Is Fred Thompson the toughest tough guy in presidential race?

The Standard-Times (South Coastal MA) ^ | September 10, 2007 | Jack Spillane

[2ndDivisionVet]

Good old boy Fred Thompson relaxed with Fox News' Sean Hannity this week and talked on TV about how some unnamed bad guy was trying to blackmail his media consultant wife about an old boyfriend.

Mr. Thompson, a self-confessed former Washington playboy, acknowledged very seriously to his right-wing host that it's probably just the beginning of the mud-slinging season.

You see, Mr. Thompson's presidential campaign (unbelievably announced the prior evening on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno) has begun ramping up.

Freddie Dalton Thompson (his given name), all folksy and self-assured, told the fawning Mr. Hannity that this kind of negativism, unfortunately, has become a way of life in American politics.

"It's kind of like gnats swarming around the war horse," the tough guy said. "They aggravate you sometimes, but in the end, it's not that important."

Freddie Dalton Thompson dropped the "ie" from his given name back in the late 1960s when he became an assistant U.S. attorney. But even a lifetime spent in Washington and L.A. as a corporate lawyer/lobbyist/movie actor, hasn't caused Fred Thompson to drop the Tennessee drawl.

He still calls on it regularly when railing against "gov'ment insiders." It's as useful as the beat-up red pickup truck and flannel shirts this longtime member of the Washington establishment ordered from the prop department when he first ran for the Senate in 1994.

None of this is really a big problem for Mr. Thompson, or the tough-talking district attorney, Arthur Branch, as he is known on TV's popular criminal justice show "Law and Order."

Ronald Reagan proved a long time ago that Americans like a tough guy in their president, even if it's mostly a regular guy acting like a tough one. (Remember, Mr. Reagan spent World War II acting like a soldier — not being one.)

And in case you think Americans have gotten over their penchant for tough-guy politicians, think about Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2003.

"The governator" has gotten more than a little mileage out his tough-guy routine. Remember Democrats as "girlie-men." Yeah, Arnold. "Hasta la vista, baby!"

You really can't blame voters for any of this. Americans, and probably most of humanity, are hard-wired for it.

We like leaders who are laconic, tough guys, whether or not they're acting the part or really living it.

Have you ever seen Scott Lang at a speaking engagement?

We've all heard the mayor's macho monotone just after he takes off that Columbo raincoat: "Ah, yah. Let me say this about that."

We voters love politicians who say they're going to clean up Dodge City. We like them tough, whether their name is George W. Bush or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

In the final analysis, after all, a Muslim tough guy playing to the crowd is not that much different from a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant doing it.

What we really want in a leader is Clint Eastwood in High Plains Drifter, whether we live in Taunton or Tehran.

Don't get me wrong. I want a tough guy or tough gal president as much the next guy. I just a want a real tough guy. And I'm not sure that's possible in an era of big media.

The nature of big media demands coiffing and primping, pre-prep and scripting. It conspires against machismo, real or imagined.

But Fred Thompson is not without the ability to take a punch and land one, on TV or otherwise. He can think on his feet, a quality that really is part of being a tough guy.

By no means would I count him out as the next president of the United States.

Here's a prediction: The 2008 presidential election is not going to be decided by who's right or wrong about the war in Iraq. And it's not going to be decided by debates about national health care or Social Security or the price of oil or any other of any of the other very important issues.

It's going to be decided by who Americans decide is the toughest, tough guy or tough gal.

That's why Hillary Clinton is currently doing well in the polls.

Like "Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher, she has an ability to come across, for lack of a better word, as a tough "broad." No insult intended to any of my feminist friends, here. It's meant as a compliment not an insult.

Being a tough guy is also the key to Rudy Giuliani's popularity.

Whether he's been married three times, his kids don't speak with him, or he supported gay rights in New York City, he's still a tough guy. And people like that.

So don't pay attention to anyone who tells you Fred Thompson can't win because he's too late, too old or too sick.

And don't think it matters to conservatives whether he once lobbied for the Teamsters or once supported campaign finance reform.

As with Mr. Guiliani, it doesn't even matter that he once represented a client who wanted pregnant women referred to clinics that include abortions among their services.

It's not about that. It's about who's the toughest tough guy.

And so far it looks like Rudy, Fred and Hillary are in the lead for that honor.

And in the coming months, we're going to see who's really a tough, tough guy. Or gal.

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Jack Spillane's column runs on Mondays and Thursdays. Contact Jack at jspillane@s-t.com

[RockinRight]

FredEx: When we absolutely, positively have to reform America overnight

FredEx: Why vote liberal, when you don’t have to?

Be Absolutely Sure. FredEx.

[RockinRight]

[deport]

Here’s a prediction: The 2008 presidential election is not going to be decided by who’s right or wrong about the war in Iraq. And it’s not going to be decided by debates about national health care or Social Security or the price of oil or any other of any of the other very important issues.

It’s going to be decided by who Americans decide is the toughest, tough guy or tough gal.

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That Spillane fellar needs to come over here to FR and read a bit then he’d know that he’s got it all wrong. The decision is going to be made based on who Americans decide can build the most fence......