980 campaign, Reagan was a clear underdog. Polls showed him losing to George H.W. Bush in the GOP race, and if nominated losing to Jimmy Carter in the general election.

Reagan lost both the Iowa and New Hampshire GOP primaries.

But then the campaign turned southward, and Reagan began to trounce Bush. As the general election drew near, Carter and Reagan appeared to be in a dead-heat according to the major polls. Reagan was denounced and ridiculed as a second-rate, B-grade movie actor who was prone to 'misspeak' on foreign policy issues. In actuality, he was only telling the truth, but the truth was appalling to the 'detente'-oriented forces that pushed appeasement with the Communists.

Thus, Reagan was seen as a loose cannon who didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning.

But when the election results came rolling in, a very different picture became clear than what was being presented in the mainstream media. Reagan was beating Carter in a landslide.

Back to Fred Thompson. It is a precarious exercise to trust mainstream pundits, even those on Fox. Most if not all of the pundits that appear on Fox have a clear agenda, and it is Rudy.

Thompson's laid-back, deliberative style gives him more gravitas, in my opinion. He is dead-serious about the issues he discusses, and thus, when speaking about the policies that guide the future of the Republic, Thompson exhibits no frivolity, canned speeches, or shameless juvenile cheerleading for himself. He is a serious candidate for a serious time in our history.

But he also has a sense of humor.

As we used to say during the Reagan years, 'Let Reagan be Reagan,' perhaps it is time to simply 'let Thompson be Thompson.'