Fred Thompson for President

I feel like the Fred Thompson of Bama blogging these days. It seems that I've been blogging about as much as he's been campaigning. It should come as no surprise to anyone, then, that I've decided to support a fellow slacker for the Republican presidential nomination. You call that identity politics, I guess.

Fred Thompson is somewhat of a dark horse in the Republican race at the moment. As things stand, his prospects look pretty grim. Huckabee's win in Iowa, McCain's win in New Hampshire, and Romney's second place finish in both states have put Fred at the bottom of the bottom tier of candidates, at least according to the piffle that passes for conventional wisdom these days. We'll soon see how accurate that conventional wisdom turns out to be, but at some point you have to put the various media and poll-driven factors like "electability" and "likeability" into their proper perspective and go out on a limb for the guy who you can endorse with a clear conscience. For me, that's Fred Thompson.

So, why Fred?

Because I'm a Reagan conservative. That doesn't mean that I've spent these last several months searching high and low for the next Ronald Reagan from among the Republican candidates. I haven't been doing that because that man doesn't exist. Only Reagan was Reagan. He was a man uniquely suited to the era in which he served. The times have changed since then, and our politicians have changed with the times.

However, the conservative coalition Reagan helped to build is still a viable force in American politics and one that can still win elections, for the simple reason that its principles are still viable, being firmly rooted in the American constitution and having as their highest goal none other than the preservation of American liberty. Of all the candidates seeking the presidency, it seems to me that Fred Thompson is the one whose vision most solidly adheres to those principles.

Many people nowadays have bought into the notion that conservatives are mainly concerned with "God, guns, and gays," as Howard Dean famously quipped a few years back. Anyone who has paid the least bit of attention to what "movement conservatives" actually talk about knows that that's not remotely accurate, although I have to admit that it could seem otherwise to those whose views of conservatism are shaped by the loudmouths who regularly appear on the 24/7 news networks and who inhabit the remote corners of the right-wing blogosphere. It's not that disputes over God, guns, and gays don't raise important questions of public policy. It's just that the broader issues of freedom, federalism and foreign policy are much more important to most mainstream conservatives. And it's on those issues that I think Fred Thompson shines.

Anyway, I'll have plenty more to say on all of this in the coming weeks with the approach of Super Tuesday on February 5, the date when Alabamians are set to cast their votes in the presidential primaries. For now, if you're interested in what Fred has to say, see his campaign web site.