Fred Thompson on Leno

Did you watch Fred Thompson on The Tonight Show? Simply as theatre, I found the appearance surprisingly disappointing. If this is the New Reagan, I didn't see it last night. He seemed decidedly uncomfortable, his three-button summer suit scrunched in the middle. (And I'm all for bald men of girth seeking higher office, especially ones brave enough to stand without compensatory facial hair.) Still, for an actor and GOP rock star, he didn't connect that well with the audience. Although his quasi-announcement drew some applause there were odd moments like when he plugged his web site by saying "Before I get killed let me say it's Imwithfred dot com." Does a big burly guy need to fear "getting killed" by petulant staffers?

When asked about Watergate, he started off about Sam Ervin and Howard Baker, as if Leno's studio audience and the millions watching knew who they led the Senate Watergate hearings 34 years ago. Thompson's mention of Nixon aide Alexander Butterfield must have really drawn blank stares even though he fleshed it out a bit to explain that it was Butterfield who revealed the existence of a White House taping system that led to Nixon's downfall. Although he undercut himself: He noted that it was his question that prompted Butterfield's famous revelation about the tape but then added that it was learned through "staff" work behind the scenes.)

Beyond theatre, there wasn't one interesting idea fleshed out. Of course, The Tonight Show isn't Meet the Press but Ronald Reagan of General Electric and the Barry Goldwater presidential campaign always brought his message back to limited government and national defense. Thompson didn't flick at anything except that he wanted to help his country. 'Aw, shucks' messianism is no substitute for a message.

To be fair, when Thompson got asked about Joe Lieberman's not surprisingly bellicose statements about the U.S. possibly having to take military action against Iran to prevent the Persian nation from attaining nuclear weapons, he sensibly steered away from that -- unlike the 10 little GOP Indians who fell over themselves a few weeks ago to talk about nuking Iran's nukes. But then Thompson muffed a winning hand, adding that he didn't just want to thwart their nuclear program but also that he wanted to use "propaganda" -- I think the term of art is "promote freedom" -- and to "cause a revolution which is what we're talking about here" in Iran. He spoke fondly of sporadic armed clashes between Iranian citizens and what he called the "Iranian guard," as if an insurrection was really in the works. Asked about Al Gore, he had nothing interesting to say. A disbeliever in climate change, I hought Thompson would at least take the shot at Gore. Thompson had nothing interesting to say about the Democrats and Hillary Clinton, except the broadside that they were scurrying to the "left" which will probably come as news to Huffington Post readers.

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