Fred Freakin’ Thompson?!?

It looks like the ex-senator and cranky character actor is considering running for president. Vanity Fair’s James Wolcott describes him perfectly as, “… a grumpy old dog farting on the front porch.”

I have to say, my Wife and I like Law and Order – we watch it opportunistically rather than fanatically – and this looks like good news for us. If he decides to run, he’ll almost certainly be leaving and taking my least favorite character with him. On the show he alternates between down-home-folksy and corporate-lawyer-smarmy with neck-wrenching rapidity, to the point where both attitudes seem to be poses. He’ll adopt whatever approach seems most likely to get him what he wants.

That is just his character though, and we can’t blame an actor for the way his character is written. Still, from what I’ve seen of his interview clips, the character may be an improvement over Thompson’s actual persona. It’s almost enough to make you nostalgic for the late Walter Mondale’s infamous “Norwegian charisma.” Thompson may be eight years younger than McCain but he comes off as a decade older. He’s the archetypal cranky old man, impatient and intolerant. At any moment you expect him to have a fit and start yelling at the neighborhood kids to get off of his property – which is, I suppose, just a different episode of lawn order…

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