Remember, though - as of now, Fred = McCain-Lite and needs to prove himself otherwise.
Fred Thompson is far more conservative than McInsane.
During the eight years that Thompson and McCain served together, they cast votes on 102 CQ-defined key votes and agreed on 83 of them - or 81.4 percent of the time. They disagreed 18.6% of the time, that’s pretty high considering that both are Republicans and both are considered relatively conservative. Just as an example from one year, among the instances in which Thompson and McCain differed were votes in 2002 to effectively extend a repeal of the estate tax beyond 2010, to authorize oil drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and to postpone tougher automobile fuel efficiency standards. Thompson voted “aye” and McCain voted “no” in all three cases.
Thompson was also the lone holdout in several 99-1 senate votes. He was against mandatory seat belt laws and mandated
blood alcohol levels in two of the votes.