Quote of the day

Some days these things just write themselves. Which is great for a lazy ass blogger such as I am.

The subject here is Cuban cigars which are illegal contraband in the US.

"You know, if it’s good, I smoke it."

-- Fred Thompson
'08 presidential hopeful

Do as I say, not as I do. A favorite admonition of my late father.

Via Pensito Review.

Must read IMHO

I really am trying to avoid posting about the '08 election because its too early, but put this in the back of your mind for now.

I've been reading up on the latest Republican presidential candidate, and in an article in the new Weekly Standard when the following line caught my eye:

The conference call began around 2:00 pm. Ken Rietz, a top executive with Burson Marsteller and a close adviser to Thompson, welcomed the participants."

Kenneth Rietz. I knew I'd heard of that name before.

I used my MacIntosh's function that lets you search for any string of characters that's on your hard drive. I found what I was looking for in my "Watergate" file. The following is a quote from my favorite book about the Nixon presidency, Jonathan Schell's The Time of Illusion (page 221):

In Washington, a taxi-driver was hired by the Nixon reelection committee to join the Muskie campaign. He was taken on as a volunteer, and was eventually assigned the task of carrying the Senator's mail between his Senate office and his campaign headquarters. On the way he would give the Senator's campaign documents, including internal memoranda and drafts of speeches and position papers, to a Republican operative whose code name was Fat Jack and who held a post in the Office of Economic Opportunity. Fat Jack would photograph the papers in a downtown office rented for that purpose, and would pass the film along; for the first few months...to Kenneth Rietz, director of the youth division...and then, after Rietz withdrew...to E. Howard Hunt on a Washington Street corner.

A current Republican presidential contender has a Watergate spy as a "close advisor": surely interesting, and perhaps even relevant to the character of the candidate.

(read more)

Who isn't running for President?

OK, now Al Goldstein has declared his candidacy. This is on the heels Tommy Thompson. Not to mention Fred Thompson who has yet to declare. Oops, I did mention Fred.

So that leaves who not running? Perhaps a librarian in Idaho and a hotel manager in Atlanta? Oh yeah, and SPIIDERWEB™. I'm still considering entering the race. I know it would be late, but you might be surprised how quickly I can gain momentum.

At this point we should consider any politician as a Presidential hopeful.

Why Dems should fear Former Senator Fred Thompson

I have 6 reasons why the Dems should fear a former Senator Fred Thompson run for the WH.

1. Ronald Reagan.

2. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

3. His stature is impressive. At 6' 6" (1.98 m) he's a most imposing figure. Check out the pix. Your eye is drawn to him even when walking with Roberts, the Chief Justice of the SCOTUS. Imagine his standing next to Kim Jong Il.

4. He's a former US Senator.

5. That voice. The deep, strong voice of authority. Hell, he was the voice of Andrew Jackson. And it has that easy, good ol' boy, down-to-earth southern drawl to it that voters eat up like candy.

6. This is the clincher. Hollywood knows how to cast actors. When they want someone with stature, authority and gravitas they don't cast Adam Sandler. They cast Fred Thompson as:

the White House Chief of Staff,
an FBI Agent,
a doctor,
a Rear Admiral,
a Major General,
a District Attorney,
a prosecutor,
the Director of the CIA,
a Lieutenant Colonal, or even
the POTUS his own self.

This guy has been pre-packaged for the American public as the "go-to" guy. The guy who can be trusted. The guy you can depend on to save the day. He's near perfect.

Trust me. Don't follow all the links unless you're really enticed. But you might want to click on the next one.

But here's the thing that scares me the most. His association with AEI (the American Enterprise Institute). He's a fucking neocon. We don't need another neocon. You can trust me on that one too.

Hollywood couldn't come up with a more perfect candidate for president and the GOP would be unimaginatively stupid to not draft Thompson. Of course we have George Clooney to counter Thompson, but...