Someone Who Sparkles

I'm not going to comment specifically on the money race until Obama reports his actual #s (I suspect it's closer to $26 million than we think). So...

Chris Matthews keeps calling Fred Thompson the future hero and "Daddy" of the GOP, basing this assessment entirely on how Thompson looks and talks (and, ironically, how he makes GOP-ers "feel"). No mastery of any issues, no recent history of fighting for anything significant, no participation in the political debate for the past few years... just some Law & Orders and an 8-year undistinguished senate career. If we were using our brains as well as our eyes, wouldn't John McCain be the "Daddy" in the GOP? Is Matthews setting this up so he can label Hillary "Mommy"? Does anyone besides Lamar Alexander honestly believe Fred Thompson is as charismatic and smart as Chris Matthews does? Oh, right Robert Novak does-- his column in the Washington Post today is titled, "Thompson is For Real" (unlike, say, fantastical, magical John McCain or the tooth fairy).

The GOP is ideologically unhappy with its 8+ candidates (all of which run the conservative gamut) and somehow this makes Fred Thompson a conservative savior. Sickening.

Update: Man, I needed a laugh about the whole Thompson thing and this Politico article delivered supremely, with a super quote from a "political scientist" named Neal: "The party is in need of someone with glamour, someone who sparkles."

Elton John-John McCain, anyone? Mitt-Cher? Huckabee-Liberace? Love it.