I think a lot of conservatives are intrigued by Thompson. I'm still in the Romney camp right now, but it'll be interesting to see if Fred gets in. I've always liked him, but I'll need to see him start campaigning before I'd make a switch.

Thompson's the guy who played the DA on Law and Order all those years,* right?

As solid a President as Ronald Reagan was, it's just a little to Post-Modern for me to think of an actor famous for playing a character concerned with politics getting elected president today. (he's clearly been elected to other offices plenty.)

It'd be sort of like Martin Sheen running for the Democratic nomination after the West Wing.

It's certainly not that I think Thompson is unelectable or unqualified. It just messes with my head.

*well a few years anyway.

Well there is the obvious difference that Martin Sheen is an ignorant moron, and Thompson is a former US Senator. But yeah, i understand what you're saying.

I'm not as sure that ignorant moron and former US Senator are as mutually exclusive as you seemed to be, but I take your point.

Well, I'm sure they're not, however, Martin Sheen is a pretty big moron.

http://www.celebrityhypocrites.com/msheen_tape.jpg

Granted, I did like the west wing.

I remember thinking during the 2000 election that I found the West Wing so much more engaging than I did any of the real candidates.

I'm kind of embarrassed about that but, alas, it was true. But 2004, I think I was over it.

Martin Sheen is in a category of people that I have a complex mix of emotion about it. I feel a varying blend of pity, confusion, admiration, and embarrassment.

Some people come by their political zaniness more authentically than others, and I think Martin Sheen’s is an outgrowth of taking social justice Catholic teaching very much to heart. Other celebrities pretty deliberately seem to turn political advocacy into public relations currency, but I don’t think that’s where it’s at with Sheen.