Not Fred

Six months ago, this blog dismissed Edwards as a serious candidate for president. If Fred Thompson's priorities truly are the agenda he offered the Washington Post’s David Broder—and not just his pandering to the #1 Washington insider journalist—then Fred too should be out as a serious candidate.

Here’s why:

 He would have opposed adding the prescription drug benefit to Medicare, calling it "a $17 trillion add-on to a program that's going bankrupt."

 He attacks the FBI as perhaps incapable of morphing itself into the smart domestic security agency the country needs.

 He warns that unless action is taken soon to improve both sides of the government's fiscal ledger—spending and revenue—the next generation will suffer. "Nobody in Congress or on either side in the presidential race wants to deal with it."

Thompson’s bible isn’t the old and new testaments. Rather, Broder notes, it's two texts: 1) "Government at the Brink," a two-volume report he issued as chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee in 2001, and; 2) several reports from Comptroller General David Walker, the head of the Government Accountability Office, on the long-term fiscal crisis spawned by the aging of the American population and the runaway costs of health care.

Comment: Thompson’s search for “revenue” (taxes) and a balanced budget may excite inside-the–beltway types, but not the typical Republican or even the average American. He’s hardly moving to Giuliani’s right by preaching more efficient government. Fred’s nearly in the race because of his Southern accent and his Southern-drawl acting fame, but seems to lack a program in tune with a Southern-fried social agenda. Seems that, like Edwards, Fred’s forgotten his roots.